 Loneliness is finding way to every family even if you think you have a religious family. Oh they're suffering from loneliness too. So we need to be aware of the dangers and the causes and that brings us briefly to the solutions. What are some solutions that we can offer when it comes to loneliness? Number one, increase that human interaction. Surround yourself with people, especially good friends. Good friends and relatives, my dear brothers and sisters, are the best safeguards from loneliness. Don't isolate yourself because naturally the human being, when he feels lonely or depressed, you know what you do? You isolate yourself. When you isolate yourself, you fall into this vicious cycle of becoming even more lonely. Initially you will feel uncomfortable. People who feel depressed and lonely, initially they feel uncomfortable. They don't want to meet people. They don't want to be around people. Force yourself and surround yourself with friends. That in itself will help you. It's very difficult. But once you try it a few times, you will realize that you will be able to control your loneliness. And make sure that those friends whom you choose are loyal good friends, not any friend. Sometimes disloyal friends, dishonest friends, bad friends can even make you worse. I had a friend you know about 10 years ago or more that I got to know him in Florida. I was there for a program during the month of Ramadan. And he told me about his very tough experience with his friends. He was very generous with them. If any of his friends was down he would help them out. He would show them how to start a business. He would even loan them money. He was very generous with them. And he really thought that these friends were honest friends who would be there for him. He didn't pay attention that they were just there to use him and take advantage of him and benefit from him. He missed that point. Years later things change for this brother. He gets into an accident and that has an impact on his health. And he runs into a number of issues. He goes financially broke. When he becomes financially broke, after being very well off, he contacts some of those old friends whom he saved. And through him they became rich. He contacted them one by one. Asking them to help him out like he helped them. Asking them to give him a loan. To help him start a business again. Not a single of his friends stood up for him. Not a single one. He was hit with severe depression and loneliness. He said, you know what? I didn't choose my friends wisely. Some warned me. I didn't pay attention. Some warned me that these people are not really your friends. They're just there to take advantage of you. Choose honest friends. You have a genuine friendship with them. That way you can count on them. When you fall, you can count on them. Surrounding ourselves with good friends, my dear brothers and sisters, is very important. When it comes to combating loneliness and protecting yourself from loneliness. That's one thing that we can do. Another way to protect yourself from loneliness is through generosity and volunteerism. This has been proven through many many studies. You know they call generosity. If there is a pill for happiness, it's generosity. When you give, there is a part in the brain. It's called the meso limbic system. When you give an act of charity, when you give to someone, this part of your brain produces hormones that make you happy. SubhanAllah, look at the creation of God. Allah has made it easy for you to give. Makes you feel good. In fact, there was one researcher, he did a study. He took out gift cards and he experimented this. The first group of people, he came and he gave them the gift cards. So they received benefits. They got a gift. He wanted to see which one generates more happiness. He says those whom I gave the gift cards, initially they were very happy. You know when you get a gift, you feel happy, right? When I gave them those gift cards, temporarily within the next few hours, their happiness increased. But then at night, he followed up with them to see their happiness that night before they slept. That happiness was gone. The effect had gone. It was momentary happiness. Two, three hours. They enjoyed getting that gift card and then back to normal life. Then he tried a second experiment. He gave these gift cards to a group of people and he told them go and give these gift cards to the poor. So these people, they went out seeing homeless people, poor people, just college students who probably, you know, don't have a lot of money and they gave them the gift cards and they would be thanked by those people. You know, they would get a smile. Then they measured their happiness that night. They saw their rates of happiness were significantly higher than group number one who received. Now you would think that getting benefits from people makes you more happy than giving. But that's not what science says. Science says giving makes you more happy than receiving. And that's the beautiful system of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. Volunteering, giving from your time, not only giving from your money but giving from your time is the best protective measure from loneliness and depression. One study was done on Americans and they found that those Americans who volunteered five to six hours a month compared to those who did not volunteer, they were 5.8 times more happy in their life, 5.8 times happier just through volunteering. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala in the month of Ramadan teaches us that, the spirit of volunteerism. This is one way to protect yourself from loneliness and depression. Get your family involved. Every one of you volunteer, give from your time. That helps you. You're the first person who will benefit. Another way to protect ourselves from loneliness, my dear brothers and sisters, is to travel. Yes? As they say, you know, traveling is food for the soul. It really is. And the best place you can go to with your family and children is for Ziyarah. If you have the habit of going once a year, once every two years with your family to Ziyarah, that in itself, my dear brothers and sisters, will play a significant role in protecting you from loneliness and depression. The Imam, alaihi salam, according to one hadith, it's a beautiful line of poetry in which the Imam says, travel. There are five benefits to traveling. One of them is that it removes your misery. It makes you feel better. It reduces that depression and loneliness. And he mentions a number of other benefits, you know, gaining new knowledge, gaining a new experience, meaning other nations. There are many benefits. I say sometimes families five, 10 years passed by, they have not taken a trip to Ziyarah. Why? What's your excuse? When you travel together and you enter Masjid al-Haram or the shrine of Imam al-Hussain or the shrine of Imam al-Rada, you know what that does to you? That, first of all, strengthens your family bonds. And through that, Allah, subhanahu ala, will heal your heart. And finally, my dear brothers and sisters, especially in the month of Ramadan, we are reminded that the best protection from loneliness is to develop a relationship with Allah, subhanahu alaihi salam. When you have Allah with you, when you have Allah by your side, listen to what Imam Zayn al-Abideen, alaihi salam states in dua'a'a'abi Hamza thimali. Oh, Allah through your remembrance, my heart lives. That's the life you get from your relationship with Allah. Oh, Allah, what has he found? The one who's lost you. If you have the entire world, but you've lost your relationship with Allah, what do you have? Seriously, what do you have? And what if he lost the one who's found you? If you have Allah and you turn to Allah and you learn to rely on Allah, that in itself will heal you from loneliness and depression.