To recap on Part 1 we covered the Positivity Ratio, the PERMA model, Ways to Wellbeing and then I shared some tips to help you boost your wellbeing.
There’s one other point I’d like to make about Positive Psychology and that is about trying new experiences. There’s evidence that trying out new things, especially those activities which can lead to positive emotions, can really make a difference to our wellbeing. So don’t be afraid to experiment at the design stage. Barbara Fredrickson asserts that doing this literally broadens your mind and experience. It opens up development opportunities, which in turn helps build emotional and coping resources to help you deal with stress and adversity. We’ve all had plenty of that in the last 18 months!
I’d like to finish this blog by talking about nature, which was this year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week.
Interestingly, we can get all of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing from nature…
Connect
You can connect with the natural world in your area or place you love to go, and you can connect with others who have the same interest. Nowadays, it is very easy to find groups that share your particular interest whether that’s hill walking, birds, butterflies or moths. Bird watchers talk about getting really connecting with their patch, a local area where they really get to know the birds that come and go through the seasons. A great book on this is called ‘Bird Therapy’ by Joe Harkness. Joe found multiple ways to use his love of birds to help him deal with mental health problems.
Be Active
You can certainly be active in nature. You can choose natural places to fit how active you want to be. Do you want a gentle stroll and just look at nature or do you want to clamber up lung-busting hills and see the views from the top? What I think is great about nature is that you are physically active, but you don’t think about it. Physical activity is just a natural consequence of doing what you love to do.
Take Notice
You can really take notice in nature too. It lends itself perfectly to mindful activities where you pay attention, in the present moment, which helps stop you ruminating about the past or future. All you have to do is use your senses – stop, look, listen, smell, feel. If you do that, you can easily lose yourself and just savour the natural world in ways that will improve your mental health.
Keep Learning
If you find one aspect of nature fascinating, you could make a point of learning about it, and keep learning – become an expert! Our devices have some drawbacks of course, but one huge advantage is that you can research, discover and find out everything about anything. Recently, I became interested in hover flies. I see hundreds, in my garden and when I am out on walks, but I realised I knew almost nothing about them. So I started researching them so I could identify at least some of the 270 species in the UK. I’ve now changed my approach to gardening to make my garden much more bug friendly.
Give Time
And you can give in multiple ways. You can give your time to a cause that supports nature. You can help with nationally important research projects. Every year there is a garden bird watch, where you note down all the birds in your garden over one hour. One that got publicity recently was about counting bug splats on your car number plate. The app for that by the way is called ‘bugs matter.’ You can also volunteer to improve your local, natural environment through for example cutting back invasive rhododendrons or by doing a litter pick. You can take a friend who’s struggling to a place they love to help their mood. And of course, you can become greener in your outlook and lifestyle.
Any of these 5 ways of accessing nature can help you improve your wellbeing. You can choose one to focus on or choose all of them, it’s up to you. My advice is to do it consciously and deliberately. Don’t be passive about it as that won’t work so well. Be proactive and integrate nature into your life.
To summarise:
Positivity is more than just positive thinking – it’s got more to do with what leads to experiencing positive emotions, which in turn have a key part to play in promoting wellbeing.
Your ratio of Positivity to Negativity is called your ‘Positivity Ratio’. Some psychologists believe that a 3 to 1 ratio or more is strongly associated with positive wellbeing or ‘flourishing.’
Two very good frameworks for understanding what leads to wellbeing are Seligman’s ‘PERMA’ framework and NEF’s ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing.’
You can enhance your wellbeing by:
- Writing a Positivity List.
- Ranking your list in order of importance.
- Reflecting on your list in the context of your current life.
- (Re)designing your life so that Positivity is better integrated.
- Evaluating the design-changes you’ve made and tweaking your design if required.
Lastly, nature and experiencing the natural world, can provide all the elements that are known to enhance wellbeing.
I hope you have enjoyed this two part blog and look forward to any questions and feedback, directly of via the Tonic website.
