Bowling Alone

Thoughts To Consider

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.  - William Blake

The bird feels comfortable and safe in its nest, the spider in its web. Man too desires to feel comfortable, emotionally safe and secure. We find that in friendship, true friendship, which requires effort and discomfort and inconvenience at times. Not the 2,000 friends you have on Facebook or all the followers on Instagram. Social media can be fun and great way to keep up with what others are doing. However, you stay on the outside looking in and it is all personal marketing and not always genuine. Then there are those who use social media to bully, which is another post altogether.  

Meaningful friendship is when we take time with others threw ups and downs. We listen when they are down, celebrate and congratulate when we should and share our personal likes and fears and vice versa. Humans are relationship oriented by design. When we lack a feeeling of connectedness, we feel lonely and that is dangerous in abundance. 

"In a meta-analysis of studies on lonliness, researchers Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy B. Smith, and J. Bradley Layton found the following: Living with air pollution increases you odds of dying early by 5 percent. Living with obesity, 20 percent. Excessive drinking, 30 percent. And living with lonliness? It increases our odds of dying by 45 percent." (Braving the Wilderness, Brene Brown, 2017)

Action

Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live one's entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship. -  Epicurus

Think about or write about if you are a journaler: how a friend helped you to live your life in happiness this week.