We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships

Ella said through tears that these friendship flame-outs showed her the four things that need to be in place for a friendship rift to heal: communication, transparency, empathy, and mutual motivation to repair the friendship.

What’s a time when you felt full of joy and happiness?

Tell the person across from you three jobs you could imagine them doing well.

If you could pick any two people to have as next door neighbors, who would you pick and why?

Great follow-up questions will reference the details that the other person shared,

Describe your ideal neighborhood.

opening. If it’s something you really want to talk about, practice asking people questions like, “What was it like making friends when you moved here?” or “Can I ask you a question—what’s your experience of friendship like these days?”

“Sharing Extraordinary Experiences Fosters Feelings of Closeness,”

A 2018 study by Cigna on loneliness found that: 46 percent of Americans report feeling lonely some or all of the time One in four Americans feel like there’s no one they can talk to, or like there’s no one who understands them One in five Americans report that they rarely or never feel close to people[3]