On The Psychology Podcast, Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky tells us:
“Almost all the interventions that we have ever done that have worked to make people happier work by making them feel more connected or interacting more with other people. So when you write a gratitude letter to your mom it makes you feel more connected to your mom. When you do acts of kindness it makes you feel more connected to the world in general or the people that you’re helping. I think connection is really the key to happiness. It sounds like such a cliche right but it took me like 20 years to get to the point where I’m like realizing connection is the key to happiness.”
In our house, we have daily connection time blocks. I have a checkbox on my meaningful day checklist for a 15-minute connection time block with my son and daughter.
If one of them makes a bid for my attention to honor that time block, I do it. It can be playing with dolls, biking, pretend play, a snowball fight, throwing the ball, shooting some hoops, playing chess, drawing, etc.
It is basically whatever my child wishes to do. Fifteen minutes seems like a small amount of time, but even 15 minutes of phone-free connection time makes a huge difference when aggregated over days, months, and years.
Similarly, we have family connection time blocks on Saturday and Sunday until after lunch. After lunch, everyone has the autonomy to pursue their personal interests and hobbies.
