“What have you been watching?” “I’ve just finished Peaky Blinders / Schitt’s Creek / The Queen’s Gambit (delete as appropriate) and need a new series to watch.”
Sound familiar? When thinking about this month’s post, the increasing use of our phones and rise in screen time during lockdown – almost 45 hours a week – were at the forefront of my mind. There are many ways we can interpret these figures but based on how many of us are feeling during this winter lockdown, it seems like a form of escapism. If we are limited in where we can go, it makes sense that we escape through the media available to us.
There are other ways of escapism that don’t involve sitting in front of the screen, we just need to be reminded of them. This month’s post is a reminder of how we can get our creative juices flowing in just 15 minutes, escape the mundaneness of lockdown and benefit our wellbeing.
Increased screen time, decreased mental health
Although our growing use of television, streaming and online media is understandable, it’s not always good for our wellbeing. Multiple studies have found links between screen time and/or sedentary behaviour with anxiety and depression.
Participating in creative activities can also lead us to approach situations in our lives in new, positive ways. Have you ever got into the creative ‘flow’? ‘Flow’ experiences are those that engage our whole bodies and result in us concentrating, ruminating less and not focusing on time passing us by. When we experience flow through being creative we tend to have higher self-esteem, value ourselves more and feel more useful – all of which contribute to our wellbeing.
It’s not often we can say we feel the same after bingeing the latest TV series. Here’s three ways you can get creative in just 15 minutes:
Stories in 5 words. As the days often feel like they roll into one at the moment, this creative activity also has the benefit of helping us keep track. Spend 15 minutes each day describing different things that happened with just 5 words. Five words are enough to convey a message, but tricky enough to make us really think about it. Here’s a few examples to help you get in the swing of it:
I baked chocolate chip cookies
The shed roof came off
The cat ate my dinner
Mindfulness colouring. The benefits of this are covered in depth in this previous post. Colouring can help us really get in the ‘flow’ and focusing on just one thing such as colouring can help us take a step back from emotional and stressful situations. Take 15 minutes away from the screen and get your colouring pencils out. Here’s a pattern you can print off and colour in. There are also multiple free designs available online.
Create something to show someone you’re thinking of them on Valentine’s Day. Although we shouldn’t wait for one day each year to tell someone what they mean to us, Valentine’s Day is a useful excuse to do so. It doesn’t have to be a romantic declaration – we all experience different types of love. Whether you’re in a relationship or not, why not use this opportunity to tell someone you appreciate them? Some creative ways to do this include:
I’d love to hear how you get on with these creative activities and the effect they have on your wellbeing. Please do get in touch 15minutewellbeing@gmail.com or comment in the box below.
I deliver online wellbeing workshops, so if that’s something that would benefit you or your organisation, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
I also share wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in between monthly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to keep up to date.
Happy New Year! 2021 is finally here and with it comes expectations for a healthier, happier and more ‘normal’ year.
Here’s hoping that Lockdown 3.0 really is the last in the coronavirus trilogy and we don’t have to endure an ongoing franchise of disruptions to our daily lives. With the vaccine rolling out, hopefully like Frodo and Samwise in Lord of the Rings, we can overcome the odds and return to a restriction-free life.
Although we have more hope third time round, the impact of another lockdown can take its toll on our wellbeing. The monotony of Groundhog Day – great film, not so great in real life – can affect our mood, motivation and satisfaction with life. How can we get through this and keep our wellbeing afloat? All it takes is spending 15 minutes planning, so every day involves two things: something purposeful and something enjoyable.
Research has shown that boredom is linked with anxiety, depression, overeating and drug and alcohol abuse, so it’s essential we battle the boredom! Our usual resources of meeting friends, going to the cinema, group exercise and just changing our environment is not available at the moment, so we need to reflect on what gave us purpose and joy in the previous lockdowns and factor these into our days over the coming months.
The importance of purpose
Having a sense of purpose can really benefit our wellbeing, which you can read more about in this previous blog post. Feeling purposeful can result in:
Increased exercise and health-promoting behaviours
Feeling better about how we look
Feeling more satisfied with life
Better recovery from negative and stressful life events – so we could infer that doing something purposeful can help us cope better with the lockdown
How can we do something purposeful during lockdown? Well, it doesn’t have to be a huge, big, life-altering thing. It can be simple achievements such as:
Finally sending back the online delivery which doesn’t look right
Planting seeds or bulbs in the garden or in pots
Sorting out your home / car / pet insurance before it’s up for renewal
We can increase feelings of happiness and joy during lockdown by:
Spending time in natural environments such as parks and forests
Being kind to others
Being near, in or under water. If you can’t make it to a lake or a beach, a simple bath or shower can also work
Exercising
This month’s activity
Above are just a few ideas on how to include something purposeful and joyful into our daily lives. However, before you start planning the days ahead, first think back to the previous two lockdowns. What gave you a sense of purpose or achievement? What brought you joy?
This month’s activity is to plan one purposeful and one enjoyable thing for each day, to help maintain your wellbeing through Lockdown 3.0 and finish the coronavirus trilogy a wellbeing hero. You can do this the night before, in the morning or you can plan one week at a time, whatever works for you. It shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes. Give it a go and see what difference it makes to your wellbeing.
You don’t need a worksheet to complete this activity, but one is provided here in case you find it useful to work from. It includes space to jot down your plans for something purposeful and enjoyable over a 7-day period, as well as some questions to help you reflect.
I’d love to hear how you get on with eating incorporating purpose and joy into your day and the effect on your wellbeing. Please do get in touch 15minutewellbeing@gmail.com or comment in the box below.
I deliver online wellbeing workshops, so if that’s something that would benefit you or your organisation, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
I also share wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in between weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to keep up to date.
Stuck in a rut? Not
sure where your life is heading? Feel like you’re going through the motions?
We all go through lulls from time to time, but feeling like we don’t have a purpose can be detrimental to our wellbeing. Those of us without a sense of purpose are more likely to be depressed and have a shorter lifespan than those with more meaning in their lives. Having a sense of purpose and some control over our lives are key to wellbeing.
This week’s post is all
about helping us find or re-discover our sense of purpose. This may seem a bit
daunting, but by answering a few key questions and reflecting on what we are
passionate about, our purpose will become clearer.
What has purpose got to do with wellbeing?
Feeling purposeful has many benefits for our wellbeing. Firstly, it helps us recover from negative and stressful life events. Even when controlling for other factors such as age, gender and subjective wellbeing, higher levels of purpose in life were linked with better recovery from a negative event.
So how can we find our
sense of purpose and improve our wellbeing?
Ikigai (‘ee-key-guy’)
The Japanese have a concept called Ikigai, which essentially asks, ‘what gets you out of bed in the morning?’ Ikigai relates to the happiness of doing activities involving mental or physical effort to achieve a purpose or result. That purpose could be anything from improving the environment to creating art or helping others. We all have own purpose, we just need to find it.
There are four key
questions to answer to help find your Ikigai:
What do I love?
What am I good at?
What does the world need?
What can I get paid for?
Answering these questions is like following a treasure map to help you find out wonderful things about yourself, that you can share with the world and others will thank you for it.
Image from Forbes
What do I love and what am I good at?
Identifying the passion
and talents we have can give meaning to our lives. The two elements of Ikigai
we’re looking at this week are what we love and what we are good at. We can
find our Ikigai where these cross over. As this is 15 minute wellbeing, we will
just focus on these two questions this week, and what the world needs and what
we can get paid for in next week’s post.
To help you figure out
what you love, answering the following questions may give you some ideas. For all
the questions in this week’s activity, you can give more than one answer, so
don’t feel pressured to find one clear purpose straight away. It can take time
to find your Ikigai so don’t rush and answer everything honestly.
What do I love?
What activities give me a sense of excitement?
If money was no object, what would I spend my
time doing?
What did I love to do as a child?
What am I good at?
What are the things I do that often get a
positive response?
What do people compliment me on or praise me
for?
What subjects did I do best in at school?
All the questions are
included on this week’s worksheet, so you have somewhere to record your
answers. Click the link below to download the worksheet. You can fill it in
using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or alternatively print it off and fill it in by
hand.
If you enjoyed the first
step in discovering your Ikigai, or feel that finding your Ikigai has helped
improve your wellbeing, please do get in contact and share your story.
I share
wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in
between weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to
keep up to date.
Back in March I wrote a blog post about choosing the right exercise for you. Whilst writing the post, I thought of a former colleague of mine, Richard, who had taken up running and really fell in love with it. Before he started running, he had overhauled his diet and lost a lot of weight. Once he started running, I noticed that Richard was not only healthier, but happier too.
I invited Richard to share his story with me for 15 minute wellbeing, because I think his journey is really inspirational. Richard has a real passion for running and has run distances that I couldn’t even imagine running, but like all of us, he had to start somewhere by putting one foot in front of the other. Read on to find out about his running journey and the great mantras he uses – these can benefit us in all aspects of our lives, not just exercise. I hope it inspires you to start or persevere with the exercise that is right for you.
Can you tell me about what your life was like before you started running?
“I’d gone through my weight loss and eating healthily and the next step for my wellbeing was some exercise. I started walking. I walked to Hounslow station which was 40 minutes away.
What really got me started with running was the running group at work. Jason said he’d come with me, just running one lamppost to the next. But I didn’t want to inconvenience him.
It took me 3 months of building it up until I could run 5km without stopping. I’ve kept the date when I went for my first run and refer back to it so I know how far I’ve come. It’s easy to forget what it was like before.”
Richard then went through the key dates in his running journey. I put these into a graph to show how Richard built up his endurance over time and the milestones he has achieved so far.
“My first run was on 7thMarch 2015 and first 5km on 31st May 2015, the bank holiday weekend which continues to be significant through my running journey. My first kilometre of running took just over 7 minutes.”
As you can see from the graph, Richard completed his first marathon on this bank holiday weekend in 2017 and his first ultra-marathon running from London to Brighton on the very same weekend last year.
This was soon after completing my first 100 km ultra-marathon
“This year on the May bank holiday weekend I want to run the 78 mile capital ring – 3 marathons in 3 days! Just get up in the morning and get on public transport to the starting point. I’m hoping to get some of my friends to join me.”
I found it incredible that it took Richard 3 months to run 5km without stopping and that he never gave up. Many people would, but he persevered. So what was his first run like?
“I remember the straight tarmac path was 150 metres and I ran that and my legs were like ‘what the hell are you doing?’ After 700 metres my legs were hurting and I had to stop and did lots of stretches. I eventually managed 3km on that first run.
I didn’t feel too bad, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone back. So each run thereafter I tried to get round the same distance a little bit faster. I didn’t make it too painful and unpleasant. I remember when I would really push it, my eyes would lose focus. Probably fight or flight kicking in. At the time I thought this couldn’t be normal.”
What motivated you to keep running?
“My approach has always been to keep improving, whether it’s running further or faster. There’s no point comparing myself to others – I want to be the best I can whilst fitting it into the rest of my life.
I very rarely run more than 4 or 5 times a week. My body gets to the point where it says ‘give me a rest’. It’s important to listen to any niggles and rest so they don’t get worse. That’s where not comparing yourself to others really comes into play.”
Richard then went on to tell me about the social aspects of running and how the variety of running events on offer keeps him motivated:
“I have completed three marathons and am training for my fourth in Boston, Lincolnshire. It’s an opportunity to go and stay with my sister. Every time I’ve done a marathon, I’ve done the parkrun the day before. You then get to meet other people you’re running in the marathon with. Then, when you’re running it, you spot someone from the parkrun!
“Last weekend I ran just short of 50km in total. What keeps it interesting is the variety. I’m doing a bit more trail running: meet at a tube station, someone plans a route and run on trails, it makes a nice change to pounding the streets of London. It usually finishes at a nice pub!
This photo is with some friends made through running. This was taken after running the circle line before heading to the pub for lunch.
I’ve signed up to tower running for more variety. Broadgate Tower is 35 floors. There’s a group that run up and down it 12 times – a vertical mile! I’ve been training and I’ve managed it four times, I’ve got a bit of work to do to get to 12 times. You walk it but take two steps at a time but use your arms to pull yourself up. I’m doing the tower run in July.
There is always an event going, such as the green belt relay where you run 200 miles around London in a team of 10. There’s also so many inspirational people you come across – there’s an 85 year old man at parkrun every week. I’d love to still be running at 85.”
For some, running just doesn’t appeal at all. So why running over another form of exercise?
“The gym has never really appealed to me. I used to swim 5 evenings a week and was a good swimmer, but lost interest in my teens. I re-started [swimming] in my 20s but lost interest. When I was younger, running didn’t really appeal to me, I only did it at school.
All you need is a pair of trainers and a shirt and off you go. The social aspect of running at work, could have a chat. I don’t really go to my running club as people are focused on their time. The social aspect has kept me going, making friends…
I did do some swimming as part of my getting fit. I signed up for a 5km swim and then had a few goes training. Once I did it, I stopped. I still want to challenge myself with a swim. Triathlons interest me but they’re expensive buying all the equipment.”
15 minute wellbeing is all about mental health and improving our overall wellbeing through different activities. What impact (if any) has running had on your mental health?
“I’ve become much more relaxed, I don’t worry about things as much. I used to be a bit of a perfectionist and running a marathon has taught me that I can’t run the whole thing perfectly. I’ve applied it to the rest of my life – you can’t perform at your best every day, some days when you go into work you just have to do the best you can.
Running has probably made me a more positive person, building relationships with others, giving each other positive feedback on their runs and times which makes me more positive overall. In my last marathon I didn’t get the time I wanted, but when I look back I can get delayed gratification from knowing I did a good performance.”
Richard then told me that he felt running involved many of the 15 minute wellbeing themes. In addition to the benefits to his physical health and aforementioned connecting with others and giving feedback, Richard told me how running links with the other themes:
Mindfulness – “Running is my form of mindfulness. Sometimes I’ve been running for 3 hours and I haven’t thought about much apart from running and how my body is responding.”
Learning – “Running is a really good learning tool, you only improve if you put the hard work in. There’s no quick wins with running.”
“Reflection is an important part of my running – reflecting on what went well, was the training right, did I rest well?
What advice would you give to anyone is a similar position as you were?
“Never outrun the joy of running.”
“Start off being realistic. Start off slowly and build up. Enjoy it. Never outrun the joy of running, that’s my current mantra. My previous mantras were ‘Get comfortable with discomfort’ and ‘If I believe I can achieve’.
“If I believe I can achieve.”
Find people to run with. If you’re in London there’s so many social running groups. Running shops often have running groups. Midnight runners in central London with music playing.
This photo shows the great running community at my local sports shop. The community is very supportive and provides a couch to 5 km group on a Monday evening.
Parkrun is great as you get to know regular runners with the same time as you. Parkrun is ideal for people starting out. They [the parkrun organisers] want the average time of a 5 km run to get slower as they want to attract more people who want to walk 5 km. Parkrun operates all over the country.
Find out what works for you. Some people are content going for a leisurely run and talking with the same group of friends. Others need a target to work towards.”
Huge thanks to Richard for sharing his story – he really is inspirational and his passion for running is contagious. Since meeting with Richard I have started running again, taking it slowly and building my way up to 5 km non-stop. Richard has reminded me that it doesn’t matter how long it takes to do it, as long as I’m enjoying it.
I hope you have taken something from Richard and he has inspired you. If you would like to share your wellbeing-related story on 15 minute wellbeing, please do get in touch.
Sometimes it feels like we’re surrounded by stuff, with nowhere to put anything. How much of this stuff do we actually need? Have we used or worn it all in the last year? If the answer to these questions is ‘not all of it’ then all these things may be cluttering your life unnecessarily.
Clutter can contribute to feelings of stress and not being able to achieve our goals. Mess around the house can make us feel stressed as we may perceive it as another task that we haven’t been able to complete. This adds to the feeling that there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish our goals, which can make us feel even more stressed. In this third post during National Stress Awareness Month, we will be exploring the benefits of tidying up, getting rid of things we don’t really need and donating them to charity.
You may have heard of the ‘KonMari’ method popularised by the TV show ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’. This method encourages us to get rid of items which no longer ‘spark joy’ in us. This is similar to the quote by William Morris: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” Focusing on the items that make us happy and removing those that are no longer of use to us can result in a transformation of not only our homes, but also our emotional wellbeing.
Is Marie Kondo onto something? She could well be. Living in a messy, cluttered house can have a negative impact on our wellbeing. If we feel like we live in a cluttered home, we are more likely to feel stressed, as shown by increased levels of cortisol (the stress hormone).
Why we are reluctant to declutter our homes
Although clutter and mess can cause frustration and have a detrimental effect on our wellbeing, many of us do nothing about it. Why is that? Tidying up and throwing things away is an unpleasant, often time-consuming activity for many of us to do, so we avoid it and spend that time procrastinating instead. For those of us who avoid throwing things away, or even hoard objects, we may keep hold of things because we believe that:
We just need more time to sort things out
We don’t have too much stuff, we just need more storage space
We need to keep them for the future, ‘just in case’
If we throw things away, we may harm the environment
If you are concerned that you may have a problem with hoarding, the Clutter Image Rating may be useful. Also, speak to your GP or a mental health practitioner for advice and support.
We can also become overly attached to our personal items, which makes it hard to get rid of them, resulting in a build-up of objects in our homes and lives. We then add to this ever increasing amount of objects because we believe we actually need the things we want, which is rarely the case. Do we want three different types of black ankle boots? Yes. Do we need three different types of black ankle boots? Almost definitely not.
How getting rid of clutter can improve our wellbeing
In comparison, if we feel like we live in a home that is tidy and in order, we feel less stressed. When decluttering we use our problem solving skills, giving us a sense of mastery and control, which helps us feel better about ourselves and increases our belief in our ability to achieve our goals.
One of the positives of tidying up is that we can see the difference we have made straight away. When our things are out of place, this can cause us to feel anxious. Putting things in order can relieve anxiety relatively quickly. Additionally, decluttering can involve three of the key wellbeing themes we’ve covered in 15 minute wellbeing:
Physical health – tidying is a type of exercise, which can improve our mental and physical health
Mindfulness – concentrating on just decluttering a space can keep us in the here and now, which in itself can help reduce stress
Giving – giving our unwanted items to charity can not only pass on joy to others, but also increase our self-worth
This week’s activity is a seemingly simple one – declutter a space in your home. It may sound daunting –and it’s ok to feel that way – but in line with all the other activities, you only need to spend 15 minutes tidying a space. Pick a small, manageable space such as a bedside drawer or the pile of bits and bobs on the stairs. Take a picture of how it looks before decluttering, then take another when you have finished.This will help you see what a difference just 15 minutes of tidying up can make.
Once you’ve finished tidying, bag up those items you don’t need and donate them to your local charity shop. Giving to others can further enhance our wellbeing by giving us asense of self-worth and purpose.
Click the link below to download the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or alternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.
If tidying up had a positive impact on your stress levels or wellbeing, please do get in touch and share your story.
I share wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram inbetween weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to keep up to date.
How often is your trainor tube delayed? How frequently does your bus drive straight past your stopbecause it’s already full? If your answer is “too often”, you’re not alone.
On the London Underground, there was an average of 5 signal failures per day between January 2016 and February 2018. In 2018, 43% of train passengers experienced a delay lasting between 15 and 30 minutes. Not only that, train delays across the UK and Northern Ireland totalled 283,904 hours, which equates to 32 years of delays!
How delays can affect our wellbeing
Not only are these delays frustrating, they can also have a negative effect on our health and wellbeing. Poorer mental wellbeing, increased blood pressure, poorer diet and less sleep are all associated with delays and lengthy commutes.
People who commute by bus report lower life satisfaction and those who take the train are more likely to experience stress and anxiety. In a survey of over 1,000 commuters, journey delays were the aspect of commuting reported to be most detrimental to their health and wellbeing.
Until public transportsystems improve, there is little we can do to control train, tube and busdelays. However, we can use this extra time to our advantage.
Using delays to improve our wellbeing
We often feel like we don’t have enough time – which we covered in a previous post – so let’s make more use of the time we would otherwise spend waiting around, getting more and more frustrated. We can do this by connecting with others – one of the simplest and most effective ways of improving our wellbeing.
Do not worry – this doesn’tinvolve striking up a conversation with your fellow commuters! (Though if wespoke to each other more on public transport, we may enjoy our journeys more…)It’s about using this time to invest in our relationships with family andfriends and build stronger connections with them.
We can’t plan for train delays, so we will have to use what we have on us – our phones. Not to scroll through Instagram or Facebook, but to actually connect with others over a phone call. Even though the majority of us own a mobile phone, the number of phone calls we make on them is decreasing. In 2017, the amount of phone calls made decreased by 1.7% and it’s possible this has decreased since. Why is this? The immediacy of text and WhatsApp (and other messaging systems) is convenient and can give us instant gratification. However, it’s difficult to invest time in our relationships and get closer to our loved ones over messaging.
Why speaking on the phone is good for our wellbeing
Talking to someone over the phone can be beneficial for our relationships and our wellbeing. Communicating over the phone can help us build intimate relationships, feel closer to others and reduce feelings of loneliness, which is one of the biggest contributors to poor wellbeing. Compared to texting, phone calls are better for expressing emotion through tone of voice, which helps us understand each other better and can reduce conflict.
Many of us have a desire to connect with others more, due to UK-wide surveys indicating that men and women would rather spend more time with friends and family as opposed to spending their time at work. Even though transport delays may be affecting that, this can be alleviated somewhat by picking up the phone and having a conversation.
Today’s activity is thereforeto pick up your phone and have a conversation. Even if you don’t experience atransport delay (and hopefully you won’t) you can still call someone. As thisis 15 minute wellbeing – and many transport delays last for 15 minutes – tryand speak on the phone for this length of time, or longer if you wish. After yourphone call, why not take the time to reflect on your conversation and how itmade you feel? There are some questions on the worksheet to help you do this.
Click the link below todownload the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool oralternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.
If you enjoyed speakingover the phone for a change, or feel that having a conversation with a friendor family member helped improve your wellbeing, please do get in contact andshare your story.
I sharewellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram inbetween weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms tokeep up to date.
Today is World Poetry Day, celebrating poetry in all its forms. From a couplet to a haiku, limerick or sonnet, poetry helps us express our thoughts, feelings and life experiences. As proclaimed by the United Nations, poetry has the unique ability to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.
This week’s post uses
World Poetry Day to introduce the seventh and final theme that can improve your
wellbeing – creativity. Creativity – or being creative – is the use of our
imagination or original ideas to create something. Here at 15 minute wellbeing,
the focus is not on being artistic or creating a masterpiece, but absorbing
ourselves in an activity that can stimulate our senses and temporarily help us forget
about our problems.
Theme 7: Creativity
Creativity is a key part of being human and can help us grow as individuals, groups and societies. Being creative stimulates the whole brain: when we do something creative, the left logical side and right emotional side of our brains work together and develop our thinking skills. This in turn, improves our problem solving skills. Continued creativity can help us practice these new problem solving skills and help us become more resilient.
Participating in creative activities can improve wellbeing and reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress in those of us affected by mental health issues. Creative activities can also improve our:
Communication skills
Stress management
Connections with others
Emotional intelligence
Health management
Self-confidence
Despite all these benefits, some people find engaging in creative activities stressful, particularly the pressure to complete an artistic task to a set standard. If we don’t have confidence in our artistic abilities or creative writing skills, the thought of doing something creative may not be so appealing. However, we could think of creativity as a muscle that needs strengthening – the more we practice it, the more confidence we will have. Over time, 15 minute wellbeing will provide different activities that can exercise and nourish our creativity.
There are many ways to
be creative – drawing, painting, singing and dancing (among others) – all of
which will be featured in the blog in the future. As today is world poetry day,
we are going to write a poem. Not just any poem, a rhyming one!
Why is poetry good for our wellbeing?
Practising poetry can contribute to improved wellbeing. It has been shown to be a useful therapeutic tool for people with a variety of mental health issues. Poetry can positively influence our:
Social relationships
Emotions
Sense of purpose in life
Personal accomplishments
Having a sense of achievement or personal accomplishment can result in a positive spiral. Achievement builds motivation and confidence, which then encourages us to take more positive risks and new challenges to achieve some more.
Poetry can help us make sense of the world and reflect on our experiences – which we already know from the last blog is good for our wellbeing. Writing poetry about stressful and/or negative life experiences can help us process emotions such as loss, anger and frustration.
When we become absorbed in writing (or reading) a poem, it blends in with our thoughts and imagination to rearrange our priorities: immersion in poetry can temporarily suspend feelings of anxiety, boredom or stress. The focus of this task (and all future creative tasks) is to absorb ourselves in the process of creating something new. There will be no marking or rating in any of the 15 minute wellbeing creative activities. The aim is to gain a sense of achievement and improve our wellbeing by creating something.
Today’s activity is
writing a rhyming poem. You can write your poem about any topic and it can be
of any length, it just needs to rhyme! If you’re stuck for what to write about,
use one of the following topics for inspiration:
Something that has happened in your day
The plot of a film or TV show you watched
recently
A friend, family member or pet
Click the link below to
download the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or
alternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.
If you enjoy writing a
rhyming poem, or feel that the process of writing poetry has helped improve
your wellbeing, please do get in contact and share your poem and/or your story!
I share
wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in
between weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to
keep up to date. As this week’s post is about poetry, I will also be sharing
poems and rhymes over the next week.
There’s so much focus on
self-improvement these days – making changes to our lives to improve our
performance, our physical health and mastering new skills. It’s generally
straightforward to tell what helps us improve in these areas:
Testing new time management techniques to meet
our targets at work
Increasing the amount of exercise we do to
increase our physical fitness
Regular practice to learn a new skill
But how do we know what
is and isn’t good for our wellbeing? We all lead busy lives so it’s hard to
tell what is good for us and what might be having a negative impact on our
health and wellbeing.
Having an insight into
our thoughts, feelings and behaviours can improve our wellbeing. We gain this
insight through the process of reflection. If we can identify what is good and
bad for our wellbeing, we can make the changes we need to improve and maintain
our wellbeing.
Theme 6: Reflection
Reflection builds on last week’s theme of mindfulness, as it also involves recognising our thoughts and feelings. Focusing our attention on ourselves can help with our personal growth and wellbeing – reflection consolidates learning from our experiences and enables us to apply this learning to new situations.
What is reflection? Self-reflection is the process of focusing on ourselves and increasing our awareness of our thoughts and feelings. Having an insight into how we think, feel and are motivated is key to our psychological health. Taking time to reflect can reduce anxiety, improve motivation and help us plan for the future.
It is important to understand that reflection focuses on learning from past events to improve our current and future wellbeing. It isn’t rumination – repeatedly focusing on negative events or problems that we’ve experienced without finding ways to overcome them. Rumination is linked with anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Rather than ruminating, the activities in this theme will encourage us to reflect upon setbacks and challenge with the aim of overcoming them in the future. Reflection is all about practice and as we progress through the blog, more tasks and techniques will be provided to help you reflect.
The onus on improving
our wellbeing is ultimately on us. Taking 15 minutes to reflect can help us
figure out what we need more and less of to improve our mental and physical
health.
This week’s task gets
you to reflect on the people, places and things that are good and bad for our
wellbeing. Every day we interact with other people and the exchanges we have
with others can have a huge impact on our mood and overall wellbeing. The environments
we live, work and socialise in can affect how we feel about ourselves. The
things we do and activities we engage in can also influence our health and
wellbeing. This week’s activity worksheet includes some examples to help you
reflect on what’s good and bad for your wellbeing.
Click the link below to
download the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or
alternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.
If reflecting on
people, places and things has helped improve your wellbeing, please do get in
contact and share your story!
I share
wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in
between weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to
keep up to date.
Time just seems to fly
by these days. Christmas only feels like last week, but we’re somehow already
in March. How did that happen? When we were children, waiting for a birthday or
Christmas seemed to last an age, but as adults, events seem to creep up on us
quickly without us even realising. Why does time go so quickly and what can we
do about it?
One reason why it may feel like time goes quicker as we get older is the amount of pressure we experience. From around the age of 16 to retirement, we regularly face multiple pressures with time limits such as exams and deadlines. As these pressures build up, time feels like it moves more quickly and we start to feel as if we don’t have enough of it to get everything done.
Conversely, as young children we rarely experience these pressures and the new things we encounter are viewed with curiosity and excitement. Growing up, we learn new things all the time. When we are constantly aware of our changing environment and take notice of the new things we encounter, we store more memories which results in it feeling like time doesn’t go as fast.
Taking notice of what’s
happening in the here and now is what mindfulness is all about. We can use
mindfulness to reduce the amount of pressure we experience, make the most of
every moment and improve our wellbeing. It might even slow down time a little.
Theme 5: Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of focusing and accepting, rather than judging, our thoughts, feelings and sensations that occur in the present moment. Through practising mindfulness, we can learn to view our thoughts and experiences as transient events that don’t need to be acted on or control us. Noticing everyday activities such as brushing our teeth or our feet on the ground as we walk can interrupt our automatic thoughts and give us a new perspective on life. Mindfulness can also teach us to slow down, that we don’t always have to react immediately to situations we encounter.
Increasing our awareness of the here and now can help us understand ourselves better and increase our enjoyment of the world around us. Mindfulness is really as simple as focusing on what is going on around and within us in the present moment. The more mindfulness is practised, the longer the positive effects on our wellbeing.
Mindfulness has been shown to improve wellbeing by addressing cognitive and emotional reactivity and reducing repetitive negative thinking. That is, mindfulness can help us take a step back from stressful and emotional situations. By acknowledging our thoughts as transient events, we can learn to let go of negative thought patterns and behaviours. This can lead us to make choices and behave in ways that better meet our needs, interests and values, which is good for our wellbeing.
Mindfulness doesn’t
have to involve sitting cross-legged and meditating – it can be done anywhere,
anytime. You can practice mindfulness while doing everyday activities such as
brushing your teeth, having a cup of coffee or eating lunch. You don’t need to
set time aside to practice mindfulness, you can just bring awareness to what
you already do. Starting the day mindfully can help us appreciate things we usually
take for granted when it feels like time is running away from us.
This week’s activity helps
us to start the day mindfully. Most of us have to travel somewhere everyday –
to work, university, college, school or an appointment. Why not use this time
travelling to practice mindfulness and become more aware of what is going on
within and around you? If you’re not sure where to start, this week’s activity
worksheet includes more details and some questions to think about to help make
your commute more mindful.
Click the link below to
download the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or
alternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.
If you noticed anything
new or your mindful commute had a positive impact on the rest of your day,
please do get in touch and share your story.
I share
wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in
between weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to
keep up to date.
It’s been widely reported that exercise is not only good for our physical health, it can benefit our mental health too. Yet many of us find it hard to maintain our motivation to exercise. Even when we have good intentions to exercise, they don’t always last.
Each year, one third of people in the UK make a New Year’s resolution to get fitter, yet 63% of us break our resolutions. On average, two thirds (66%) of New Year’s resolutions last for one month or less. If your exercise and fitness goals have fallen by the wayside, you’re not alone.
If you’re struggling to find the motivation to exercise, it could be that you haven’t found the right physical activity for you. Not getting the mental high from working out that you’re after? Then maybe it’s time to change your exercise routine. This week’s blog post can help you find the best exercise for you and your wellbeing.
Theme 4: Physical health
The focus of today’s post is exercise and how choosing the right type of exercise for you can help improve your mental health. As we progress through the blog posts each week, you will discover that this theme is about more than just exercise. Other elements of our physical health – what we eat, how we sleep and self-soothing activities – can all impact our health and wellbeing.
Often, when we think about exercising we think about long runs, intensive gym sessions and ‘no pain no gain’. The good news is that physical exercise does not need to be vigorous to have a positive impact on our mental health. Even better, just 10 minutes of exercise is enough to elevate mood. Those of us who struggle to make time for exercise can still improve our wellbeing by incorporating a brief amount of physical activity into our lives. Over time, 15 minute wellbeing will introduce a range of physical activities that can be completed in 15 minutes or less and enhance our wellbeing.
Why is exercise so good for our wellbeing?
Exercising can distract us from our negative thoughts, improve our perceived ability to cope with stressful situations and increase our sense of control. Physical activity can also improve our quality of life, mood, self-perception, social interaction and life satisfaction.
Exercise can also help us cope with mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Aerobic and anaerobic exercise (such as resistance training) are effective treatments for depression. Regular exercise may help prevent people prone to feelings of anxiety from panicking when they experience symptoms such as increased heart rate and sweating. These physical reactions occur during exercise so regular exposure to them through physical activity could reduce the frequency of panic attacks.
Making small changes to the amount of exercise we do – even if we don’t do much at all – can enhance our wellbeing. For example, going for a walk can help us feel good. If we go for a walk with someone else, it has the added benefit of increasing our connection with others.
If we feel better after exercising, why is it so hard to keep doing it?
One factor to consider is the intensity of our physical activity. Do you tend to start off too hard? When we exercise to the point where it is hard to talk, the immediate mood boost we usually experience after exercising is delayed by approximately 30 minutes. This delay in mood enhancement can put us off exercising. Starting slowly, with a moderate exercise plan can help us to maintain our physical activity goals.
Have you found the right exercise for you? It is important to find a physical activity you enjoy, not one that feels like a chore. If you start a gym class to help you lose weight but you don’t actually enjoy it, it’s unlikely you’ll stick at it.
One way to find the right exercise for you is to consider your social-psychological needs, which can change over time. These are:
Achievement
Mood and tension release
Playfulness
Search for meaning
Self-esteem
Stress management
Different needs require different exercises. If you want to cope better with stress, activities that provide a welcome distraction such as running or aerobics would be beneficial. Activities such as competitive team sports are likely to add to the stress that you’re already feeling, so you won’t get the same sense of enjoyment from them.
Therefore, it may be that you haven’t found the right exercise to meet your current needs. Today’s activity helps you do just that! The worksheet includes a quiz to help you determine your current social-psychological needs and the types of exercises that match these needs. Once you’ve discovered what type of exercise may be right for you and your wellbeing, why not give it a go?
Click the link below to download the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or alternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.
If you are doing the right type of exercise but are struggling to stay motivated, research has shown that the following can increase your chances of staying active:
If you take up a new physical activity or make a change to your exercise regime, please do get intouch and share your story.
I share wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram inbetween weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms tokeep up to date.
15 Minute Wellbeing 