The art of making a relationship flourish has received significant media interest in recent years thanks to extensive research by...
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Guy
“Only through our connectedness to others can we really know and enhance the self.
And only through working on the self can we begin to enhance our connectedness to others.”
—Harriet Goldhor Lerner
Most psychologists today would agree that the single most important contributor to our well-being is how we connect to others.
Relating well to your partner, your family, your friends and your community is your best gift to yourself – not because it makes you feel good about yourself by getting others to like you, but because connection is our authentic calling as human beings. This is the abundance Mother Nature wants us to share. Our brain is wired to love and to connect. To run short in human connections will most likely shorten your emotional fuel and lower your spirit. The best thing one can do to uplift one’s mood is to connect to others, to gain some sense of belonging. Recent studies on treating depression demonstrate that relationship counselling works better than any medication.
To flourish is to connect with other human beings.
One of my clients expressed this beautifully in an email she wrote to me some days ago: ‘Connection is what we live for and I am grateful to be able to experience the joy that it has to offer.’
We hope you enjoy the items we share with you today on the topic of Connection.
As usual, we share ideas here with the intention to inspire and stimulate thinking.
And please note: if you wish to stay connected and informed about our group activities please join our Meetup group.
Connect to Thrive By Emma M. Seppala, Ph.D. at Psychology Today
Humans have a deep need for social connection. Our relationships with others actually affect our health, our emotional stability, our recovery from illness, and our life expectancy. Despite the vital importance of social connection, it seems to be on the decline in western society. Dr Emma Seppala writes about ways of increasing our connectedness with others.
Sherry Turkle is Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: She has got some interesting insights about the impact of the new tech on our psyche:
“What technology makes easy is not always what nurtures the human spirit.”
“The feeling that ‘no one is listening to me’ make us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us. We expect more from technology and less from each other.”
“We’re lonely, but we’re afraid of intimacy. And so from social networks to sociable robots, we’re designing technologies that will give us the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship.”
About the author:
Guy (Hagai) Avisar is a psychologist with more than 30 years of experience helping people with relationship issues
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