A brief loving-kindness meditation exercise, lasting only a few minutes, increased feelings of social connection and positivity toward strangers, as measured by both explicit and implicit measures, compared to a closely matched control task. The findings suggest that this simple technique may help reduce social isolation and increase positive social emotions.
A brief 10-minute session of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) increases compassion and positive affect more effectively than other positive-affect inductions or neutral visualization, even in novice meditators. LKM improved well-being and feelings of social connection at both explicit and implicit levels while decreasing self-focus. These findings suggest LKM could be a practical, time-effective way to reduce burnout and promote resilience in healthcare providers and improve patient care quality.