Made To Connect Cards Deck
Below are some action cards for you to reflect on and strengthen your social connections. The self-reflection exercises are meant to help you reflect and connect with yourself. Give these a try!
Download the Made to Connect CardsExpressing Gratitude
Communicating your appreciation for individuals or groups that are important to you can be a powerful reinforcement of your bond. Research shows that practicing gratitude in our daily lives is linked to reduced feelings of loneliness and stronger social bonds.
Close Bonds
Expressing GratitudeThink of a time you felt a strong bond with someone in your life. Consider the ways this experience made you feel close and connected with them.
Share this memory with that person and thank them for being in your life.
Quality Compliments
Expressing GratitudeEngage a friend, colleague or loved one in conversation and bring up a positive thing that the person has done for you or others in the past.
How did it feel to remember this person and thank them? Who else might you express gratitude to?
Three Good Things
Expressing GratitudeThink about a positive relationship in your life. Write down three good things about the relationship.
Notice how you feel as you think deeply about your connection. Consider sharing your reflections with that person.
Giving Support
Research shows that helping the people around us can improve our own well-being as well. Lending support to others is associated with a reduced risk of mortality and activities such as volunteering are linked to better mental and physical health and life satisfaction.
Sharing Presence
Giving SupportGive the gift of time to someone you care about—whether it means doing something with them or something for them.
How does it feel to be fully present with another individual? Do you feel more connected to one another as a result of being actively present?
Acts of Service
Giving SupportThink of some acts of service you can do for a friend or loved one going through a difficult time, and reach out to offer support. Some ideas are: dropping off dinner, helping them with household chores, or going on a walk with them.
Do you feel more connected to the person knowing you are able to provide support?
Pay it forward
Giving SupportThink about a recent act of kindness that was directed towards you. Make a plan to pass that kindness forward at some point this week. If possible, pass it on to someone new.
Giving to Your Community
Giving SupportGet involved in your community through volunteering alongside others. For ways to find volunteering opportunities, look at the website of some of your favorite charities and causes.
How has volunteering changed your relationship to the place or people around you?
Receiving Support
Seeking and receiving support can have powerful impacts on our health. In fact, research shows that confiding in others helps protect against depression even among people who are already at higher risk due to their history of traumatic or otherwise adverse life experiences.
Asking for Help
Receiving SupportThink of a situation in your life where you could use a little help. Maybe you are struggling to make a decision or to balance your obligations. Identify a person who’s in the best position to help you and reach out to them.
How did it feel to ask for help?
Accepting Help
Receiving SupportThink about a time when you asked for help and someone in your life came through. Reflect on the lessons you learned from this memory and reach out to ask for support with something you need help with in your current life.
Lean on Me
Receiving SupportWho in your life can you depend upon and call any time of the day? Who can you reach out to for help during emergencies? Think of a person or two and jot down qualities that make them dependable.
How does it feel knowing you can depend on someone when you are in need?
Deepening Relationships
Relationship quality is a key component of social connection and is linked to greater health and well-being outcomes. Our relationships with family and close friends can be an important source of meaning and purpose in life. Additionally, high-quality relationships can provide access to social support and can help us cope better with stressful situations to minimize their negative impact.
What Makes Life Meaningful? Views From 17 Advanced Economies, Silver, Kessel, Huang, et al., 2021
Connecting Through Laughter
Deepening RelationshipsNext time you're with a friend, try making each other laugh. Tell a joke or share a funny memory until you laugh together!
Active Listening
Deepening RelationshipsThink of someone you feel comfortable with. Find an opportunity to hang out with them and invite the friend to share what's on their mind.
Practice active listening during your conversation by asking open-ended questions and showing genuine interest. Notice how this makes you feel about your connection with your friend.
Family Ties
Deepening RelationshipsReach out to a parent or older family member. Ask your family questions that you wouldn’t normally ask. Some questions could be: how would people have described you when you were 8 years old? What’s a memory you’ll cherish forever?
Appreciate seeing your relative through new eyes.
Contemplating Shared Experiences
Deepening RelationshipsThe next time you meet someone new, strike up a conversation to learn about the things you have in common.
How does it make you feel to know you share commonalities with someone you just met?
Building Diverse Connections
It is important to maintain a diversity of relationships with people from varying backgrounds. Research shows that having diversity of relationships is positively associated with health and well-being outcomes. Research also shows that having relationships with people of different socioeconomic statuses is one of the most important predictors of upward economic mobility.
Social capital II: determinants of economic connectedness, Jackson, Kuchler, et al., 2022
Friendly Smiles
Building Diverse ConnectionsTry waving or smiling at different people while you are out and about this week. As you do this, reflect on how it makes you feel and how others respond.
Neighborly Chats
Building Diverse ConnectionsGet to know the names of different people in your community. Try starting conversations with your neighbors or other people you come across.
Practice active listening as you meet and talk to new people.
Connecting More Frequently
Regular social engagements are indicative of greater social connection and are associated with better health outcomes. For example, frequent social interactions are associated with better cognitive function, may protect against the risk of dementia, and may improve hypertension management.
Social network resources and management of hypertension, Cornwell, Waite, 2012
Nurture your niche
Connecting More FrequentlyTry finding and joining a group or activity related to something you love, like a book club, sports group, or cooking lessons.
If it feels intimidating to join a group, that's ok! Take the first step by making a list of activities you love. Remember it was everyone's first day at some point.
Tiny Moments
Connecting More FrequentlyTry reaching out to someone you haven’t connected with in a while. Share some good news, a song, a photo, or a memory you have with that person to rekindle and encourage more frequent connection.
Tiny moments can boost feelings of happiness and connection.
Self-Reflection Exercises
Making Time For Me
Self-Reflection ExercisesGrab a journal or a piece of paper and write a short reflection about your day. What did you notice about yourself when you read it?
Self Love
Self-Reflection ExercisesFind a moment of quiet in your day, and think about some things you love about yourself. This can be anything, big or small, and it’s okay if it takes a moment to think of something.
Can you think of ways you can bring these traits into relationships with others in your life?
Nourish Your Connection Garden
Self-Reflection ExercisesIf you ever feel overwhelmed with social obligations, give a moment to yourself. Take a deep breath, and think about something you did recently that you found to be nourishing.
It’s okay to connect at your own pace and make sure you are checking in with yourself from time to time.
We gratefully acknowledge the Workshop for Emotional and Spiritual Technology, a public benefit corporation helping people live more meaningful lives.