Tag Archives: connection

Events, Podcasts

Single-Minded: Can You Live A Happy Satisfied Life, Alone?

Consider the state of singlehood:  Lots of health research indicates that people who live alone have higher health risks and are generally unhappier. Not so, according to Bella DePaulo, author of a new book, Single At Heart.  DePaulo is a 70-year old psychologist, who in addition to being single all her life, has also studied the state of being single from a professional standpoint and she is adamant that there are multiple myths about her chosen way of living.

“I could be living at a time or in a place where the prospects for staying single for life would have been much more daunting. Maybe it would have been nearly impossible for me to support myself financially without a spouse. Maybe attitudes toward single people would have been even more disparaging than they are now.  That would have been a profound loss. For people like me who are single at heart, the risk is not what we’ll miss if we do not organize our lives around a romantic partner, but what we’ll miss if we do. We would miss the opportunity to live our most meaningful, fulfilling and psychologically rich lives by living someone else’s version of a good life instead of our own. We would not get to be who we really are.” 

Bella DePaulo

Joining the conversation will be Fenton Johnson, who has written extensively about the state of marriage and the state of solitude. He’s author of three novels and four works of creative nonfiction, most recently At the Center of All Beauty:  Solitude and the Creative Life, a New York Times Editors’ Pick. 

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Events

Building Bridges To Belonging

Are there simple steps we can all take in our everyday lives to promote empathy, overcome difference and forge lasting connections?  Yes, says Stanford psychologist Geoffrey L. Cohen, whose scientific research offers proof that concrete solutions exist and work.  His new book Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides reveals some of the causes and consequences of a sense of belonging in school, work, our politics, health care, and other arenas of social life.

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We all want to belong but most of us don’t fully appreciate that need in others.  Sometimes, inadvertently, we threaten others’ sense of belonging. Yet even small acts can establish connection, brief activities such as reflecting on our core values and practices that Cohen terms “situation-crafting” have been shown to lessen political polarization, improve motivation, combat racism and enhance health and wellbeing in ourselves and others.

Geoffrey Cohen is Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business at Stanford University.

Cohen’s work examines the processes that shape people’s sense of belonging and self, and implications for social problems. He studies the big and small threats to belonging and self-integrity that people encounter in school, work, and health care settings, and strategies to create more inclusive spaces for people from all walks of life. He says he’s inspired by Kurt Lewin, “The best way to try to understand something is to try to change it.”

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