It’s been a year (that feels like a lifetime) since we have seen many of our friends. Here’s how to make the transition back to socializing easier. You may not be able to just pick up where you left off with friends you haven’t seen — and that’s OK. The good news: as[…]
How can you sustain your friendships in a pandemic? The first step is recognizing their importance, argues author Lydia Denworth. Researchers and philosophers have explored in great detail the emotional dramas of love and family. But they’ve spent much less time pondering the deep satisfaction of a good friend. A similar thing happens[…]
No time or budget for a weekend getaway? These cheap staycations are surprisingly luxurious. Remember to be safe and follow health guidelines in your community. Be creative and turn into an online activity with family and your friends. Or, create a bucket list for a staycation, long weekend or mental health day activities. […]
“I’m having the absolute worst day,” a friend of mine said as she sighed and plopped herself down in the chair across from me at a restaurant where we were meeting for after-work drinks and appetizers. “Oh, no! What’s going on?” I asked her, giving her the prompt she needed to launch into her[…]
Causes and Health Consequences of Feeling Lonely Loneliness is a universal human emotion that is both complex and unique to each individual. Because it has no single common cause, the prevention and treatment of this potentially damaging state of mind can vary dramatically. For example, a lonely child who struggles to make friends at[…]
1. Send an uplifting text to a friend or family member. 2. Let that guy merge into traffic with a wave and a smile. 3. Include intentional moments of kindness, laughter and delight in your daily routine. 4. Go slightly outside of your comfort zone at least once a day to make[…]
Often, health and fitness pundits encourage us to have predictable, healthy routines: go to sleep at a set time, don’t eat after 8 p.m., exercise at least three times per week, get a yearly check-up, and so on. Undoubtedly, it is important to hardwire these kinds of habits into our schedules, so that they become[…]
The art of storytelling has long been a respected skill and important tradition in many cultures. Over the course of history, community elders and their stories have been regarded as a treasure trove of the society’s knowledge, history, and wisdom. Older members of a community were encouraged to share their stories with younger generations, keeping[…]
Much of modern life, though seeming to promote connectivity, has had the opposite effect of fostering social isolation and loneliness, experts say. A four-minute film produced for the UnLonely Film Festival and Conference last month featured a young woman who, as a college freshman, felt painfully alone. She desperately missed her familiar haunts and high school[…]
Hurray for the HotBlack Coffee cafe in Toronto for declining to offer Wi-Fi to its customers. There are other such cafes, to be sure, including seven of the eight New York City locations of Café Grumpy. But it’s HotBlack’s reason for the electronic blackout that is cause for hosannas. As its president, Jimson Bienenstock,[…]