Social Suppport: Friends in Need

Once again research has proved what we have known intuitively all along. A now famous study by David Spiegel regarding support groups and breast cancer patients revealed that those people who had friends to turn to in times of crisis fared better than those who did not. Other studies have backed this up as well. As John Donne so famously said, “No man is an island.” Personal support groups consist of family, friends, colleagues, even pets these days. In essence, people whom we can turn to when we need a shoulder to cry on, or someone to simply share a meal, a laugh or an extraordinary event. Sociologists predicted years ago that as we immerse ourselves in to the lair of technology, the existence of support groups will weaken as people spend more time on the computer than in face to face interactions (many people don’t even know the names of their next door neighbors!). Technology has tried to answer this concern with a variety of social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, FaceBook, etc.) yet jpgs, one sentence emails and 140 character tweets, as great as they may be, are no substitute for human interaction. Real Friends, in real time, are true friends indeed!
• Stress Tip for the Day:
Take stock of your personal support group and take time to cultivate these relationships, IN PERSON! Friends (even family), come and go as we get older, which means we need to cultivate new relationships to maintain a critical mass of our support groups. Consider inviting someone new in your life to lunch or for a short walk in the nearest park. Take time to cultivate your social support groups. Quality of life is what support groups are all about!

• Link Worth Noting:
www.Sharingwellnessinfo.com is a website that offers LOTS of information and current news stories about hundreds of wellness topics. The site was created by two colleagues of mine who have a passion about helping people on their wellness journeys.

Here is a link to their most recent newsletter
http://sharingwellnessinfocom.cmail1.com/t/y/u/klkhtr/ijchhth/

• Photo of the Day:
Dolphins know the importance of social support networks (rarely, if ever do you see a dolphin swimming by itself). This photo was taken of a pod of spinner dolphins off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. They get their name because when they jump up out of water, they spin (rotate) a few times before they enter back into the water.

• Quote for the Day:
“Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof.”
— Richard Bach, author of the book, Illusions

Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned expert in the fields of stress management, mind-body-spirit healing and stress and human spirituality. He is the author of over 10 books including the bestsellers, Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water, Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backward, The Art of Calm, Quiet Mind, Fearless Heart and Managing Stress (6E). He can be reached through his website:www.brianlukeseaward.net

© Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D.

Brian Luke Seaward

Author Brian Luke Seaward

More posts by Brian Luke Seaward

Leave a Reply