By Lauren Jackson

Happy New Year. Set yourself up for a more meaningful, connected life in 2023.

A happiness challenge

For over 80 years, researchers at Harvard have studied what makes for a good life. They found one surefire, scientifically proven predictor of happiness: developing warmer relationships.

A team of reporters on The Times's health and wellness desk, Well, developed a seven-day challenge to help you do just that. I spoke with Jancee Dunn, one of the reporters behind the program, about what she found when she tried it.

Lauren: When I see a "New Year's challenge," I immediately feel tired. What is different about this one?

Jancee: This isn't a boot camp, and it isn't a sugar challenge, both of which would be very hard for me to do. It's a relationship challenge that will help you address and improve different parts of your social universe with seven science-backed exercises. More than that, it's a way to think about your connections and what sustains you.

How did you get the idea for this?

Many of us on the Well desk had read "The Good Life" by Dr. Robert Waldinger, and we loved this book. It's about the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which started during the Depression. For generations, researchers have followed families from different socioeconomic backgrounds, asking them incredibly detailed questions and giving them medical exams.

And what did the study find?

What emerged is that a crucial element of happiness is relationships.

If you're going to make one single decision that would ensure your own health and happiness, the science tells us that it should be to cultivate warm relationships of all kinds. It's not just about having a partner. It's in every realm of your life. So we worked with Dr. Waldinger to craft exercises to help people cultivate more happiness in their relationships.

One of the challenges is an the invitation to write a "eulogy for the living," or to tell someone why you're grateful for them right now. Have you tried it?

I did this once with my fourth-grade teacher, Roseann Manley. She wrote on my report card, "Jancee is a very talented writer, and I think she's going to be a famous writer someday." And I'm not a famous writer, but I remember reading that and thinking, "Oh, she sees something in me." And it changed the course of my life.

So I tracked Ms. Manley down, all these years later. And I told her how grateful I was. And we've now exchanged dozens and dozens of letters. She's 91, widowed and doesn't have kids. I call her every Christmas. She sends me letters with puppies and kittens on the stationery. She's become my substitute grandmother. It's been a wonderful thing.

Another challenge encourages talking to strangers. You're a reporter — what are your tips for starting those conversations?

My standard line for people with babies and dogs is, "What's it like to be ignored by everybody because your baby-slash-dog is so cute?" Hundred percent success rate.

Or, if someone looks like they could use a little support, you could say, "How's your day been?" When you say, "How are you?" people feel compelled to say, "Fine," and that's the end of it. An open-ended question is good.

Asking these questions can feel uncomfortable, and you risk rejection. But it can have maximum reward for truly minimal effort. And what's better than that?

Do you have advice for readers who might be interested in trying to make changes like these, but put off actually doing them?

Research shows that a lot of people think, "Oh, I'm going to be happy in the future when I get that job I want, when I get the money or when I retire and I have more time." But the idea of a time surplus is a fallacy. You can do something small and actionable today.

Sign up for Well's seven-day challenge here. You'll receive a new email each day, beginning tomorrow, with a quiz to assess the state of your relationships.

Related: Create a workout routine in 2023 out of what you enjoy most.

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NEWS

• Vladimir Putin launched a deadly New Year's Eve attack on Ukrainian cities and called the war a "sacred duty" in a national address.
• "It's outrageous": Many Kyiv residents spent the holiday sheltering from explosions.
• A Russian soldier went on a violent rampage hours before troops began withdrawing from the town of Bucha, Ukraine, last spring.

• The U.S. is racing to make advanced chips domestically instead of buying them abroad, but self-sufficiency may be far off.
• Some American companies are moving their production to Mexico to avoid making goods in China.

• Chief Justice John Roberts devoted his year-end report to addressing threats to judges' physical safety.
• Eric Adams focused on fighting crime in his first year as mayor of New York City, but critics say he is moving too slowly on other issues.

• Representative Elise Stefanik of New York gave up friends and ideals to rise in the Republican ranks during the Trump era.

• After the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a living pope will preside over his predecessor's funeral for the first time in modern Catholic Church history.
• Heavy rains in California caused landslides and shut down two highways.
• The Education Department logged a record number of discrimination complaints, indicating the culture wars' presence in U.S. schools.
• Teen pregnancies and child poverty have plummeted, bringing dramatic intergenerational change to American families.
• Barbara Walters spent decades fighting for a place in the television industry and was both lauded and mimicked along the way, Tiffany Hsu writes.
• Texas Christian upset Michigan and Georgia beat Ohio State with a last-minute touchdown to advance to college football's national championship.

FROM OPINION

Big strides in solar power capacity and other technologies are part of why this might be the best time to be alive, Nicholas Kristof argues.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's pledge to save the Amazon will be the defining issue of his presidency in Brazil, Heriberto Araujo writes.

Southwest Airlines' need to modernize its scheduling systems has been an open (and shameful) secret within the company for some time, Zeynep Tufekci says.

The Sunday question: How will history remember 2022?

The past 12 months will be remembered as a "hinge year in history," like 1940, in which the world confronted the threat of authoritarianism, Bret Stephens writes for The Times. Or it may not be remembered at all, Joachim Klement argues on Substack.

Enjoy the complete Times experience today.

The New York Times All Access subscription brings you full digital access to news and analysis, plus Cooking, Games, Wirecutter and The Athletic. Subscribe today at this special rate.

MORNING READS

Palm reading: Brides are hiring psychics for their bachelorette parties.

Snowy owl: An "extremely rare" sighting has transfixed a California suburb.

Then and now: See how different life looks compared with 2020.

Vows: Their mothers brought them together. Loss cemented their bond.

Sunday routine: A Broadway stage manager spends most of her day in the theater. But by night, her "weekend" has begun.

Advice from Wirecutter: The best places to buy glasses online.

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BOOKS

Reading resolutions: These 10 new books, including a memoir from Prince Harry, are coming this month.

TikTok: Librarians are meeting kids where they are.

"Help, Thanks, Wow": Some best-selling advice from the past decade has stood the test of time.

By the Book: The record producer Rick Rubin thinks everyone should read Sherlock Holmes before they're 21.

Our editors' picks: "The Tudors in Love," an exploration of passion and politics in the era of England's most famous dynasty, and eight other books.

Times best sellers: Our latest lists reveal which books were top holiday gifts.

THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE

On the cover: Kendrick Lamar's new chapter.

Talk: An A.I. pioneer on what we should really fear.

Ethicist: "My partner's parents stay with us every weekend. Do I get a say?"

Eat: Make the new year better with dumplings.

Read the full issue.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Today is New Year's Day. Financial markets will be closed tomorrow, the observed federal holiday.
• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be sworn in as president of Brazil today.
• Oregon becomes the first state today to allow adult use of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
• The Rose, Cotton and Citrus college football bowl games will be played tomorrow.
• Pelé's body will lie at midfield at a stadium in Santos, Brazil, starting tomorrow before a private burial on Tuesday.
• The 118th U.S. Congress convenes on Tuesday.
• The suspect arrested last week in the stabbing deaths of four Idaho students will appear at an extradition hearing in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
• Rick Singer, the mastermind of the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, is to be sentenced in federal court on Wednesday.
• Benedict's funeral will be held on Thursday in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.
• CES, the major annual consumer electronics trade show, opens on Thursday.

This week brings a return to routine for many of us, and that calls for easy meals, Julia Moskin writes. Her weeknight dinner suggestions include smoky lentil stew with leeks and potatoes, chile-oil fried eggs with greens and yogurt and chicken and herb salad with nuoc cham.

NOW TIME TO PLAY

Here's a clue from the Sunday crossword:

88 Across: Cars with clutches

Take the 2022 news quiz to see how well you followed the year's headlines.

Here's today's Spelling Bee, and today's Wordle.

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

Lauren Hard, Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick and Tom Wright-Piersanti contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.

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