Robert Waldinger : What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

Robert Waldinger TEDxBeaconStreet 2015
What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness  (transcript)
Summary
The speaker studies adult life, especially men in a group that is The Harvard Study of Adult Development.  The study is continuing for 75 years and probably, it's the longest there.

The answer to what makes a good life that they get from this 75-year study is that good relationships keep us happier and healthier.

And then, the lessons about relationships are that social connections are really good, but loneliness kills us, 1) the quality of your close relationships matters, 2) and 3) good relationships protect not only our bodies but also they protect our brains.

It doesn't matter the number of friends you have, whether you're married or not, you divorced or not and you're in a committed relationship or not.
Even if you fight a partner, it's important to be able to lean into or count on each other.

Words in this story
octogenarian /noun/ a person who is from 80 to 89 years old
grudge /noun/ bitter, bitterness