People need each other. Our well-being is tightly tethered to the well-being of people we do not know, most of whom look nothing like ourselves. Happiness, I realized right there in breathing class, requires engagement.

Paula Poundstone
About This Quote

People need each other. Our well-being is tightly tethered to the well-being of people we do not know, most of whom look nothing like ourselves. Happiness, I realized right there in breathing class, requires engagement. As we breathe and move our bodies, we naturally engage with the world around us.

We interact with people by greeting them and saying hello and goodbye and greeting and goodbye and greeting and goodbye. We build relationships with people who we do not know and who do not know us by shaking hands, hugging, kissing cheeks, holding hands, talking to each other about our day, touching shoulders or arms or hands or arms or shoulders or backs. We give gifts to people we do not know and who do not know us by giving flowers, chocolates, cookbooks, cards with pictures on them of kittens licking their lips… The list goes on.

Source: The Totally Unscientific Study Of The Search For Human Happiness

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