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Washed Ashore: Memories and Regrets on a Tokyo Beach
I really don’t like walking to the beach, especially on dull summer days, when the wet rain hits my chest and makes me unable to breathe. A shirt is washed and worn, worn and washed, over and over again, like a miserable pale sun attached to a confused body, wasting its warmth in vain. But people like me have a cold heart. It always beats alone, coldly, like silent raindrops, making no sound at all. The pocket of my jacket on the left always hangs down, because there is a mobile phone inside, a past number that has never been deleted, and a disconnected profile picture that is always gray,…
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The Warmth of Human Connection: How Small Acts of Help and Encouragement Strengthen Relationships
A simple word of encouragement is a kind of warmth and can easily make people happy. Like I said before, saying hello and lending a hand to others is something I do every day as a pharmacist. I will lend a helping hand to the guest for a small matter, whisper “I’m thinking about you”, or gently hold the guest’s hand when he leaves… When I say to the guest “Let’s do it together”, this kind of I am often encouraged by the feedback I receive directly from my guests like an echo of my concern for my guests. I often prescribe plasters to clients returning from plastic surgery visits.…
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Escaping Loneliness in a Digital World: Put Down Your Phone and Live in the Moment
In Chinese cities, whether you are in a restaurant, cafe or train station, if you look around, you will always see this scene: almost everyone is busy playing with their mobile phones, taking selfies, or playing games, and more often than not, everyone is busy playing with their mobile phones, taking selfies, or playing games. Boredly scrolling through news feeds and commenting on Moments. This scene not only exists in China, but is also a global phenomenon. On the one hand, high technology and social networks have made our lives more efficient, making things more convenient, communicating more timely, and understanding the outside world easier; on the other hand, we…
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Finding Warmth in a Cold World: Navigating Loneliness in Midlife
A divorced man in his thirties said to me: I feel so lonely. During this period, for the sake of career development, he applied to station in other places and traveled back and forth on weekends. Work is very hard every day, and running is also very tiring. He and his ex-wife were very quarrelsome before the divorce, but became calm after the divorce. The two parties take turns raising children. The three-year-old daughter stays at her mother’s house from Monday to Friday and at her father’s house on Saturdays and Sundays. They get along harmoniously. His ex-wife said categorically to him: Don’t think about it, I absolutely…
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The Loneliness of Transformation: When Your Values Change, Do Your Friendships Fade?
Caitlin, a philosophy professor at California State University, said the loneliest moment in her life occurred more than a decade ago, when she returned home from a semester abroad in Italy. While staying in Florence, her Italian improved greatly and she developed a great interest in art. She changed intellectually and emotionally. Back in a working-class town in New Jersey, she had much to share with her friends and family, but she found them intellectually dull, and Caitlin felt intensely alone. Psychologists say that the process of readjusting and reintegrating into one’s own family culture after living in a different culture for a period of time can lead to feelings…
