A friend who is part of a healthy eating group was explaining the community aspect of the programme – they are ‘required’ to talk with 3 other people in the programme every day. Note, that is talk to 3 others so if someone else calls you it counts as a contact without you having to dial. The rationale for this according to the leader is:
- Being in community with others in the same pursuit increases the odds of staying and succeeding.
- Talking to another person with a shared goal makes one feel better about oneself, both parties feel normal, seen and supported.
- Increasing dopamine and oxytocin levels in the brain by reaching out to another human leads to positive feelings.
Upon hearing this I thought there was enough rationale to call people I know spontaneously without being in a ‘programme.’ So I’ve done it a few times recently and the positive feelings are immense and felt on both sides.
I feel good doing something I said I wanted to do. The recipient feels special in being contacted and this is in part facilitated by the fact it’s spontaneous. I believe our lives have become so scheduled (and those who know me know I love a good plan) that we’ve lost the carefree nature of just touching base with someone in the moment.
Another friend was having a new phone line installed (yes, a landline) and was told by the engineers that the line was too short to reach the current phone location. She was told she could put a table in the (narrow) hallway for the phone. We reminisced about our childhood use of phones. We had to walk to the phone and stay within the cord’s length even when talking about private matters with our gfs within earshot of our parents (yes I feel old).
There was something about the unexpected joy of spontaneous calls that still exists.
Who would you like to spontaneously call?
