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Speaker 1: Today we are talking about the fourth pillar of mental fitness,

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Speaker 1: and that is all about connection. One of the most

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Speaker 1: powerful things we can do for our mental health is

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Speaker 1: also one of the most natural, and that is just

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Speaker 1: simply bang with another human being. And yet we seem

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Speaker 1: to be doing less and less of this. Loneliness isn't

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Speaker 1: an all time high. We aren't connecting in meaningful ways,

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Speaker 1: at least not often enough. We're living in a time

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Speaker 1: where connection often means followers and likes or belonging to

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Speaker 1: a social media tribe, and this is confusing us with

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Speaker 1: the real thing. We're working harder. We're striving for success, money, recognition, influence,

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Speaker 1: but in prioritizing those things, we're sometimes forgetting what actually

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Speaker 1: sustains us, and that is people, not digital versions of people,

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Speaker 1: but real, embodied, honest relationships. And we need these relationships.

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Speaker 1: We need these connections to survive. And that's a big

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Speaker 1: part of why so many people feel disconnected right now,

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Speaker 1: even while we're constantly digitally connected, because too often the

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Speaker 1: screen that we're staring at has become more important than

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Speaker 1: the person in front of us. And I think we're

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Speaker 1: all guilty of that. But the good news is there

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Speaker 1: seems to be a bit of a shift happening. More

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Speaker 1: people are waking up to the fact that strong relationships

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Speaker 1: are imperative to their lives, and they are a foundation

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Speaker 1: or one of the foundations to mental fitness, and we

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Speaker 1: can choose, we can choose to lean into them. So

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Speaker 1: I grew up in the seventies and eighties, and I

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Speaker 1: remember my mum would go on a Saturday morning and

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Speaker 1: she'd gone knock on the door of her friends' houses unannounced.

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Speaker 1: As far as I know, it was unannounced, and she'd

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Speaker 1: just rock up for a coffee, and I'd go with

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Speaker 1: her and we'd be welcomed in like family. Now. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if many of you have your friends just

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Speaker 1: knock on the door randomly to see if you're around

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Speaker 1: for a coffee, but I know somebody did that. Now

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Speaker 1: I would probably think it was a bit strange, but

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Speaker 1: that's what was normal back then. And the other one

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Speaker 1: I was thinking of is my brother would every practically

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Speaker 1: every time he came home from school, he would then

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Speaker 1: be out the door and he'd be meeting the neighborhood boys.

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Speaker 1: They'd jump on their bikes and they'd disappear for hours.

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Speaker 1: And that we would walk to the local milk bar

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Speaker 1: and we'd chat to the owners and we'd spend twenty

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Speaker 1: cents on mixed lollies and they waited patiently for us

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Speaker 1: to decide which ones we were going to choose. And

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Speaker 1: if you're the same as man you grew up in

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Speaker 1: that ear, you would know what I'm talking about. There

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Speaker 1: were a lot of these micro connections, so they weren't

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Speaker 1: big moments, but they were moments of connection, and whether

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Speaker 1: we knew it or not at the time, they really mattered. Well,

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Speaker 1: we seem to be losing that. And it's not just

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Speaker 1: about family and friends. I think it's about community. So

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Speaker 1: this morning I went to the local market and I

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Speaker 1: decided intentionally to create a few meaningful micro connections. So

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Speaker 1: I made a conscious decision as to how I was

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Speaker 1: going to show up at the markets. I was on

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Speaker 1: my own, so I started with chatting to the man

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Speaker 1: who was collecting the gold coins for who was raising

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Speaker 1: money for Rotary, and we just chatted for just even

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Speaker 1: like it was ten seconds. If that just about the weather,

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Speaker 1: and I could have just thrown in the coin and

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Speaker 1: kept walking, but we had just chitchat about how good

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Speaker 1: the weather was and the fact that he had the

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Speaker 1: prime position sitting in the sun. And then I asked

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Speaker 1: the guy selling the sourdough bread that we always get,

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Speaker 1: and I will take this opportunity to give a shout

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Speaker 1: out to Flinda's sourdough because if you're ever in Flinder's,

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Speaker 1: you've got to go there on the morning to Peninsula.

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Speaker 1: It's the best sourdough bread. But I knew that he

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Speaker 1: had a newborn, so I was asking how his baby was.

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Speaker 1: And then I smiled and I said hello to a

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Speaker 1: few people just I was walking by. And these micro connections,

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Speaker 1: they really matter. They have a physiological effect. So we

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Speaker 1: release oxytocin and dopamine and serotonin and it literally boosts

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Speaker 1: our mood and regulates our stress. And so it's a

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Speaker 1: win win for everyone involved. But to create those we

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Speaker 1: need to do something simple, but something that seems to

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Speaker 1: be really hard at the moment, and that is to

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Speaker 1: put our phones away. And we need to encourage our

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Speaker 1: kids to put their phones away. I often see kids

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Speaker 1: walking or at the bus stop with their heads downstairs

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Speaker 1: at their mobile phones. And I even say, I've even

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Speaker 1: seen a boy around this neighborhood who walks his dogs

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Speaker 1: staring at his phone. And this isn't a criticism. I

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Speaker 1: don't know what their situation is, but it's just a

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Speaker 1: general example of what could be a missed opportunity for

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Speaker 1: them if they put their phones away and just looked

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Speaker 1: up a moment to connect, connect with others, connect with

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Speaker 1: the world around them. So I'm going to suggest a

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Speaker 1: journaling exercise to reflect on your daily connections. And this

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Speaker 1: is based on a Japanese reflection exercise called n I Can.

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Speaker 1: It does have three questions, but for now, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to suggest that you just ask two of these three questions,

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Speaker 1: and if you do decide to do this, you'll be

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Speaker 1: able to notice as you go about your day the

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Speaker 1: small and big, meaningful connections that you make. So the

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Speaker 1: questions are the first one is what did I receive

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Speaker 1: from others? And the question is what did I give

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Speaker 1: to others? So don't just focus on your inner circle here.

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Speaker 1: So like your inner circle stuff could be like your

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Speaker 1: husband made a cup of tea for you, or your

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Speaker 1: children gave you a hug, but also focus on the

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Speaker 1: wider community. So for example, you may have received a

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Speaker 1: warm hello from the person who took your coffee order,

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Speaker 1: or someone may have let you in the queue before them,

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Speaker 1: or maybe somebody just simply smiled at you, and then

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Speaker 1: the question what did I give? Maybe you put down

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Speaker 1: your device when your child started talking to you about

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Speaker 1: something that they considered really important and you gave them

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Speaker 1: your full attention. Or maybe you were playful with your

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Speaker 1: partner and you made them smile. Or maybe you smiled

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Speaker 1: at a stranger or told your barista that they make

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Speaker 1: the best coffee in town. It doesn't matter how big

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Speaker 1: or small. You just write down these little micro connections

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Speaker 1: of what you gave someone else. So it's a really

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Speaker 1: good way to reflect on how much you connect with

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Speaker 1: others during the day and how it made you feel

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Speaker 1: Meaningful connections make us feel good, and knowing that it

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Speaker 1: also makes other people feel good makes it even more meaningful.

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Speaker 1: So that's it for this week. Let's ramp up our

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Speaker 1: meaningful connections and encourage our kids to do the same.

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Speaker 1: And I hope you all have a great week and

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Speaker 1: I'll catch you next week. Sia