I have this screen print by Eileen Revett hanging in my house. It’s titled “Infinite Possibilities”.
At first glance you might think it’s a repeating pattern but on closer inspection you’ll notice that every set of shapes is slightly different.
2024 offers infinite possibilities, things you’ll say “hell yes” to, things you’ll say “no way” to.
Each choice you make will change the pattern for what comes next.
It reminds me of my favourite quote from James Clear -
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it is actually big. That’s the paradox of making small improvements.”
You don’t have to start the year feeling overwhelmed by the need for radical change. Make a small adjustment to the pattern and watch the infinite possibilities unfold.
Get a Grip?
At this point in the year I sometimes hear a harsh voice in my head that tells me to “get a grip”. It usually comes with a bunch of “shoulds”:
“You should have finished that by now Hazel”
“You should be able to juggle all those things Hazel”
“You should….Hazel”
But the truth is by this time of the year, I’m usually pretty tired. I’m running out of steam and I’m ready for a break.
So this year, I’ve affectionately hung “get a grip” on my tree, to remind me to speak to myself in the opposite way.
“You’re doing your best Hazel”
Things to remember during the holidays:
⭐️ It’s okay to find it hard. You don’t have to “get a grip”.
⭐️ It’s okay to feel lonely. Thousands of people feel lonely during the holidays (including me).
⭐️ It’s okay to be gentle with yourself and find a more compassionate voice.
I look forward to seeing you all in 2024. I’m incredibly grateful for all your support here on LinkedIn. Thank you for being connected. 🙏
Nature Connectedness
I was so tempted to hit the snooze button but the future version of myself reminded me I have never regretted a sunrise paddle.
It was a beautiful morning and I experienced a whole range of emotional experiences.
Excitement at discovering a seal basking on a bank. Amazement at overwhelming sound of 100 geese taking off from the water. Awe at the alien like structure of jelly fish floating around my board. I felt connected to nature.
Nature connectedness is more than just spending time in nature. It’s our about relationship WITH nature.
People who have a greater sense of nature connectedness also tend to experience higher levels of wellbeing.
There are many ways to increase our nature connectedness.
Miles Richardson describes 5 pathways :
* Senses - tuning in to nature through the senses
* Emotion - feeling alive through the emotions and feelings nature brings
* Beauty - noticing nature’s beauty
* Meaning - nature bringing meaning to our lives
* Compassion - caring and taking action for nature
Life Lessons in Hiking
Three things I learned (and relearned) from hiking the Yorkshire three peaks last weekend:
Sometimes it works out well when you don’t take the route you planned.
Getting to the top isn’t nearly as exciting as the process of getting there.
Doing something hard is so much easier when you’re not doing it on your own.
Invest in Your Relationships
What can we learn from the world's longest study on happiness?
- Life is complicated.
- Sometimes the things we imagine will make us happy, don't.
- Our relationships are the biggest predictor of our happiness.
Don't leave your relationships to chance. Invest in them.
Thank you Robert Waldinger - when I get to the end of your beautiful book, I will go back to the start and read it again.
THE COMFORT ZONE IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE
3 years ago I filmed my first series with the BBC - The Brain Lab.
We explored the key themes of wellbeing including growth mindset.
When this photo memory popped up on my phone, it reminded me how much the whole filming experience was like a growth mindset experiment. There was so much I didn’t know how to do.
🎬Filming in a studio was new to me.
🎤Reading naturally from an autocue was new to me.
🔥Keeping energised after “Take 5” was new to me.
I felt out of my comfort zone and I really did learn a lot!
Step out of your comfort zone occasionally.
Try to find lightness when it doesn’t go to plan.
Surrounded yourself with people who want you to do well.
“A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there.”
#growthmindset
Want a little mood boost for your Friday?
Want a little mood boost for your Friday? Recent research has found that carrying out 'prosocial' behaviours (any behaviour with the goal of benefiting another person) can boost mood and wellbeing for the individual performing the action as well as the recipient. One really simple prosocial behaviour is to express genuine appreciation to another person.
"When it comes to giver cultures, the role -modelling lesson here is a powerful one: if you want it, go and give it." - Adam Grant
#wellbeing #gratitude #mood
Growing Together - Children's Mental Health Week 2022
This week, for children’s mental health week, I’ve been sharing simple ways we can support children with their mental health and “grow together.”
How to learn (and fail) like a skateboarder
How can we shift our mindset to understand that failing is a normal part of learning?
Coping With Change
My latest project with the Premier League explores how transitions can impact on our emotions, and what we can do to help the change process go as smoothly as possible.
Build Back Better
Living through the pandemic will have presented us all with challenges but it may have also created an opportunity to reflect on our lives and how we want to live them.
So how do we make sure we hold on to these important lessons and embed them into our daily lives?
"How to Build a Life" - is a brilliant column by Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic. This week he talks about the 'Once-in-a-Lifetime Chance to Start Over' and how we can prepare for a better normal.
Arthur recommends drawing a matrix and reflecting on the things we like and dislike from our pre pandemic and pandemic lives. And then making a plan for what we'll keep and what we'll leave behind.
I really liked this idea. I made a matrix for anyone who wants to give it a go...
Wellbeing in the garden
Lessons from my garden
I found the winter hard. I desperately missed my friends and family. Although I still had virtual contact with them, I missed being WITH them.
For Christmas my family gifted me some gardening gloves. At first, I thought they were paddle boarding gloves. I’ve always loved nature, but my relationship with nature has largely been running, hiking, paddling, climbing...going out to play in nature.
I’d spent very little time tending to my own garden. It always seemed like the sort of garden that took care of itself.
As I immersed myself in the research exploring how nature benefits our mental health - I also put on my gardening gloves and started to take a bit more care of my garden.
One day I sent my Mum a photo of an unfamiliar stem sprouting up. My text read
“Is this a weed?”
Her reply
“A weed is anything growing in a place where you don’t want it to grow.”
I thought about that for a while. The garden offers so many great metaphors for our mind. Sometimes we have to weed out some of our unhelpful thoughts, to nurture the ones we want to grow.
I’m still a novice when it comes to gardening. But at the start of a very busy week talking about mental health, I decided to spend just a couple of minutes pulling weeds from my garden.