It increases the risk of depression, cardiovascular disease and even dementia.
Source: Public Health
We need lifestyle and behavioural change to prevent these long term health consequences of feeling lonely.
The World Health Organization and leading healthcare systems acknowledge that Pandemic Fatigue and Quarantine Fatigue need to be actively addressed.
Source: Cleveland Clinic, Mass General and Kaiser Permanente
Pandemic Fatigue is a mixed bag of symptoms us each differently. You need to focus your attention on how feeling lonely is affecting you most.
Even with vaccines, public health measures take time to have their full impact.
Source: McKinsey & Company
When we do get things under control, there will likely be an new normal that involves remote work.
Social media, despite its many benefits, continues to divide us. It leaves us feeling lonely leading to anxiety and depression.
Source: PLoS One
In order to feel connected during a pandemic which has us feeling lonelier than ever, we have to learn to listen and empathise again. This TED talk summarises why perfectly:
Here’s the truth
You can try to muddle along with your loneliness until the pandemic is over.
However, the effects on your health may already be huge by then because no matter how quickly we get a vaccine, it is going to take at least a year or two before things go back to normal.
Listen to Monkey is the ONLY FREE workshop dedicated to building communication skills and empathy.
Before we get into the steps and how-tos, here is a quick background on who we are and why we started Hippocrates Lounge, for credibility reasons.
Dilraj [right] is a Doctor, Academic and Entrepreneur. He trained at the University of Oxford, the top medical school in the world, where he continues to publish with colleagues about Patient Empowerment. He is a Lecturer in Digital Health at the University of Warwick and uses Lifestyle Medicine to help patients reverse disease in his online clinic Hippocrates Lounge. Shocked that 80% of health outcomes are due to health behaviors, socioeconomic background and physical environment, Dilraj is focused on Health at Work. Time and again, he has found that wellbeing programs lack the outcome metrics expected in the medical and business worlds. Using lifestyle, behavioral and digital health, he is ushering in a new era of Preventative Health Care.
Sukh [left] has donned hats as a Management Consultant, Digital Product Manager and Peak Performance Coach. Educated at the University of Oxford, he thrives in fiercely competitive environments where performance is vital. He has repeatedly observed that individuals and organizations seek performance at the expense of health. This adversarial perspective is short-termist, focused on hours worked rather than effectiveness and leads to burnout. Tracking his own mental, physical and emotional state, he developed habits which enable him to operate at his peak without sacrificing wellbeing. His core philosophy is that cultivating positive habits aligns health, happiness and performance.
Communication is broken. Real communication is about real listening and authentic talking. To truly connect and stop feeling lonely, we need to ask ourselves if we are really listening and if we are being authentic.
These are skills and habits that need to be developed and atrophy when not practiced regularly.
An essential component of the solution is a safe space in order to practice.
What makes a space safe?
Defining an intention with through guidelines and setting expectations
Again, this is for people struggling with feeling lonely who want to be heard, are willing to listen and want to grow their Emotional Intelligence
We have prepared a video course on Active Listening and Authentic Talking. Watch these before the workshop.
Join us for a 1.5 hour workshop on Zoom. We kick off with 15 minutes to ground ourselves and de-stress, ready to listen to one another.
We then pair off and practice our Active Listening skills for 30 minutes. Stop waiting for your opportunity to speak and practice non-judgement
Then you can talk for 30 minutes. You can practice being heard, give yourself the space to express yourself freely and can talk without censorship or judgment.
Having let your monkey mind get everything out of your system, leaving you feeling clear, we spend our last 15 minutes wrapping up and sharing feedback.
We’re all feeling lonely right now and could do with a chat.
People need this for themselves - you know someone who needs this.
People need this to be better for other people - you know someone who needs to work on themselves.
Real communication = active listening + authentic talking
Video course on active listening + authentic talking -> watch these before showing up
1.5 hour session via Zoom
15mins grounding
Active listening -> Practice listening skills / Listen for 30mins
Stop waiting for your opportunity to speak
Practice non-judgement
Authentic talking -> Practice being heard / Talk for 30mins
Practice allowingness over resistance
Give yourself the space to express yourself freely
Able to talk without censorship/judgment
No need to play a role/character for someone else
No guilt/intrusion on the other person
No mask required to protect yourself
Let monkey mind get everything out of your system
Leave feeling “empty”, “nothingness” and clear
15mins feedback & wrap-up
Everyone must agree to terms
Violators will be removed
Do not give out your personal identifiable information - do so only at your own risk
All participants must give valid contact information
We believe that everyone needs this right now
Money should not be a barrier
Donations are welcome - helps us continue to offer this and scale up
Future: Volunteers - if you can spare time to help us with administrative tasks, let us know
All of your relationships are a product of your ability to communicate. I.e. your ability to understand the other person’s perspective and your ability to help them understand your perspective.
Sometimes it’s easier to speak to a stranger than people you already know. People you already know listen to you with a preconception in mind -> they do not listen in an unbiased way. You care about their perception of you -> you do not express yourself authentically.
Speaking with a stranger allows you to be heard with fewer preconceptions and express yourself more authentically. There might still be bias and distorted authenticity but this is the right environment to work on peeling back the layers, i.e. practice noticing and questioning your own biases and practice expressing your thoughts and feeling honestly.
A replacement for therapy
A suitable forum for children