Words that caught us: H-C is for Human Connection

 

The grim reality is that loneliness is rising in our world.

The good news is that businesses are coming up

With fascinating solutions, as can be seen in this article.

The bad is news is that technology

Is a poor substitute for quality time,

Spent with real humans.

 

What to do?

 

Jeremy Nobel says it best:

“I don’t think loneliness gets cured.

I think it gets navigated.

A more accurate way to look at loneliness

Is that it’s a human experience,

And serves a purpose, in the same way that thirst serves a purpose.

You don’t die of thirst, you die of dehydration.

[Thirst] sends a signal.

[Loneliness is] a signal

That there’s a human connection

That you need

That you’re not getting.”

 

The answer, then, is in developing our capacity

To cultivate, build and maintain human relationships.

 

Cultivate, as in, seek out.

Build, as in, invest in.

Maintain, as in, nurture and sustain.

 

The truth is, few of us can claim to be excellent

In all three.

 

Somewhere along the way,

Sooner or later,

Each of us will have to come to terms

With the fact that, nothing can substitute

For a deep human connection.

 

Where are you on the cultivate-build-maintain continuum?

How weak or loud is your 'signal' for human connection?

Are you listening to it?

 

 

*This reflection was inspired by this article in The Guardian