The ObservatoryClose relationships
The quality of relationships with partner, family and close friends.
Questions to ask yourself
- 1How satisfied are you with your closest relationships?
- 2Who is closest to you right now?
- 3Which close relationship gets too little of you?
- 4What most prevents closeness: time, distance, old frictions?
- 5Which small step toward more closeness can you take this week?
In the app, you rate the area 0–10, answer the questions, and watch how your answers shift over time.
Getting started
Self-assessment
How are your relationships doing?
Four scales about closeness, frequency and the unsaid — not how many friends you have, but how the bonds actually feel.
4 min · Rationality
Tool
The temperature check
Five minutes a day that keeps a relationship up to date, before small things have had time to become big ones.
8 min · Compassion
Exercise
Relationship upkeep
Relationships are kept alive by small, regular signs, not grand gestures. Map what has slipped and book a contact.
10 min · Discipline
Exercise
The wish box
Nagging changes nothing. Concrete, doable wishes do. Three slips each, one fulfilled in the week.
9 min · Compassion
Self-assessment
Love or need?
Six honest scales on the difference between loving someone and not being able to manage without them.
5 min · Rationality
Exercise
The hard social choice
Four everyday scenarios where you practice answering wisely in the moment, not just afterward
10 min · Compassion
Session
A kind wish
A classic warmth exercise (metta) that directs kindness toward yourself, someone you love, and someone who is difficult right now
9 min · Compassion
Tool
The relationship thermometer
A recurring way to see how your most important relationships are doing, in a single overview.
9 min · Compassion
Exercise
When a friendship drifts apart
The grief of growing apart from someone without a breakup, and how to tell apart what can be mended from what has simply changed
8 min · Compassion
Exercise
After you lost your patience with your child
Every parent gets angry sometimes. What counts is what happens afterwards. See what your child's feeling was about and prepare a short repair.
7 min · Rationality