Cultivating Connections

Have you ever felt like you’re are just floating? Not sure of where you’re heading? I know I have. Hanson’s(n.d) theory of negativity bias is quite evident. Despite our history of success and positive reinforcement, a single negative comment can haunt our minds. It affects our confidence and mood.I recall a time when I was…

The value of empathy is a topic of increasing discussion in social organizations and schools. Compassion is what sets us apart from machines, and even from many other animals. It allows us to connect with other people and their experiences, it allows us to understand them. It is also what makes us compassionate. No wonder,…

We need to build more connections between individuals and society before cultivating compassion. If we look at what happened in the past from a personal perspective, it is difficult for us to have a deep understanding of lives. In fact, just feeling sad for others’ experiences cannot solve the problem. We need to find out…

Understanding the function of mirror neurons—specialized brain cells that fire when we execute an action and when we see someone else perform the same action—is essential for promoting compassion and connection in our increasingly digital environment. Mirror neurons are essential for social learning and empathy because they allow us to comprehend and relate to the…

Implicit biases are unconscious beliefs or attitudes that we hold about certain groups of people. These biases are automatic and can influence our feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and actions without us even realizing it. In order words, implicit biases are like hidden beliefs we have about people that we might not even know we have. For…

“The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones” (Hanson, n.d.,p. 1). Hanson (n.d.) further added that this casts a growing negative shadow over your “implicit memory,” which is made up of your fundamental standards, opinions, action plans, and state of mind. And which is just unfair, provided that the majority of…

Inter-generational trauma has been explained as the pain suffered caused by circumstances lived by previous generations that linger and reach the descendants that have not lived such experiences (Abrams, 2021). One of the main challenges regarding inter-generational trauma is to discover that it actually exists, and what it is (Minulescu, 2016). However, once it is…

Mirror neurons activate when observing others’ behaviours, enabling individuals to mimic motor skills and facial expressions, thus promoting emotional contagion and empathy, and establishing interpersonal connections (Goleman, 2006; Mizrachi & Maor, 2024). For instance, seeing someone smile can trigger mirror neurons in your brain, making you feel happy and smile unconsciously. Therefore, mirror neurons are…

I would like to talk about an important tool that will strengthen the connections between us. Nonviolent communication is a communication method developed by American psychologist Marshall B. Rosenberg. At a very early age, Rosenberg was introduced to the element of violence that dominated human relations during his childhood in the 1940s. For this reason,…

Human connection is an essential aspect of our existence and well-being, and one of the most fascinating mechanisms underlying this ability is that of mirror neurons. These neurons, discovered in the 1990s by a team of Italian researchers, are specialized cells in the brain that are activated both when we perform an action and when…