{"id":2263,"date":"2019-10-21T07:19:01","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T07:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happiness-speaker.co.uk\/?p=2263"},"modified":"2019-10-21T07:19:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T07:19:01","slug":"for-flourishings-sake-podcast-episode-8-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/?p=2263","title":{"rendered":"For Flourishing&#8217;s Sake Podcast | Episode 8 | Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to episode eight. \u00a0My experiences over the last week have caused me to reflect on human connection.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/11709857\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/664388\/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"90\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nLast Tuesday, I graduated from my MAPP (MSc in Applied Positive Psychology). \u00a0Of course, I was excited and proud to finally attend the ceremony and receive the bit of paper that confirms I\u2019ve done it, but the most exhilarating part about the day and evening was connection.\u00a0 My husband took the day off work, mum flew over from Luxembourg, my eldest daughter came over for dinner the night before, and my youngest was gutted she couldn\u2019t take time out from Uni, but sent me so much love via WhatsApp messages I could almost feel the squeezy hugs! Over the duration of my course, I have connected &#8211; and forged lasting strong friendships &#8211; with some amazing people. We have shared life\u2019s brilliantly great, everyday mundane and terrifyingly awful experiences. And last Tuesday, we celebrated our achievements together.\u00a0 It was joyous!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/show\/205347\/039A5535.jpg\" alt=\"My MAPP friends and I at our graduation\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>My MAPP friends and I celebrating our graduation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>Photo credit:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/russgostelow.com\/\">www.russgostelow.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then, on Thursday, I presented a Positive Education workshop at the <a href=\"https:\/\/positiveeducation.net\/\">IPEN<\/a> (International Positive Education Network) Ultimate Wellbeing in Education Conference in London. During the workshop, I introduced an activity I\u2019d previously done as part of the Positive and Character Education workshop my <a href=\"http:\/\/rws.today\/\">RWS<\/a> colleague Elizabeth Wright and I ran with teachers from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leoacademytrust.co.uk\/web\">LEO Academy Trust<\/a> we are supporting through their Action Research Projects.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s a simple enough activity<\/strong>: I ask participants to walk around the room and talk to at least two people and find at least three things they have in common with each other.\u00a0 It was particularly moving for me to do this after hearing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kim-leadbeater-a545a48a\/?originalSubdomain=uk\"> Kim Leadbeater<\/a>, sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox, poignantly remind us in her brilliant keynote of <a href=\"https:\/\/parliamentlive.tv\/event\/index\/00871386-3032-4bda-bfe5-7af41437696e?in=17:35:40\"> Jo Cox\u2019s maiden speech<\/a> in Parliament, in which she said that we \u201chave far more in common with each other than things that divide us\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Teachers have told me they hadn\u2019t realised they didn\u2019t know really basic things about people they work with every day, and this activity allowed them to connect on a personal level.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to share intimate details about your life to connect with another human being, but just taking the time to talk to each other beyond \u201chello \/ good morning\u201d and work-related conversations is a worthwhile endeavour.<\/p>\n<p>During the conference\u2019s lunch break, I was tempted to take some time out and sit by myself, catching up with urgent e-mails, but I was there to connect with others, so when I saw a stranger sitting by herself, I asked if I could join her.\u00a0 We had a fantastic conversation and both left saying how glad we were to have connected! The conference also gave me the opportunity to catch up with people I either see rarely or knew but hadn\u2019t met in person yet. I left at the end of the day feeling tired but replenished.<\/p>\n<p>For fascinating insights about the science of connection, I highly recommend the book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/17237217-social\">Social: Why our brains are wired to connect<\/a>\u201d by Matthew Lieberman. \u00a0Lieberman states that \u201cwhat all mammalian infants \u2026 really need from the moment of birth is a caregiver who is committed to making sure that the infant\u2019s biological needs are met.\u00a0 If this is true, then Maslow had it wrong.\u201d He goes on to say that \u201cour biology is built to thirst for connection because it is linked to our most basic survival needs.\u201d (p.43)<\/p>\n<p>So this week I invite you to look after your most basic survival need for human connection. Strike up a conversation with a stranger, have a more in-depth conversation with a colleague, smile at people, make eye contact and truly connect.\u00a0 Your week will be better for it! As always, I welcome your comments and would love to know how you\u2019ve implemented this week\u2019s tip and what the results have been.<\/p>\n<p>Until we speak again, For Flourishing\u2019s Sake, have a great week!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/pond5.com\/royalty-free-music\/item\/105269169-everyday-hero-60-second-version-corporate-motivational-you-t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Everyday Hero &#8211; 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast)<\/a> Music by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pond5.com\/\">Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to episode eight. \u00a0My experiences over the last week have caused me to reflect on human connection. Last Tuesday, I graduated from my MAPP (MSc in Applied Positive Psychology). \u00a0Of course, I was excited and proud to finally attend the ceremony and receive the bit of paper that confirms I\u2019ve done it, but the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,526],"tags":[549,550,551,387,524,525,60,527,393],"class_list":["post-2263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-for-flourishings-sake-podcast","tag-communication","tag-connection","tag-conversation","tag-education","tag-flourishing","tag-for-flourishings-sake","tag-podcast","tag-podcast-episode","tag-wellbeing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}