(Alan guiding participants at the end of a process in the 3rd Circle of The Art of Being Training, Mar 6 2012)
I see that some of you have trouble letting go. If you cannot learn this, there is no grace in the way you deal with the endings that life inevitably brings – only a kind of clinging, wanting a bit more, a bit longer. Become aware of that in you that wants to hang on, and in doing so see if you can remember that you are not just this part. See if you can get in touch with the totality of this BEING, whose aloneness is so precious. You need to be good in your aloneness so that you can live happily; and too so that you can leave happily when your dance in this world is over! My wish for you is that you can remember this all the way to the last breath of your life.
And of course, there is much more to your aloneness than being happy. Deepening your friendship with yourself is how you open into all that is. You discover that being alone is the entrance into being one with all. Listen to the word! All-one. Not lonely, where you are cut off from yourself, but alone, one with all. All the small endings in your life are inviting you to learn this sacred awareness, simply by letting them happen with grace and dignity, with no holding on.