It is said that the search for security and control often causes a weakened resistance to the pain and hardship before us. By trying to seek pleasure and comfort to avoid pain, we trap ourselves in an endless cycle of dissatisfaction and suffering. Teachers like the Buddhist monk Pema Chödrön challenge us to learn to embrace uncertainty and pain as an opportunity to learn to accept our feelings of loneliness, freeing us from fear and shame. In this article, Chödrön describes six kinds of loneliness and gives perspective on how to find the middle way between desires and contentment.