How I Stay Connected with Friends and Family

Hi everybody, it’s Paul Krismer, your happiness expert, and I’m in the Vancouver airport. It’s great to be here, traveling again, getting back to the work that I used to do and love so much. I love doing the virtual work too, but to do it in live and in person is fantastic. I’m on my way back to Las Vegas. I’ve had an excellent visit in Victoria, British Columbia, the place I still call home. Saw people, got a little business done, and I wanted to make this week’s video a little bit about the importance of social relationships and maybe a bit of personal reflection too. So, stay tuned.

As a coach, public speaker, and best-selling author, I teach topics just like this one all around the world. So, stay tuned, and I’ll give you practical tools that you can use to make both yourself and those around you both happier and more successful. Yeah, so I’m thrilled to be back in the airport. I feel like I’m going home to Vegas, although I was just in home in Victoria and it felt so good. It’s so important to develop, deepen, cherish the relationships I’ve got. You know, got all kinds of family there, my extended family, my own children, special loved ones, and I just had a really, really good time. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to have gotten back there and really spent quality time with the people I love.

Fortunately, with COVID things moving along, people are allowed to get together. We had dinners, and I cooked a lot. There are just a few things I think that I’m very aware of today as I fly home. One is just this sense of gratitude and appreciation, being reminded that the people I love are so important to me. Even though I’ve moved far away, I keep weekly contact with almost all the people that I saw which were quite a few in the last few weeks. So, that’s one thing that I think has been really important to me is to maintain the relationship with the people that matter. Even though I’m far away, the technology is so good these days. I can go for walks and have conversations with somebody on the phone, or we do regular Zoom calls with my immediate family. It’s just so wonderful to see them again in person, but it’s not like I fell off the side of the earth, they were still close to me because of that ability to connect.

The other thing I wanted to reflect on was the importance of food. So much of the socializing that I’ve done this past little while was about food, over food. When I was by myself in Vegas, I found I wasn’t cooking anywhere near as well as I know I’m capable of or I enjoy doing. But cooking for other people made the difference. So, I ate well, it felt celebratory, it felt nourishing, nurturing of my relationships to make food and enjoy the food that people have made with me. So that was really special.

Maybe the third thing I want to reflect on is just that importance of touch. You know, I was there with them, giving my kids hugs, and my mom who I, you know, haven’t hugged in a long, long time because before we were vaccinated we weren’t hugging and always masked up in social distance and all that craziness. Then there was a lot of intimacy with my very special friend I was staying time spending time with, and it just feels so good. I mean, it just literally is so relaxing, restorative, and healthy for my mental and physical health to just be in those close relationships, touching, getting the oxytocin which is this wonderful love hormone that we get when we touch other people.

With those pleasant little happy thoughts, I want to encourage all of you to be grateful and cherish the people that you love. Spend more time with them, tell them that you love them, and hold them close. That’s it for now. If you like this kind of video, please click the ‘Like’ button and share this video with people you think might benefit from it. Until next time, we’ll see you later.