6 Gorgeous Bonding Activities to Do With Loved Ones
By: Cynthia Marinakos
Tags: Relationships, Love, Family, Life, Kindness

6 Gorgeous Bonding Activities to Do With Loved Ones

COVID has highlighted how much we need each other. Let’s find more opportunities to spend quality time with those we love.

Joy, a phone counselor at mental health agency Lifeline found the phones ringing immediately after the Victorian government announced the most stringent lockdowns Australia has ever experienced:

“There has been definitely an elevated sense of stress and anxiety people are experiencing, particularly around social distancing, quarantining, a sense of isolation, disconnection from family, friends, community.” (ABC News article, September 2020)

It’s easy to think we could live without people, particularly for those of us who are introverted, shy, or loners. Yet no matter how much we think we don’t need people, what’s clear is this:

We’re wired to connect.

COVID has helped many of us find gratitude and realize how deeply we care and love the special people in our lives. We’ve reflected on our futures and that of our kids. We’ve pondered about ways we’ll do more to appreciate the time with friends and family after COVID.

We need each other. And it’s nothing new, though COVID has emphasized how much relationships matter to us.

In the longest study of adult life to discover what makes a good life, a team tracked the lives of 2 groups of men each year since 1938. One group was educated and had served in the war. The other group was from Boston’s poor neighborhoods, with troubled and disadvantaged families. Each year for over 75 years, the boys were asked about their work, home lives, and health.

Robert Waldinger and his team were surprised that the typical assumptions of what people think make a good life: wealth, fame, and career were not what makes a good life. Instead, what they found consistently over both groups during the 75 years (and still going), was this: Good relationships make a good life.

Add to this their findings:

Social connections are good for us: loneliness can literally kill us through health problems and poorer brain function. Quality of close relationships matter: high conflict relationships are bad for health. Good relationships protect our brains: it makes memories stay sharper longer.

So this holiday season and new year let’s plan ways we can cherish the time we have with our loved ones past COVID. Let’s take a hard look at how we’ve been living. Reprioritize. Explore new ways of doing things. Remind ourselves to be present more often. Be intentional.

Here are 6 gorgeous ways to enjoy more quality time with loved ones:

1. Play ‘What If’

In The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg shares that “Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often”. If our brains can create a habit, whether positive or negative, it will.

One of the downsides to that is it’s easy to get caught up in the hamster spinning wheel of life. Doing the same thing day in and day out can lead to boredom, addiction, and regret when the routines don’t lead us to what we really want from our lives.

One way to get out of the rut is to play ‘What if’ to explore possibilities and uncover each other’s desires. Avoid the urge to judge, shut down ideas, or feel embarrassed. Dare to dream. For instance ‘What if’ we took time away from work for 3 months? ‘What if’ we moved overseas? ‘What if’ we got a dog? ‘What if’ we bought a campervan? ‘What if’ she wrote a book?

Follow up these questions with a ‘Why not?’ attitude and one tiny action to investigate the possibility further. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much power you have to steer your life.