 Wishing you joy this December
‘Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy’ Thich Nhat Hanh
Joy is the instinctive felt response to things that make us smile – a flower, a rainbow, a baby, a touch, a pleasing shape, a colour, something unexpected, fun or quirky, bubbles, a beautifully wrapped present, music, dancing, the glitter of Strictly....
Places and environments, as well as events, activities and people can bring joy (or lack of joy) into our lives, and the good news is that we can invite joy consciously all year round and not leave it just to chance or December lights.
Bringing joy into our homes and home-workspaces through design elements such as harmony, play, celebration and renewal is what the designer and author Ingrid Fetell Lee calls the aesthetics of joy. Find lots of smile-inducing inspiration, colour and fun on her webpages.
The word ‘inspiration’, by the way, connects through its root meaning to both 'spirit' and 'breath', and breathing new ideas and perspectives into our days brings a sense of meaning and helps us feel more alive and connected.
Joy, like cynicism, laughter and complaining, is contagious - support your colleagues (and yourself) to feel happier and more upbeat by smiling, laughing and talking about what you en-joy and what makes you happy.
Why wait for the new year... cultivating healthy, happy habits now
What we eat, when we sleep or exercise, our approach to work, the sorts of conversations we typically have and so much more, all tends to 'just happen'. Our brains are wired to automate much of what we do and the patterns and habits that have evolved over time may not be the ones we would now choose. When the patterns support us to be healthy, happy and productive that’s fine, but if they are leading to us sitting, drinking, scrolling or eating too much, then we might want to change them for habits we're more happy to own.
Tiny Habits from the Stamford University Behaviour Design Lab offers a practical way of helping us to ‘install’ behaviours that we do want. The Tiny Habits website has a huge resource of free ‘expert help’ training videos, including health, relationships, positivity and productivity and habits that help us thrive in challenging COVID times. Watching with friends or colleagues builds in some support as you develop new behaviours.
Putting on a brave face
Masks can cover domestic abuse - both the face coverings we are now all wearing and the mask of holding it together to smile at the world.
According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending March 2020, an estimated 5.5% of adults aged 16 to 74 years (2.3 million people) experienced domestic abuse in the last year.
The silence and isolation brought about by fear and shame make it difficult to spot when a colleague or member of your team is experiencing abuse. This is so at the best of times, but the added pressures of COVID, face coverings and remote working call for closer attention. At this time of year the added stresses of possibly reduced finances and job loss, excess alcohol and Christmas, can be the final straw and January is a time when people may decide that enough is enough and they are open to help.
What you can do
What's happening in December
Kindness and wellbeing are connected
Being kind to ourselves makes us feel good and builds our resource of empathy, compassion and kindness for others. Like an oxygen mask in the aeroplane, we have to take care of ourselves before we can properly share care and kindness.
December kindnesses in the Action for Happiness Calendar...
- See how many different people you can smile at today - include yourself :-)
- Look for something positive to say to everyone you speak with
- Bring joy to others - share something that made you laugh
- Be kind to your body and your mind - take a walk at lunchtime
Reducing Stress - an opportunity to experience and learn from 'master of mindfulness' Jon Kabat-Zinn in a webinar from Action for Happiness on 9 December
Get cycling - Encourage yourself and your colleagues this December in Winter Wheelers from Love2Ride
Get active – join the conversation - Being active is vital to our physical and mental health and Energise Me are on a mission to make it easier for everyone in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to move more. and what would you like to change? Say what helps you to be active and share your ideas before 15 December.
Looking ahead to January
Go booze-free in January - Dry January is the UK’s annual challenge that helps millions of people reset their relationship with alcohol. Many participants say that they also save money (86%), sleep better (70%), have more energy (66%) and generally experience better health (65%).
Cervical Health - Resources if you want to run an internal organisation campaign and encouragement to book a test that could save your life. Cervical Cancer Prevention Week 18-24 January. Jo's Trust offers information and support.
The 2021 Wellbeing Calendar of National Awareness Days is still for 2020 and will be updated to 2021 as soon all the online links are updated with next year's dates. In the meantime you can still plan as the weeks and days tend to stay constant and the current links will take you to the right websites.
Your thoughts and feedback please...
What do you like? What's useful? What else do you want to see?
Please email Wellbeing@Work to let us know what you do and don't like about this newsletter. Thank you.
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