Felicitismo, la clave para la reconexión

Why is Happytalism key to reconnection?

We live in a divided world. And not just politically. The world economy is creating winners and losers, with no clear way to prosperity for millions of people. The last couple of decades have produced great inequality of wealth and, with it, unequal access to the reins of power. We are separated along local, regional, and borderlines, and we are divided into rural and urban parts. We increasingly struggle with differences of class, race, and religion.

But the polarization doesn’t stop here. We are also divided politically and ideologically. Race wars, abortion, same-sex marriage, poverty, the use and abuse of power, environmental protection – you name it. The political parties worldwide play a more important role in how people vote and how they think about political issues than we imagine. And the news is no help in that matter. These political, economic, and other polarizations are a clear result of us becoming more and more separated from ourselves, from others, and our planet.

So what can we, as humans, do about this? We must boost public understanding about how to participate in the process, from the smallest towns to the biggest countries in the world. We have to be more mindful when it comes to public dialogue. We must strive for collaboration, cooperation, and compromise in all matters of human existence. Only then can we make our first step towards global human flourishing.

In work and life, we have to deal with others with civility and respect. We should try to recognize our differences and value the things we share in common. This means listening carefully, understanding the other’s point of view, and finding a way to accommodate differences so that everyone can gain something rather than fights producing winners and losers. It also means striving not to hurt others for our sake but instead persuading them to reach a result that helps everyone succeed. Finally, it means that we are all in this together, that we are all striving for the common good.

The Pandemic of Loneliness

Way before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness was already recognized as a significant public health issue, prompting numerous countries to create a strategy to end loneliness. But with the start of the pandemic, and with such measures as lockdowns, shielding, and limiting contact with others, has left millions more dealing with social isolation, lengthy separations, and loneliness.

In America, just in the past couple of decades, the number of people with zero friends has tripled! More than one-third of people over 45 report feeling lonely, with the predominance among those under 25 and over 65 years old. [According to a recent Cigna study](https://www.cigna.com/about-us/newsroom/studies-and-reports/loneliness-questionn

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