Cross-group friendship

Wendy Berry  (2007) discovered that it is good for health to have egalitarian attitudes (to not have any prejudice, to treat and think to all people as equal). Cross-group friendship means to be exposed to other people from other groups and become friend with them. Elizabeth Page used what she called Art Aron "fast friend procedure" to study this phenomenon. Two people come together and start asking questions. They start with easy ones like "what is your favorite color?" and continue. After 45 minutes stress levels caused by inter-group interaction are going down and they can ask close intimate questions. More surprising it is that once the stress levels caused by inter-group interaction decrease, it will stay low, and even after 2-4 weeks, doing the same thing will be much easier. As a result, we will have a general increase of individual happiness, but also of humanity average happiness.

Penny for your thoughts?

Legendary weapons in World of Warcraft,one trip to Bali, friendship and happiness

Just few words about friendship in relation with happiness and I am done. Not enough time today, getting ready to see the new Sasha Cohen Baron movie, called Grimsby. I am enjoying being back in my little town when I have friends being miserable in Bali.

• According to some research, the number of close friends declined by 33% over past generation. (Not very funny, but most of my close friends at some point in time "unfriended" each other over items drop in World of Warcraft)
• In 1971, a researcher called Trivers said that we start to trade and share resources with others whom we call friends.
• Shelley Taylor point that tendencies toward friendship and connection activate oxytocin and counteract the responses at stress.
• Friendship is associated with better health profiles.
• In 1979, Berkman and Syme found that if you do not have a strong network of friends, you are 1.9 to 3.1 times more likely to die.
• Nancy Adler and Kiko Claser discovered that rich patterns of friendship will result in less stress on daily basis and lower levels of cortisol.

In conclusion, friendship is not only good for happiness, but it is also beneficial to physical health and stress profiles. 

To infinity and beyond

I remember now as if it was yesterday. How each of us managed to see a glimpse into the other’s soul. We understand like not many can. I don’t know why. I close my eyes and I smile. Even at this moment, when she’s having a husband for more than 7 years, and I have a wife…

Passing each other on the street, we just look and our eyes can talk in between them. We laugh in our mind, as we just shared some thoughts known only by us. Nothing changed. We can talk for one day and one night, continuing a discussion that took place 2 years ago. What I could add? In everyone life are people, bound to us by invisible chains, and our relation with them is not affected by time, prejudice or society.  A warm feeling is sent by me, to all the people around that make us to feel ourselves. No hiding, no false pretenses.  For friends of a lifetime, or maybe several of lifetimes.