These past days I’ve been spending a fair bit of time prepping for my upcoming talks – as the International Day of Happiness next weekend fast approaches. However, it’s been really lovely to refresh my mind on some of my favourite Happynesshub research, so I thought I’d bring some of my reflections into your inboxes today.

My talk on Monday for the Museum of Happiness’ Happy World Club is titled ‘Habits of Happiness: Finding Your Happiness, Practising Self-Compassion and Defining Your Values.’ It is a 90 minute session, but we’re still packing a lot in! The goal of the workshop is to encourage participants to focus on their 3 P’s – Pleasure, Peace and Purpose! Pleasure will involve one of our favourite Happynesshub tools – seeking out things in our lives that bring us joy. It’s been one of my saviors during lockdown, even lighting a simple fire has lifted my spirits at some of the darker times. Peace will revolve around some of the wonderful work of Kristin Neff’s to elaborate upon the importance of self-compassion. I have made a conscious effort, particular these last 2 months, to bring acts of self-compassion into my life. And they have truly made a difference. Purpose will be exploring our values – unique to each of us – and how we integrate them into our daily lives, and ultimately how they can give us purpose, which in turn drives our emotional wellbeing.

Flic has found a really great quote that I think captures a lot of positive psychology tools in one go:

‘Rather than wandering round in problem-solving mode all day, thinking mainly about what you want to fix about yourself or your life, you can pause for a few moments throughout the day to marvel at what’s not broken.’

– Kristin Neff

I love this quote because it speaks to so many facts of the Happynesshub’s tools. It can be taken as a call to practise self-compassion, gratitude, positive speech, positive focus, present moment awareness – the list goes on! Why don’t you have a go at writing down a few acts of self-care that reflect how you show yourself self-compassion? I think a few of mine would be:

  • Lighting a lovely candle
  • Having a bubbly bath!
  • Taking Archie out for a walk in the sunshine
  • Speaking kindly to myself – out loud, if I feel like it!

Write down some of your own. I’d love to see anything you come up with, so feel free to send it to sally@happynesshub.com.