Saturday, December 08, 2018

The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas, Day Two

On the second day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me:

Two Things You're Needing
And a Fat Guy in a Sweet T

We live in a frantic, whirling, world at a particularly vexing time. Our oceans are rising, our politics are infuriating, our kids are growing up too fast, OUR PETS' HEADS ARE FALLING OFF! It's been a theme of this blog this year that things are generally shitty, relatively speaking, and that we're still really blessed dudes and dudettes.

Gheorghemas reminds us that Gheorghe: The Blog itself is a key to maintaining connection, that being part of a community, no matter how silly or inconsequential to the broader world is good for one's soul.

Now, courtesy of researchers at Harvard University, the William & Mary of the North, we know that there are two other things vital to happiness and health. One might seem self-evident, while the other is a bit more nuanced.

The Grant and Glueck study has tracked two separate populations of men for more than 75 years. The Grant study has followed 456 poor men growing in the Boston area from 1939 to 2014, while the companion Glueck study focused on 268 male Harvard graduates from 1939 to 1944.

The major finding, according to Robert Waldinger, who directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, is that relationships matter. “It’s not just the number of friends you have, and it’s not whether or not you’re in a committed relationship. It’s the quality of your close relationships that matters.”

George Vaillant, director of the study from 1972 to 2004 explains the definition of quality, and provides us with the two gifts Big Gheorghe offers us, saying, "“One [key] is love. The other is finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away.”

That first element, as noted above, seems obvious. Love is all you need, as the Beatles told us. But it stops me cold to think too hard about the second. Like most of you, I'm no stranger to stress - especially at the moment. My general stress response is to withdraw, brood, and become prickly. Pushing love away, you might say. Shouldn't have taken Harvard to tell me that's a bad idea.

So my Gheorghemas resolution (new thing!) is to take a deeper breath, and focus on drawing love and friendship close instead of pushing it away. We'll give Dr. Waldinger the last word on this subject:

"The good life is built with good relationships."

Love you guys. Happy Gheorghemas. And I look very much forward to seeing several of you later today.

21 comments:

T.J. said...

Day 2 has been broughten

Dave said...

well said, tiny dictator! that's why i went to happy hour yesterday instead of brooding over this epic "park the bus" post. i finished it this morning . . .

http://box5689.temp.domains/~parkthe3/aristotle-morality-and-the-three-body-problem/

Unknown said...

Dave, I tried twice to leave a comment on your latest post, but it wouldn't let me. Perhaps because of content:

Wow, Dave. Just when I thought, you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this... and totally redeem yourself. Very well done.

Favor to ask. I have just been invited to participate in a strange recurring event called Thinkers and Drinkers. People talk philosophy and consume alcohol. It's worth a glimpse, I figure. My first time attending this Tuesday night. There is always required reading before each gathering, and this time it's Plato's Phaedrus. It's short but extremely dense, like some people we know. Oh, and it seems to focus on man-boy love, which I'm glad to say is not like some people we know. Whip through it and give me some pithy talking points, what say ye? I will buy you a moderate amount of beer and provide you some buffoonery. Thanks.

rob said...

do my homework so that i may bring glory upon myself. that is among the whitneyest thing i've ever seen.

rob said...

or things. bygones.

Whitney said...

Hey, we all know what we are good at doing and what we suck at doing. Dave is the most avid reader I’ve ever met. And he clearly gets Greek philosophy. Delegate and elevate. Survive and advance. Seek and destroy.

Whitney said...

North Dakota State is mopping the floor with Colgate. Which, trust me, is not very effective but smells fresh and minty.

Marls said...

Mini Summit in Leesburg. Rob, KQ, Mr. KQ, Jerry.

rob said...

shlara, too. i won’t tell her you forgot her.

Whitney said...

I’d say with that many gheorghies in tow it’s a summit and not a mini-summit. Unless you meant that Rob was there.

Mr KQ said...

It was a stone groove.

Mr KQ said...

As was Patterson Hood last night at Pearl Street Warehouse.

TR said...

I dadded the shit out of today. Two rec coaching jobs, raking, Xmas tree buying, and cooking steak for the family. But the highlight was helping my oldest bake bread. He had gotten some ingredients from school and wanted to do it. Brought me back to my time as a kid when my dad would give my cooking pointers. My dad was a kitchen ninja. I only got a few pointers that stuck, but the experience and time with him was what mattered. I hope I did that to my kid today.

And I had to pause the keto diet to sample his bread and cinnamon rolls. Great day. A late cocktail will close the day, before I wake up and get back at it tmrw.

Unknown said...

Sanchez looks like he just took up football this summer

Mark said...

Smoking ribs today and watching football. Patrick Mahomes is absurd. We have not seen many with his overall skill set.

Whitney said...

The end of that Dolphins Pats game was something

Mark said...

Indeed it was. I actively dislike the dolphins but will root for just about anyone when they play New England. That was an all timer of a game winner.

Whitney said...

69 yards from scrimmage

zman said...

The Rams do not appear to enjoy cold weather.

Shlara said...

I just got a Sonos and discovered how to stream all kinds of music.
Can't believe I've been this clueless for a decade
This is awesome

Whitney said...

Sonos rules