How a Book Idea Became a Non-Profit. The Friendship Lab Story So Far
Something special is brewing - a new calling that's been years in the making and will take years to complete. And you're a part of it.
Stay Up to Date with the Friendship Lab Project
The research is startling: friendship decreases anxiety and depression, increases our lifespan, buffers us against addictions, and raises our happiness levels. All those coffee dates, weekend hikes and late-night chats help us face our adversities, choose our best paths, and discover who we are. And yet 1-in-4 of us has no close friends, a rate
We Need to Rediscover the Power of Friendship. Here’s How to Do it
The research is startling. Friendship has been proven to boost our immune system, decrease anxiety and depression, increase our lifespan, and be a buffer against addictions, prejudice and extremism. And yet rates of it are declining in western countries. Why? In this keynote talk for Christian Schools Trust's educators conference, I unpack some of the
Your Resilient Relationships | Resilient Session 3
Join me for Session 3 of our Resilient video series where we turn our attention to relationships, why we need them, what destroys them, and how to make them flourish.
You’re Both So Different? That Could Be What Makes Your Marriage Work
After 21 years, I sometimes look at my wife Merryn and wonder how our marriage works. I’m a writer and speaker, Merryn is a statistician. I work with words, she works with numbers. I want beauty, she wants function. And that’s only the start of our differences! Here’s what’s helped us stick together…
Let’s Recover Friendship as a Holy Calling
Friends: they celebrate our birthdays, pop a cork over our new jobs, become bridesmaids and best men at our weddings. But fewer of us seem to have them. In the UK, a recent YouGov survey found that more than 1-in-10 Britons have no close friends and a further 1-in-10 have no friends at all. In the US, 35 percent
Time to Rethink Our Attitude to Singleness
More and more of us are single. In the United Kingdom, over a third of the adult population of England and Wales are single, more than half of 25–44 year olds, and singleness is increasing in every age group with 50–64 year olds growing the fastest. Some embrace the single life with joy, others don't,
The Hand That Spins the Galaxies Wants You Here. Introducing The Creed
One autumn morning not long ago, I walked to an Oxford cafe, took a window table, and pulled out my journal. I wanted to craft a statement - a creed of sorts - that would pull together what I'd learned while writing my new book The Making of Us. Something that captured what matters most in
Need Better Friendships? Here Are Four Things That Make Them Rich
'Who can you call in the middle of the night when everything has gone wrong?" When I first heard this question some years ago it shook me to the core. I didn't have an answer. Even recently, I've found myself in need of deeper friendships. So I did some thinking and came up with a
To Help a Friend with Depression, Here’s the Best Thing You Can Do
When I was asked to speak on mental health for BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought segment, I consulted my brilliant Facebook community. They shared deeply and with insight on just how we can be more accepting of those who suffer this way. The starting point? See people as bigger than their illness