A Pitch for The Good Life

I'm listening to The Good Life. It pairs very well with many of the ideas that have been occupying my mind and blog recently.

From chapter 1:

"For eighty-four years (and counting), the Harvard Study has tracked the same individuals, asking thousands of questions and taking hundreds of measurements to find out what really keeps people healthy and happy. Through all the years of studying these lives, one crucial factor stands out for the consistency and power of its ties to physical health, mental health, and longevity. Contrary to what many people might think, it’s not career achievement, or exercise, or a healthy diet. Don’t get us wrong; these things matter (a lot). But one thing continuously demonstrates its broad and enduring importance: Good relationships. In fact, good relationships are significant enough that if we had to take all eighty-four years of the Harvard Study and boil it down to a single principle for living, one life investment that is supported by similar findings across a wide variety of other studies, it would be this: Good relationships keep us healthier and happier. Period."

From chapter 2:

"As time goes on, study after study, including our own, continues to reinforce the connection between good relationships and health, regardless of a person’s location, age, ethnicity, or background. Although the life of a poor Italian kid who grew up during the Great Depression in South Boston and the life of a 1940 Harvard graduate who went on to become a senator are quite different from each other—and even more different from a modern woman of color—we all share a common humanity. Like the Holt-Lunstad review, analyses of hundreds of studies tell us that the basic benefits of human connection do not change much from one neighborhood to the next, from one city to the next, from one country to the next, or from one race to the next. It is indisputable that many societies are unequal; there are cultural practices and systemic factors causing significant amounts of inequity and emotional pain. But the capacity of relationships to affect our well-being and health is universal."

 

I want to come back to more of these ideas and connect what I gather from the book with utilitarianism and a few of my other recent posts.