#2 Always put people first
Dear R&M,
If there’s one obvious insight your mom and I garnered this last month and through the adventures of this last year is that by far the most important thing in life is people and relationships. Many studies recent and not-so-recent have found that the sense of community is what results in both happiness and longevity! As researchers at Harvard’s Kennedy School put it “personal happiness is also much more closely tied to the level of community social connectedness and trust than to income or educational levels.”
But we don’t need research to tell us what life can teach us — that friends, siblings, cousins, uncles and aunts are a God-given support system, that can pull us through rough times, bolster our happiness and self confidence and keep us going, when we are ready to throw in the towel. Yet all too often, we forget to nourish these relationships — whether a simple phone call, a WhatsApp message or text, an old-fashioned post card or best of all a visit in person. Sure there will be times, when the person you need to put first is yourself, but most other times make the effort to reach out and say hello or talk to that relative or friend.
Have you called your (grand)ma today?
to learn more
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/communitysurvey/results.html
http://www.wsj.com/articles/want-great-longevity-and-health-it-takes-a-village-1432304395
