5 expert techniques to improve your social relationships and well-being
How do you find time to see your friends or even call them when you are exhausted by a stressful daily life and a mental load on the verge of explosion? If the majority of us share this feeling of chasing time to the detriment of our friendly relationships. However, depriving ourselves of these social relationships is depriving ourselves of a key ingredient for our daily well-being and happiness!
Social connections and social bonds represent an important factor in well-being. Numerous scientific studies support this. Therefore, how can we move beyond this feeling of permanent pressure and find time to take care of our friendships? Jaime Kurtz author of the book “Our New Social Life: Science-Backed Strategies for Creating Meaningful Connection” , revealed in Psychology Today his analysis on the subject offers us five concrete strategies to remedy it. For her, we feel busier than we really are. The problem is that our free time has become totally fragmented, researchers call it “confetti time”, scattered throughout the day and which we easily waste on social networks for example. Here’s how to optimize our free time to associate it with meaningful social relationships!
Reintroduce phone calls with your friends
Take a strike from social networks, WhatsApp messages and other means of digital connection and go back to basics: call your friends! Calling a friend has become completely obsolete and yet scientists consider it to be the best means of connection for mental health!
“A study published in 2021 revealed that receiving a phone call several times a week could reduce the degree of depression, the feeling of loneliness and anxiety of the majority of participants!”explains this expert. The phone call does not necessarily need to be long: 8 minutes would be enough to bring joy to our correspondent and strengthen a friendship!
Practice texting gratitude
If you can’t make all the phone calls that seem important to you, then here’s a second very simple habit to adopt: it’s about sending kind text messages to our loved ones, text messages filled with gratitude! It doesn’t require much time, it’s simple and particularly effective.
How do you send a gratitude text? Simply write to a friend why you appreciate them or thank them for being there for you every day. Expressing gratitude brings people together and strengthens bonds. According to the expert, even if it seems strange to you, do it and you will see that your loved ones will not find it strange but pleasant!
Open up to local exchanges
Beyond long-term friends, your dear pillars, there are also tons of people in your daily life that you come across: parents of students leaving school, bakers, neighbors… We sometimes miss out on warm moment when you don’t open up to this type of people.
You have the power to create a bond with these regular contacts by engaging in caring conversations! Even what we commonly call small talks can provide a real boost to morale: yours and that of the person to whom you offer your time. Think for a moment of the smile of a stranger in the street or the compliments that a shopkeeper may have given you: these types of little touches can act on us like a real ray of sunshine and leave us in a state of joy all day long. .
Be a listening ear for your loved ones
Also, whether it’s these small, innocuous exchanges or your calls between friends, never forget to listen: even during short exchanges, try to be kind and fully present. Giving 5 minutes of your time to listen to a friend can make all the difference.
If you feel like you haven’t mastered empathy perfectly, don’t worry! You can simply listen and offer reassuring posture, even in non-verbal language. “You can build a deep relationship and help each other feel good in just a few minutes,” says Jaime Kurtz!
Practice meditation Mettaor kindness meditation
Metta meditation, also called loving-kindness meditation or loving-kindness meditation, is a Buddhist practice aimed at cultivating positive feelings toward oneself and others. The main goal of this meditation is to develop a warm, compassionate and loving state of mind, while reducing negative emotions like anger, envy or hatred. It can also promote a feeling of connection with others and inner peace.
Also, this act of meditation can allow you to be connected to the people who are dear to you but also put you in the best conditions to know how to distribute your time to the right people. Finally, lack of time is not an insurmountable barrier if you follow these valuable tips which take no more than twenty minutes!
Source : Psychology Today