Together: Loneliness, Health and What Happens When We Find Connection

by Vivek H. Murthy

Working through conflicts in person when you’re used to the distance of text messaging can be uncomfortable.

kids who have trouble socially tend to have lower emotional intelligence scores, which also are associated with aggressive, risky, and disruptive behavior.

When we acknowledge the power of our emotions and when we have the skills to calmly consider and shape our reaction to people and circumstances, we feel and do better in our relationships, in school, and in the workplace.

the brain can be trained toward more compassionate behavior simply by practicing kindness.

Here’s how Undercover Agents of Kindness works: Parmenter puts the names of all his students in a bowl, and each student then draws a single name. The assignment is to perform an act of kindness for the person they selected, then write a “mission report” summarizing the experience.

Why don’t we all treat one another as family? Why can’t we? In fact, we can, and we must.

Strong relationships are what matter most. They improve our health, enhance our performance, and enable us to rise above differences of opinion and ideology to come together and take on big challenges as a society.