Our second gift to you shares easy ways you can spark joy, practise wellbeing, and nurture your connections this festive season.
Recipe for joy: Random acts of kindness
Not only can doing random acts of kindness make someone else’s day, it can also have amazing benefits for you! Science has actually proven that kindness produces oxytocin (the ‘love’ hormone), lowers blood pressure and anxiety, as well as increases our energy, optimism and own self-worth.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Compliment people with reckless abandon – don’t hold back!
- Write somebody a card – not for Christmas, but instead to tell them why you appreciate them
- Ask someone a question, and really listen to their answer
- Clear up after somebody else if they are too busy to do so
- If you are currently in conflict with someone, do something to show them love despite the conflict – remember, we are all human beings doing our best
Recipe for wellbeing: Experience exercise differently
For many of us, exercise means routine; we find it easier to commit when we know what to expect. Our suggestion is to shake this up now and then. Exercising at different times of the day can produce different results, and by switching up your routine, you become more present in what you are doing, your surroundings and your thoughts. Move away from auto-pilot and give your body a new experience!
If you want to…
- WAKE UP: Morning exercise increases blood flow, waking up our nervous system and giving us energy for the day ahead!
- REVIVE: Moving at lunchtime can relieve stress, battle mid-day slumps and sharpen you brain activity
- SEE RESULTS: Afternoon exercise is the best for performance and building muscle. You can do more while feeling it less due to low perceived exertion
- UNWIND: Evening movement helps calm your mind and helps you get a great night’s sleep
Recipe for connection
We feel that the world that’s being created is encouraging people to spend an abnormal amount of time thinking about themselves – what they look like, how they compare to others, how they are perceived etc.
As a society, we are spending FAR less time thinking about others (our family, friends, colleagues and wider community) and are feeling disconnected because of it.
WARNING: This exercise is designed to wildly increase your feelings of connection. Proceed with unbridled enthusiasm.
This holiday, sit for at lease 30 minutes (or more) with a pen, paper, and no technology. Dedicate yourself to thinking about other people. Think especially about people you may not have seen in a while, or have lost contact with. If any thoughts or possible actions come to you, write them down, and act on them only when the time is up.
Wished there was more? You’re in luck! Head on over to gift number 3.
