Once you’ve mastered the art of talking and listening more effectively, there are other steps you can take to widen and deepen your social circle, Dr. Ornish says. Here are the actions he recommends.
Practice altruism, forgiveness, and compassion. It’s in your own selfish best interest, says Dr. Ornish. A major 12-year study showed that men who never do volunteer work are 2ã/ã times more likely to die young than those who volunteer at least once weekly.
Compassion and forgiveness, says Dr. Ornish, simply are healing emotions. Help others in ways that you feel comfortable doing so-and never because you feel forced to, he advises.
Share secrets. Every man needs at least one other person in the world with whom he can feel free to be himself completely, to confide in. Find people and groups with which you feel comfortable letting down your hair.
Be a joiner. Clubs, church, study groups, support groups, any ongoing positive social interaction in which we have an opportunity to develop a sense of community encourages us to be self-disclosing and is healing and helpful, Dr. Ornish says.
Meet your “higher self.” Develop your sense of communion and connectedness with God or a higher sense of being, advises Dr. Ornish. “On one level we’re all separate, you and I,” he says. “On another level, we’re part of something larger that connects us…
Having that spiritual vision, that double vision, being able to see both the unity and the diversity, is a very powerful healing experience for many people.”
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