How to build a sense of wellbeing
How often do you think about your emotional well-being? It’s worth assessing your emotional health regularly. Consider the particular demands or stresses you are facing and how they are affecting you. Give yourself permission to take a break from your worries and concerns. Recognise that dedicating even a short time every day to your mental fitness and happiness can reap significant benefits in terms of feeling rejuvenated and more confident.
How Can I apply this to my life?
Here are some tips on staying happy.
Happy Steps
Exercise is good for you. So good that when you do it, your body says ‘thanks’ by sending happy chemicals to your brain. But who’s got the time or money to go to the gym? Instead, use the stairs rather than the elevator or escalator when you’re out. Climbing stairs is one of the best ways there is to get fitter and get that happy stuff in your head. Decide to do it next time you’re out. Then decide to keep on doing it and always take the stairs.
Smoothly Does It
Even if you like fruit and vegetables, it’s hard to have five or more portions a day. Trouble is, you really do need that much fibre. Without it, your system clogs up and you get all sad and sluggish. So, here’s a cheat – drink smoothies. They’re just mashed up fruit and vegetables, usually with most of the good stuff left in, and just one glass a day does the trick. Use low sugar fruits and berries if you can.
Doing Porridge
When you do without breakfast, your body doesn’t get the right kind of start and it sulks all day,
demanding coffee or snacks and often giving you a headache by lunchtime. But when you eat a bowl of muesli each morning, you don’t need all those snacks, your digestion works better and your mood improves. Porridge and muesli work like – how can we put this – drain unblockers. After a few days they clear your system out and you feel better all around.
Make a Note of This
Music cheers you up. Obvious? So why are you sitting there in silence? Silence is just a space for you to think about your worries in. Put some of your favourite music on. Do it now. Play music while you’re bathing baby or doing the dishes and it’ll send even more happy stuff to your brain. Play music while you’re walking briskly to the shops. Play music while you’re sitting around. But don’t play sad stuff, or songs that remind you of unhappy times. Keep it upbeat and you’ll get an instant lift.
Take One Away
Eating too much food or takeout is a great way to get really down. Did you see that experiment where a man ate nothing but fast food? He felt depressed and really unhealthy within a couple of weeks. So, here’s what you do: cut out one burger or takeout a week. Just one. Replace it with something you make yourself (easy things like beans on toast are fine). Within just a week or so, you’ll start to feel lighter, fitter and happier.
Help!
Do a small kindness for someone else, every day, and you’ll feel even better than they do. Help someone with their work, write a letter of thanks for being your friend, spend time with a person who needs the company. Sit down now and plan one or two helpful things you’re going to do for other people each week. They’ll feel good, but you’ll feel even better!
The Happy List
When you’re down it’s easy to forget the good times. The times you’ve succeeded in something, happy times with friends and family, things that make you smile. So remember them. Each evening, sit down and write down three things that you:
• have enjoyed
- felt was a job well done
- or helped you feel close to someone else.
After a few days, you’ll have a list of great things that you can look back on, and this will help you feel a lot better. Try our happy list worksheet here.
We have a range of other free worksheets which can help you start feeling happier. Use My Activity Planner to plan in some fun things during your week and use our Smiley faces Mood scale worksheet to review the impact of activities you are doing.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is another technique you can use to improve overall well-being and happiness. This ancient meditational approach encourages us to focus our mind on the moment rather than on worries and concerns. Our mindfulness book Slow down and be is available either in our shop here, and our ebook ’10 Things You Can Do To Make You Feel Happier Straight Away’ and others are available here.
Sign up to our free online self help courses at www.llttf.com
The Living Life to the Full Team.