Why you should talk to strangers | BPS
They found that students who spent less time alone and more of their conversation time in meaningful (as opposed to ‘small’) talk reported having much higher wellbeing.
Robin Dunbar • Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships
Encounters with strangers can be a humbling reminder of the vastness of the world and of each other, the impossible-feeling truth that each one of us contains an entire universe of inner life and a singular perspective, that as a species we have an incredible capacity for kindness, cruelty, courage and creativity.
Sophie McBain • The big idea: why we should spend more time talking to strangers
Making a leap of faith around what other people are like helps to humanize the world. Whenever we encounter a stranger we’re not really encountering such a person, we’re encountering someone who is – in spite of surface evidence to the contrary – in basic ways very much like us, and therefore nothing fundamental stands between us and the possibilit
... See moreAlain De Botton • The School of Life: An Emotional Education
Acts of kindness, helping others, and going out of one’s way to be of assistance to those in need can, of course, increase the well-being of others.
Harvard University • How to Flourish: Practical Activities Supported by Scientific Research
The interesting person isn’t someone to whom obviously and outwardly interesting things have happened, someone who has travelled the world, met important dignitaries or been present at critical geopolitical events. Nor is it someone who speaks in learned terms about the great themes of culture, history or science. They are someone who has grown int
... See more