Building Connections With Others

Are you lonely? Does it surprise you that many others are going through the same thing as you? We feel upset when we think we are isolated from people, so it’s natural to avoid this emotion. Relationships Australia inform us that 1/6 of us are feeling lonely! And, nearly 1.5 million are saying that this loneliness has been occurring for ten years or longer! Research shows that if we have more opportunities to build strong social connections, we decrease our loneliness and improve our physical, mental and cognitive health. Added to this, if those who we connect with share an interest of ours we have even more health and wellbeing benefits. Interests such as community garden projects could lead you to connect with people and reap the health and wellbeing rewards they bring! Did you know that positive emotions, positive social connections, and physical health influence each other? If we strengthen our connections with people, join supportive social groups and develop our physical health, we can defeat our loneliness. Dr Matt Lieberman (2013) explains to us in this video just how powerful our social brain is. He tells us that social connection determines our happiness even our survival, cognitive development and productivity. If we don't value it, we can make unhelpful life decisions. Have a listen.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNhk3owF7RQ So how do we build connections with others? One way is Random Acts of Kindness Did you know, that when we are given money to spend on ourselves or on someone else, those who choose to spend it on someone else are happier? Now, we don’t have to spend large amounts of money on others to build social connections, we could simply hold the door open for a stranger or do the dishes for a flatmate. This is a scientifically proven way to build social connections. They call it Random Acts of Kindness. If you want to try this, follow these steps. 1. Look around you at what strangers and people need help with. It doesn’t count if they ask for help. 2. Help them with random acts of kindness. 3. Try to vary these kind acts and do them all in one day. 4. Take note of how you feel when you do this. Doing this can improve how you feel about yourself, feelings of wanting to help others and boost positive social interaction (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019). Another way is to think of your interests and join a group, or go to a place where people have these interests too. -Walking your dog at a dog park, -Joining a singing group, -Signing up to class to learn something, -Joining a gym or fitness group or -Joining a community garden. Take a deep breath and give it a try!

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