Your Soul Food for Friday Sept 18, 2026: Social fitness is the biggest predictor of a happy life. Here’s how to improve yours including at a local event Oct 5th in Balboa Park

Happy Soul Food Friday!

This week:

Social fitness is the biggest predictor of a happy life. Here’s how to improve yours:

Enjoying the weather? Did you see the game? Small-talk and simple face-to-face interactions have a bigger effect on our wellbeing than you might think. So, do you fancy a cuppa? Dr Gillian Sandstrom was at the opera when she realized how good she had become at talking to strangers. A woman with Parkinson’s was feeling anxious and needed an aisle seat and when Sandstrom noticed what was happening, she asked a whole row of people to move along to make room for the woman and her husband…

Social fitness is the biggest predictor of a happy life. Here’s how to improve yours | BBC Science Focus Magazine

If you are local-

Disconnection is a national epidemic. The Chamber of Connection is a local antidote designed to interrupt transmission, treat those affected and prevent future spread!

Along with local friends and colleagues, I’d like to invite you to The Balboa Park Table on Monday, October 5 in Balboa Park at the Botanical Gardens from 6:30 to 9pm.

It’s a shared meal for 500 community leaders, builders, and weavers from every sector and community across San Diego County, hosted by Longer Tables San Diego and presented by OneSD. It isn’t a conference or a networking event. People sit at long tables and actually connect, without regard for our titles, job functions, or roles. This is a time for human being not human doing!

I was asked to help bring people I trust to expand the circle of community, and obviously you came to mind.

Here’s the link to learn more about this opportunity to build connection, expand your network and social circle authentically, and if it resonates RSVP:
https://events.humanitix.com/the-balboa-park-table?accesscode=NEVILLEBILLIMORIA

Access code: NEVILLEBILLIMORIA
Two quick steps:
1. Click RSVP.
2. Your code should attach automatically. If you don’t see a ticket option for Community Leader, type the access code above to unlock it.

In the spirit of inclusion, Longer Tables SD is intentionally working to reach more San Diegans in East County, North Inland, our Hispanic/Latino and Asian communities, Indigenous/Tribal communities, people with disabilities, young adults and elders, cross-border/binational communities, and neighborhood, resident and frontline voices. If you are or know leaders in these areas or affinity groups and want to help invite them, you can register as a Community Partner at no cost and be recognized and represented in the event materials.

When you RSVP, please take the extra minute for the questionnaire at the end. It’s how they ensure we build a table that reflects the whole region, not just pockets of interest.

Please RSVP by September 21.