Of Note: Everybody's Hungry Heart

Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in A Sometimes Lonely World by Dr. Vivek Murthy
HarperCollins, April 21, 2020

Here’s the stark reality that recently-reappointed U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy reveals: human beings were suffering from social isolation before the coronavirus descended. Twenty-two percent of Americans reported feeling lonely and disconnected from others, and the emotional strain was having a direct and deleterious effect on physical health. Add to that troubling baseline a pandemic that caused grief, required distancing, and amplified inequities, and the result is a society in desperate need of a pivot. Murthy’s book offers intrapersonal and interpersonal strategies to heal ourselves and our communities. Seeking solitude and learning to self-soothe through prayer, meditation, exercise, and nature will allow us to move from self-contentment to closer connections with others. Murthy further suggests that we spend time each day with loved ones and focus intently on the joy of togetherness. Finally, he suggests that we embrace service as a way to cultivate generosity and purpose. Murthy is convinced that loneliness is a public health crisis in need of immediate attention, and we should all be concerned about the economic and emotional recessions that threaten full human potential. Thus, as businesses and schools resume in-person operations, they would do well to center human connection in their reopening plans.