A few months ago I wrote a post that stemmed from a Ted Talk from Lissa Rankin, one of my Hero's in the world of self realization. She had given her discussion on the greatest epidemic on the horizon facing the well being of the human race. My post garnered a lot of attention so I when I was passed along a link to another Ted Talk on a similar topic, I decided to bring up this dis-ease of sorts so that healing light can be shed upon it before it ravishes our society in devastating manners!
Lissa Rankin's speech dealt with Loneliness, which as a Dr. herself, she considers to be the biggest epidemic that has the ability to harm our mental and physical well being in the next couple of decades. Here is an excerpt from that former post I wrote for those who never got a chance to engage it:
Yet, if you were to be honest with yourself, do you feel more lonely NOW than you did five years ago? I have the feeling the answer may be a resounding YES. The technology revolution, while providing us with an amazing array of advances in communication capabilities, has also caused us to become alienated to each other in true, authentic, SOUL connected ways. How many of you are using texting as your major form of ‘communicating’ with each other? And are substituting Facebook and Skype chats in lieu of actually going to visit someone IN PERSON. Don't get me wrong, some of these advances have actually made great strides in connecting people who would otherwise never have even met. I get that! I've gone on dates from it! (Though it doesn't make dating any easier..TRUST!)
“As a nation, we are embracing the digital revolution and, ironically, we are becoming a lonelier population. While there are many benefits of being participants in possibly the most relationally connected age in human history, the social media revolution has not made us feel more connected, less lonely, or replete with friends,” reports David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group. In the same Barna report, they discovered that loneliness has doubled in the past decade.
According to Ms. Rankin, people who are subjected to long periods of loneliness are MUCH more susceptible to a malady of illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, dementia, and chronic inflammatory disease. Not to mention skyrocketing increases in both clinical depression and anxiety. Scary stuff, huh?!?!
Now here comes even more proof of the importance of real authentic human connection as a key to our well being and long term happiness in the coming decades. The Mindvalley Academy Blog released a Harvard Study that followed over 700 men for 75 YEARS to try and uncover the key to long term HAPPINESS in the human condition. These type of studies are quite rare given the fact that following a test group for 3/4 of a century is fraught with many potential problems as one might imagine. Funding dries up, people drop out of the study, etc. None the less, this study was actually able to complete its initial mission to completion! Amazing!! And do you know what they discovered?? That without a doubt, the key to long term well being and happiness is genuine human connection and authentic relationships. Very much in line with Lissa Rankin's beliefs, the study learned that even those in their retirement years that were the happiest had one large thing in common. They replaced their work place relationships with post retirement playmates! I LOVE IT!!
In addition, they found that having a significant other was another intricate part of a person's HAPPINESS. Now I know that sounds like standard issued wisdom, but one fascinating aspect of this finding is that they found that it DID NOT MATTER how much a couple fights. All couples turn into the Bickersons from time to time after all, right?! What WAS important was that even though they fought, that both partners felt the other was their true friend and authentically loved them despite their frustrations and differences in the relationship.
So exactly what can all of us fellow New Age Nerds discern from these two similar Ted talks?!?
To answer this question, I will leave you with the ending to my previous post, as I believe it may offer some wonderful insight and suggestions toward ways we can re-learn to connect with one another in meaningful ways and manners!
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This is where we all have an obligation to take responsibility for this epidemic and its potential CURE! AS the saying goes, “How can there be so many lonely people, in a world FILLED with lonely people.” I suggest us all incorporating the Universal Law of BE THE SOURCE into our daily practice. Essentially, this means to simply be the source of what you are seeking for others. So for instance, the next time you are feeling lonely, think of someone in your life who may be going through a rough patch of their own and reach out to them. And I DO NOT mean shooting them a text or writing them a Facebook post. I mean picking up the phone and truly connecting with them. Invite them out for coffee, or over to your place for a meaningful conversation, face to face! You will be amazed at how much better and less isolated you will feel by taking these action steps in your life. Not to mention spreading the same sense of connection with others!
This is where we all have an obligation to take responsibility for this epidemic and its potential CURE! AS the saying goes, “How can there be so many lonely people, in a world FILLED with lonely people.” I suggest us all incorporating the Universal Law of BE THE SOURCE into our daily practice. Essentially, this means to simply be the source of what you are seeking for others. So for instance, the next time you are feeling lonely, think of someone in your life who may be going through a rough patch of their own and reach out to them. And I DO NOT mean shooting them a text or writing them a Facebook post. I mean picking up the phone and truly connecting with them. Invite them out for coffee, or over to your place for a meaningful conversation, face to face! You will be amazed at how much better and less isolated you will feel by taking these action steps in your life. Not to mention spreading the same sense of connection with others!
Hopefully, we can all agree that life's greatest JOYS come from sharing laughter, memories, love, and happiness with others. In fact, I would like to offer everyone reading this post a challenge. What would it look like to pick up the phone over the weekend, and call an old friend or relative that you have not spoken to in over a year, and catch up on old times?!I believe your heart and theirs will be filled with GRATITUDE by making such a gesture! I can attest to its transformative power by the many times I have done this myself! By using the tool of BEING THE SOURCE, you call Spirit into your experience and with that comes the magic of miracles. And right now, our planet needs the miracle of reconnection to help UNITE fractured relationships and disconnected souls in desperate need of the KNOWINGNESS that not only are they not alone, but that someone cares...........
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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