Loneliness, community and connection

 

 

 

Please read a review of Dr. Vivek's Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, here.

 

In this groundbreaking book, Former Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek Murthy argues that loneliness is the underpinning to the current crisis in mental wellness and is responsible for the upsurge in suicide, the opioid epidemic, the overuse of psych meds, the over-diagnosing and pathologizing of emotional and psychological struggle. The good news is that social connection is innate and a cure for loneliness. In Together, the former Surgeon General will address the importance of community and connection and offer viable and actionable solutions to this overlooked epidemic.

 

Read the first chapter here.

Download the handout to follow in class here.

 

 

Please read an article about community building here

Listen to the Arts & Ideas podcast here: an episode about INDIVIDUALISM AND COMMUNITY

What makes us really happy?

 What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of a 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.

 Start at minute 6.

See handout here

 Some questions about happiness.