Keeping a good milieu

What an 85-Year-Long Harvard Study Says Is the Real Key to Happiness

We've long used the French word milieu in English, but not with quite the same range of meanings it has back in France. For example, French society (and especially the members of its older generations) explicitly recognizes the value of a milieu in the sense of the collected friends, acquaintances, and relations with whom one has regular and frequent contact. Keeping a good milieu is a key task for living a good life. Robert Waldinger doesn't use the word in the new hour-long Big Think video above, but then, he comes from a different cultural background: he's American, for one, a Harvard psychiatrist, and he also happens to be a Zen Buddhist priest. But he would surely agree wholeheartedly about the importance of the milieu to human happiness…

https://www.openculture.com/2025/09/what-an-85-year-long-harvard-study-says-is-the-real-key-to-happiness.html?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=other