I recently read an article from Discovery News that got me thinking about social bonding and connections. The article, named “Why are Religious People Happier” (written by Emily Sohr 7/12), in short, had this to say:- - Close friendships explain why religious people tend to report more life satisfaction than others. - People who go to their places of worship often tend to be happier than those who go less frequently. - Sharing any kind of bond, especially close bonds over mutually shared and meaningful beliefs and interests might boost well-being and quality of life. To explain further, the article goes on to say that studies show that it’s the close friends people gain through their religions that make the difference and that it seems to be something about being part of a congregation in particular that seems to build a sense of community and leads to fulfilment for many people. These people may tend to volunteer more, care more about their communities and do more good in their neighbourhoods More research offers a suggestion that people get more satisfaction out of their church friendships than they do out of other friendships in their lives. The article continues... John Helliwell, Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s program on Social Interactions, Identity and Well Being (University of British Columbia, Vancover) concludes “You might guess that the more important the things you share are, the more easily you would connect with people” So, for me, I would say firstly that Statistics and research are just a helpful guide. Although they aren’t conclusive I do feel that they can help us gain insight and gets us thinking. My thoughts are, in our world today, the Western World particularly, we miss the ‘community spirit’ and the meaningful shared purposes that bind us. We only need to look at recent history to see, for example, in times of great hardship and times where we can see the worst of humanity we also see the best of humanity, inner strengths, unstoppable spirit and strong community. Years ago acceptance into a tribe would equate to survival and, therefore, would be an essential need. I would suggest that this need for inclusion and common purposes is still in our biological make up; our evolutionary programming. This need to be part of a group of friends / team / gang / in-law acceptance / social group / etc. So as the date is now 1.1.11, oh and Happy New Year to all, I’d like to ask a question for us all to ponder. Do we just think of no.1, or do we find how to “Be at one”. Be at one with ourselves and be at one with others. How about finding ‘likenesses’ in people that help us connect to each other and ‘likenesses’ in ourselves to help us feel connected. And forget about dislikenesses that only serve to divide.... How about making this the year that counts for us all!
I recently read an article from Discovery News that got me thinking about social bonding and connections. The article, named “Why are Religious People Happier” (written by Emily Sohr 7/12), in short, had this to say:-
ReplyDelete- Close friendships explain why religious people tend to report more life satisfaction than others.
- People who go to their places of worship often tend to be happier than those who go less frequently.
- Sharing any kind of bond, especially close bonds over mutually shared and meaningful beliefs and interests might boost well-being and quality of life.
To explain further, the article goes on to say that studies show that it’s the close friends people gain through their religions that make the difference and that it seems to be something about being part of a congregation in particular that seems to build a sense of community and leads to fulfilment for many people. These people may tend to volunteer more, care more about their communities and do more good in their neighbourhoods
More research offers a suggestion that people get more satisfaction out of their church friendships than they do out of other friendships in their lives. The article continues... John Helliwell, Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s program on Social Interactions, Identity and Well Being (University of British Columbia, Vancover) concludes “You might guess that the more important the things you share are, the more easily you would connect with people”
So, for me, I would say firstly that Statistics and research are just a helpful guide. Although they aren’t conclusive I do feel that they can help us gain insight and gets us thinking.
My thoughts are, in our world today, the Western World particularly, we miss the ‘community spirit’ and the meaningful shared purposes that bind us. We only need to look at recent history to see, for example, in times of great hardship and times where we can see the worst of humanity we also see the best of humanity, inner strengths, unstoppable spirit and strong community. Years ago acceptance into a tribe would equate to survival and, therefore, would be an essential need. I would suggest that this need for inclusion and common purposes is still in our biological make up; our evolutionary programming. This need to be part of a group of friends / team / gang / in-law acceptance / social group / etc.
So as the date is now 1.1.11, oh and Happy New Year to all, I’d like to ask a question for us all to ponder. Do we just think of no.1, or do we find how to “Be at one”. Be at one with ourselves and be at one with others. How about finding ‘likenesses’ in people that help us connect to each other and ‘likenesses’ in ourselves to help us feel connected. And forget about dislikenesses that only serve to divide.... How about making this the year that counts for us all!
Posted by Jayne 22:14:00 01.01.2011