The times we live in are characterized by disconnection, pain and political division. It is characterized by an inability to understand our fellow human beings, where we shut ourselves off from the desire to understand the views, stories and humanity of others.
This age of disconnection is literally killing us. Long-term studies have found that our lack of meaningful communication and connection literally takes precious time out of our lives and contributes to loneliness and isolation. Social disconnection is the cause of many mental disorders.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced loneliness as a global public health problem “as a universal threat” that affects the lives of not only older people, but increasingly younger people, especially since the pandemic era.
There has being a great change in the way we communicate nowadays. It has become rare nowadays to listen attentively and to want to understand our fellow human beings. Instead of desiring and responsibly inviting our interlocutor to express himself, we tend to shame, condemn or strip the humanity from those with whom we disagree. This leads us to stay in our prisons and refuse to connect with people who have different beliefs from us. This leads to us staying in our prisons and refusing to associate with people who have different beliefs from us. This means that we are not exposed to other ways of thinking or being and we further reinforce our own prejudices. Thus, we come to stereotype others, and we miss the detail and complexity that comes with the variety of identities that people have.
Ιf we want to strengthen our relationships rather than destroy them, we must learn to ask questions rather than simply judge. We must become people who look for stories instead of positions, and values instead of opinions. We need to look within ourselves; to become curious about our past and our feelings, rather than constantly seeking information coming from the outside world, so that we learn to take responsibility for ourselves. To learn to listen, to understand and not to blame. Perhaps we need to learn to forgive ourselves and others as well. We need to rediscover our compassion and our humanity.
@Discover Growth Therapy/ communication and relationships
Georgia Kryparakou
Psychologist MSc-Psychotherapist
