What’s it all about?
We all crave real connection, however building close relationships in adulthood can be challenging. Many social situations call for polite small talk, not heart-to-heart conversations, making it difficult to really connect deeply with people.
One way to overcome these barriers to closeness is by engaging in “reciprocal self-disclosure”—that is, to reveal increasingly personal information about yourself to another person, as they do the same to you. Research suggests that spending just 45 minutes engaging in self-disclosure with a stranger can dramatically increase feelings of closeness between you.
What we will cover?
A study by the psychologist Arthur Aron (and others) that explores whether intimacy between two strangers can be accelerated by having them ask each other a specific series of personal questions.
The 36 questions in the study are broken up into three sets, with each set intended to be more probing than the previous one. The idea is that mutual vulnerability fosters closeness.
To quote the study’s authors, “One key pattern associated with the development of a close relationship among peers is sustained, escalating, reciprocal, personal self-disclosure.” Allowing oneself to be vulnerable with another person can be exceedingly difficult, so this exercise forces the issue.
Who will be teaching?
Jossy has an MA in human development and is a graduate of the Mindfulness Certification program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Mindful Schools. She also has training in mindfulness-based stress reduction from UCSD (San Diego), cultivation of compassion (Stanford) and the science of happiness (Berkeley). She has lived and studied in the Omega Institute, NY and shares her work in different parts of the world, mainly the USA, Mexico and now Australia. You can connect with Jossy Jimenez Wellbeing on Facebook, Instagram, via email or at her upcoming Self Compassion Workshop.