Written by Armita Mirkarimi ’25

Our winter theme, “Opening to Understanding Across Experiences,” is all about building meaningful connections. Expected and unexpected ones that are born of thoughtful intention. Holding each other’s hands in times of crisis and happiness. Finding new places and people on campus to get to know better. What does it really mean to be open to understanding across experiences? As we complete midterms and see our 10-week terms swiftly pass, let’s break down how to practice our winter theme daily. 

This is my last winter on campus and intentionally connecting with the people around me is almost always on my mind. My internal dialogue sometimes works on overdrive. Am I doing enough? Am I hanging out with friends and soaking it all up? Am I doing all the activities and getting outside? 

It’s exhausting, right? See, there’s all this pressure to do everything all at once and it can become quickly overwhelming. This is where our winter theme comes in, slowing down time and making us savor the little moments that make Hanover so special. 

We open ourselves to understanding our beautifully diverse community and forge meaningful connections through intention. When we step back, breathe, and take actionable steps toward creating new relationships or rekindling old ones, life becomes sweeter and more manageable.  So, I made a list of things you can do today to not only practice our winter theme but also enjoy all that 25W has to offer. 

Connecting to familiar people 

• Reach out to a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Whether they’re on an off-term or someone with an opposite schedule than you this term, we all have friends we haven’t connected with in a while.  Send that text to schedule a time to grab a meal, a walk, or schedule a Facetime call! 

Connecting to familiar places 

• Do you have a favorite spot on campus? A favorite walking loop or window sill in the library? The massage rooms in the Student Wellness Center? Block some time out in your calendar this week to go there and soak it all up. Even if it’s just for 10 minutes, go to that place, put your phone away, and just breathe. You deserve ease. 

Reach out to someone new 

• It can be really intimidating to reach out to someone new or say hello to a stranger. My challenge for you this week is to compliment a stranger! Are they wearing a hair clip you like? Or perhaps have a sticker on their computer you resonate with? Or maybe you see them all the time after your 10A and you want to say hi! This is an easier way to strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know. People will always appreciate another person saying something nice and maybe you might turn out to be friends! 

Explore a new place 

• Is there a space on campus or off-campus you’ve always wanted to go to? Maybe a DOC trip on trailhead or a club meeting that always seemed interesting? Take a minute to survey a new place that piques your interest and try to go. The only way we keep growing is to keep showing up in familiar and unfamiliar places. Explore a new corner of campus this week. You got this! 

Connect to yourself 

• For me, a big part of being intentional is actually connecting with myself. When I spend too much time running around campus without a break, I begin to lose how I am actually feeling. One of my favorite ways to reconnect with myself is to go on a solo date. Plan something special that you can do for yourself by yourself. I love getting a coffee in town and going on a walk. But you know yourself better than anyone else. Do the thing that’s going to make you take a breath and slow down. 

We can find moments for connection every day. When we connect to people, places, and ourselves, we begin to understand across all experiences. We keep learning and discovering new pieces of the world. And isn’t that so beautiful? 

Sending ease,
Armita 

What does it mean to intentionally engage with people or groups of people who hold different perspectives, values, or identities than ourselves? 

Intention refers to a deliberate or purposeful decision or mindset to move towards a specific goal or way of being. It involves a commitment to align your actions with your desired, typically value-based, outcome. The decision to open to understanding across experiences must come from an authentic place within us and intersect with what we care most about. It can be helpful to deepen our understanding of how our individual wellbeing may benefit from such an undertaking and how it ultimately connects to our guiding principles:

When we move towards connecting across experiences, we cultivate the capacity to: 

1. Build personal resilience. Empathy, the ability to cultivate non-judgment and compassion, lies at the heart of connection. When we practice empathizing with others who share experiences outside our own (not passively/resignedly accepting different worldviews but acknowledging their reality with greater clarity), we challenge our own assumptions, encourage critical thinking, and build the strength it takes to see situations from different angles. This in turn can help us add innovative resources to our toolkit that enable us to face new and emerging challenges in our personal lives with confidence.

2. Bring greater clarity to societal challenges. Our ability to address societal challenges relies on how well we engage with worldviews that differ from our own. Particularly around the understanding and discussing of such viewpoints. Opening to different perspectives, while understandably difficult, doesn’t mean you have to accept harmful viewpoints, it’s more about engaging in critical engagement.  When we are able to tap into this, personal stress around these events can be reduced by the cultivation of empathy. We may even be able to comprehend our deep connectedness on the basis of our common humanity (and suffering), in spite of vastly differing views. Try this “Just Like Me” practice to tap into the interconnectedness we share with all human beings.

When we choose to engage across all experiences with a sense of curiosity and openness, we can build stronger, more innovative communities. We can promote more opportunities for belonging and connectedness. Dartmouth Dialogues, one of President Sian Beilock’s five key areas of focus, represents one way that our institution is committing to bridging personal and political divides.

It has never been a more critical time for us to recognize the challenges that our community (and world) face when we remain unwilling to engage with differing perspectives and experiences. Similarly, it has never been more important to realize how surmountable these challenges can be and how they stand to benefit our holistic sense of well being. Through intentionality, we can think about what might help us connect authentically with others and contribute to a more inclusive community. When we open to shared understanding together, we commit to building upon our collective humanity for the sake of our common benefit.