Thank you for joining us for episode 509 of Live Happy Now.

As we move into Happiness Month, we're going to talk a lot about the power of connections.

And we're kicking that off by talking about how to build connections in our communities.

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and today I'm joined by Dr. Nicole Argo, Executive Director

of the Together Up Institute, which has launched a national movement of Americans who want to connect

and collaborate across differences. Nicole also co-hosts the Reimagining Us podcast, which looks

at how to heal the vision in our communities and create a

sense of belonging. She's joining me to talk about some of the ways we can learn to make

connections in a time of polarization and why it's so important for us to do so. Let's have a

listen. Nicole, thank you so much for joining me today on Live Happy Now. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

I'm excited to talk to you. We're kicking off our Happiness Month. Our whole month is about

connection and you study the psychology of human conflict and connection. So we couldn't think

of anyone better to come in and talk to us about the importance of building connections

in our community. You know, as I said, it's our happiness month.

And I wanted to start by asking you, when you hear the word connection, what is it that

comes to mind?

Probably a rare breed right now because I'm immersed in that world, right?

And so when I think about connection, of course, just like all other humans, I think

about the warm fuzzies, the smiles, the hugs, the deep conversations with friends or my

daughter and son or, you know, strangers. Connection is a lifeblood for all of us. It's a motivator,

Maslow's human needs. Pyramid used to say that belonging and connection and these things were number three on the list of priorities,

but these days, Maslow students have rewritten that article and they say it's number one.

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