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Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Initiating

Lynne Baab • Wednesday December 6 2023

I have always believed that the ability to take initiative is a key friendship skill. When I did the interviews for my book on friendship a decade ago, numerous interviewees told me they attributed times of loneliness to their inability to take initiative. Numerous other interviewees said they sometimes feel they reach out to their friends more than half the time, but they felt it was worth it because of their rich friendships.

If you are one of those people who find it challenging to reach out, this can be a topic for prayer. Not just once, but every day. Who are...

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Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying about longing

Lynne Baab • Tuesday November 21 2023

A couple of weeks ago, I woke up humming a song. These words kept coming to mind:

But I’ve wandered much further today than I should And I can't seem to find my way back to the wood So help me if you can, I’ve got to get Back to the house at Pooh corner by one You'd be surprised there’s so much to be done Count all the bees in the hive Chase all the clouds from the sky Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

I looked the song up online. I listened to it and learned it was written by Kenny Loggins and recorded by...

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Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: The neuroscience of loneliness

Lynne Baab • Tuesday November 7 2023

I want to introduce you to the academic field of social neuroscience, focused on the connections between social experiences and biological functions. Human beings are social creatures, and it makes sense that our relationships would affect us on a neurological level, and also that our neurological functions would affect our relationships.

Here’s the abstract of an article by one of the co-founders of social neuroscience, John T. Cacioppo, and a second researcher. Notice the way they describe loneliness as “perceived social isolation.” That raises a lot of questions about the difference between being alone and feeling lonely, a topic for a future...

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Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Lessons from two periods of loneliness

Lynne Baab • Wednesday October 25 2023

Twice I have experienced extended periods of loneliness. Both times I learned something important.

The first period was in high school (tenth through twelfth grade in those days). We had moved 11 times in my first 15 years because my dad was in the military, and I attended five schools between kindergarten and ninth grade. I learned to make friends easily among the girls in my various neighborhoods and classes. When we moved from Virginia to Washington State, and I started high school, I decided to try an experiment. I decided to act like I’d been a popular girl in junior high....

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