Connect 12 Vital Ties That Open Your Heart, Lengthen Your Life, and Deepen Your Soul

That last raise may be fattening your bank account, but it did nothing for your soul. The talk you had with your boss about your kids' schools, however, did. Although our culture is focused on achievement, it is not our accomplishments that sustain us. It is the connections we make along the way.What are these connections? They are the feelings of being part of something that matters, something larger than ourselves, whether it is a friendship, marriage, team, company, or even a set of ideals. They can enrich your life, and their absence can shorten it. They are the key to what counts in life, and they are becoming harder and harder to make.Now a noted psychiatrist outlines the steps we can take to make or reaffirm the connections that nourish the hungry heart. Through his own life experiences and those who have shared their stories with him, we learn of the great joy and peace that come from connecting, and the consequences of remaining detached. And we learn how to nurture that part of us which is so often neglected, and so very crucial to our emotional, psychological, and physical well-being -- our connections.

Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., is a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Concord, Massachusetts. He is the coauthor of Driven to Distraction and Answers to Distraction and the author of Worry. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts. His e-mail address is ehallowell@aol.com.