During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people under lockdown feel lonely and bored. “There is a loneliness epidemic,” said John Dattilo from Pennsylvania State University, US.

So he, together with an international team of researchers, studied how to reduce loneliness and increase positive feelings during the pandemic.

According to their new study, reduced loneliness has something to do with doing enjoyable activities that require both concentration and skill.

“When people are absorbed in what they are doing, they enter a state called ‘flow’,” Dattilo explained. “Flow can be achieved by doing activities that we value and that require us to concentrate fully to use our skills.”

To achieve a state of flow, there must be a balance between the challenge of the task and your skill level. For example, if you’re trying to create a complex computer program but your skill level is low, then you’re likely to feel stressed instead of achieving “flow”. On the contrary, if the task is too easy, then boredom will set in and “flow” will not appear, either.

If you have artistic skills, for example, playing the piano or painting can lead to flow. So can things like skiing, writing and storytelling, depending on who you are.

“When we enter a state of flow, we become absorbed and focused, and we experience momentary(片刻的) enjoyment,” Dattilo said. “When we leave a state of flow, we are often surprised by how much time has passed.”

However, watching television usually doesn’t help people enter flow, according to Dattilo, because there aren’t any challenges.

“People tend to grow on healthy activities and challenge,” said Dattilo. “We hope this research will help people live fuller, happier, healthier lives.”

Meet big brother Blue and his sisters Meadow and Little Willow,a family of three blind cats that just got adopted by the family Catherine Magno.

Their story starts just before the Christmas of 2014 when the kittens（小猫）were found in an abandoned house in Dubai.By then they had already lost their sight due to a cat flu that was left untreated by their previous（先前的） owner.After that they came to an animal home.At some point,brother Blue almost got adopted by the previous owner's neighbor,but the poor confused cat couldn’t bear living without his sisters and cried all night while searching for them.Soon they were all united in the animal home until the important night of 19 February 2015,when Catherine took them under her wing.

"I had zero experience having adopted my first ever rescue kitten just a couple of months ago,"Catherine said. "But their story touched my heart so much that I couldn't bear the thought of them being put in a cage for a very long time or even worse."

Catherine was worried about the special needs of her new pet friends:“My worry was that it's going to not only be challenging but also require a lot of adjustments on my part,”but apparently it wasn't that much different.“The only adjustment early on was keeping everything where it was but they are soon adaptive（适应的）.”And as she wonderfully put it:“Blind pets see through their hearts."