Four years ago, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, friends Annette Venebrügge in Hamburg, Germany, and Tina Oehmsen-Clark in Toronto dreamed up a project: to each share a word a day.

The first time I joined coach on his daily 4-mile morning walk some 30 years ago, he gave me a laminated card featuring his father’s “Seven-Point Creed” that includes “Make friendship a ...