March 31, 2010
“Talk Deeply, Be Holy?”
For the past week, one of the Top 10 most popular stories on The New York Times website has been “Talk Deeply, Be Happy?” This article highlights a recent study published in the journal Psychological Science that found that people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier. Overall, about a third of all conversations measured in the study were ranked as substantive, while about a fifth could be considered small talk—yet the happiest person in the study reported that almost half of their conversations were substantive, while only about 20% of the unhappiest person’s conversations were.
Because of my role in the Calling Congregations program at The Fund for Theological Education, both the content of this article as well as its lasting popularity throughout a busy news week