“I’m not sure what wellbeing means” a friend told me recently.
“What’s it like when things go well?” I replied.
I love that question. You can apply it to your emotional state and general health, to your work and relationships, to our communities and organisations, as well as to our society and world. In any of these areas, that question invites us to consider what we mean by well. We can also apply it to our year ahead. What would your year be like if it went well?
When approaching the purpose of improving wellbeing, whether in your year, in supporting other people, or in making a difference in the world, I find it so helpful to make the distinction between ‘making something happen’ and ‘helping something happen’. There’s lots of things I’d like to make happen, but which seem far beyond my reach. Yet when I think about playing a role in helping them happen – it starts to feel more doable. For example, while I would love to make your year go well, I’m not going to suggest I can do that. But the project of helping your year go well – that feels achievable. How could I do that?
If you want to help anyone do anything, a good place to begin is to consider how things look through their eyes. Research shows empathy in practitioners is a key predictor of better outcomes. So how can I come to understand how things are for you? I can ask you. To help me understand how I might play a role in helping your year go well, I’ve set up a short questionnaire at this link. Here’s three questions I’ve included:
- Are there topics related to resilience and wellbeing that you’d really like to find out more about? If so, please let us know.
- If a course, or information in our newsletter, could help you make progress in a particular area, what would you like it to help you do or be able to do?
- If a course, or information in our newsletter, could help you address a particular challenge or difficulty in your personal or professional life, what would it help you with?
I’d love to read your responses to these and a few other questions I’ve included. It might only take a five or ten minutes to complete. Your comments will help our planning so that we’re more likely to develop the courses that hit the spot for you.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of helping a year go well. Considering a wider timeframe than the very short term leads to a more expansive style of thinking. For example, what could you do this year that you might still be pleased about next year? Perhaps planting some wellbeing practices that help you bring a more resourced version of yourself to whatever you face this year? Drawing on the Su Ha approach I mentioned in September’s newsletter from last year, I’m offering a 3-hour online workshop to look at what helps you do that. It’s on February 4th – and we’ll be looking at an approach you can apply at any time of the year to help things (rather than make things) work out in a better way. You can see information about the event at this link.
To find out more about the Su Ha approach we’re offering a free webinar on 31st January, and our 8-week more in-depth training from 21st February.
Look forward to see any of you who join us on these.