I’m way too early for New Years Resolutions, but I am sharing one of mine now as I believe it might be handy over the coming few days.
We’ve experienced some huge changes over the last few years. My husband and I handed in our notice, we sold our house in London, and most of the stuff in it, and we packed ourselves into a campervan and travelled around Europe with our kids. We ended up in New Zealand. Not only in New Zealand, but off grid, in a yurt, in a forest, in New Zealand.
And one of the things I have learnt over this time is… don’t laugh… happiness comes from the inside out.
A campervan can’t bring you happiness. A yurt can’t bring you happiness. A forest can’t bring you happiness.
(A caveat: I speak about happiness here from a very privileged position, as a white, wealthy, healthy, person. I recognise that what I have to say does not apply to everyone and that other people will have vastly different experiences of happiness to me. And I’d love for you to be a part of this conversation. Another caveat: whilst I think working on our own happiness framework is a good thing, I think this goes alongside activism, kindness in action; supporting our neighbours, raising kids with empathy, sending funds to good people who can help Aleppo, campaigning for socially just policies and more.)
Now, don’t get me wrong. Campervans and yurts gave us great adventure. Buying a farm with others brings us community. Living amongst nature means we can do things like new moon women’s circles and family forest play; dreams of mine come true. All of these things were like little bricks for my Happy House. Everyone’s bricks are different.But the house can’t stand, the bricks mean nothing lasting AT ALL, without the mortar. You just got a pile of bricks. They meant something once, but now they are just dusty and have bugs crawling in and out of them.
What I’m trying to say is that we did all these exciting things, but the single biggest factor in my happiness came only this year, when I figured out that the mortar is, and I decided to do the internal work towards happiness.
And I want to share one of these processes as I think there is a huge opportunity for mixing up our happiness mortar over this coming holiday period…
The concept
So, in normal life, happiness touches us fleetingly. We eat a delicious burger with friends and we get a bubble of joy and a second later it’s gone. What we need to do, what we need to work on, is savouring the moment, in order for it to add to our overall happiness.
Happiness isn’t how many happy moments you have in your life, but how deeply you allow happy moments to penetrate your life.
I first became aware of this concept during my Endorphin Experiment (still ongoing! See Endorphin Experiment Week 1, Endorphin Experiment Week 2, Endorphin Experiment Week 6) which I began as a result of reading William Bloom’s Endorphin Effect.
And then, as if to really strike home how much I needed to do it this Christmas, I was listening to a podcast this week that mentioned it again. (My new favourite thing! Doing dishes or jobs or anything, as long as the kids are occupied, I just listen away and it is so nice! Tell me your favourites.)
A neuro psychologist was talking about the human brain’s negativity bias. How bad thoughts act like velcro in the mind – clinging to one another and building up – whereas good thoughts are more like teflon, very slippery and harder to make stick, long term.
One of the secrets to happiness is the ability to make those positive thoughts stickier.
15 seconds to happiness
To make positive thoughts stickier we need to hold on to them longer. You know those nice little warm fuzzies you sometimes get, say, when your children are playing together (together!! and not fighting!) and you think “oh, my goodness, lovely children!” or if you get the chance to see a glorious sun setting over a majestic mountain, or when you are sitting with your ancient Nana, and she is holding your hand and you are singing a carol together.
Don’t let that warmth of happiness touch you for a second and move on. Hold on to it, let the warmth move through your body, close your eyes and savour the experience of your harmonious children, the majestic mountain, sweet joy of being with your Nana. Hang on to it for fifteen seconds! It shows your brain you want to keep this moment, and it then weaves that good thought into an overall picture of well being. Slowly, slowly we rewire our brains for happiness.
In the podcast the Neuroscience of Happiness, neuro psychologist, Rick Hanson, says
“The first step is to turn positive events into positive experiences. All kinds of good things happen in our daily life that we hardly notice at all, and if we do, we don’t feel it. Someone pays us a compliment, we hardly pay attention to it, or we deflect it. So instead of that, you turn positive events into positive experiences.
Second, really savor it. In other words, the way to remember something is to make it intense, felt in the body, and lasting. That’s how we give those neurons lots and lots time to fire together so they start wiring together. So rather than noticing it and feeling good for a couple of seconds, stay with it. Relish it, enjoy it, for 10, 20, or 30 seconds, so it really starts developing neural structure.
The third step is to sense and intend that this positive experience is sinking into you and becoming a part of you. In other words, it’s becoming woven into the fabric of your brain and yourself.”
Whether you are celebrating Christmas or Solstice or nothing at all, these holidays often mean family gatherings and potential for these special moments. Remember the 15 second rule and harvest from these next few days a stack of good moments that will build up your overall happiness.
Halfway through this winter we began a forest play session for local home schoolers. It is a magical time, something we’ve dreamed of since visiting the Forest Kindergarten in Germany. We build huts, make soup, learn some primal skills. During our first session we sat around and talked about how to light a fire. “What can you start a fire with?” we asked the children. “Paper” “Twigs” “Cardboard” said some of them. “You can put a candle under the curtains” said another.
Indeed.
Happiness doesn’t come by doing something extreme like going off grid in New Zealand. It can very much come through the smaller stuff too.
Start with lighting your paper, before you set your curtains on fire.
Fifteen seconds to savour the goodness and spark your neurons for happiness.
~
So yeah, in an ideal setting Christmas is a chance to build the framework for our happiness. And, also, sometimes with family gatherings, it’s, well, kind of the opposite! Tension can rise, particularly if you are parenting in a way that is different to others. My parents and my in laws are both respectful of the way we parent, even though they might not fully agree, but at different times over the last few years we have had people close to us make it clear that they don’t like what we are doing.
I have put some thought into how I can keep grounded, keep parenting the way I feel is right for us, all the way through the mayhem of Christmas. They ended up being 5 mantras which I share here. (YIKES I wish there was a better word than mantra! It just sounds so… so worthy. Ach. Who am I kidding? This whole post is worthy. Forgive me, I am obviously feeling very seriouspants today! I should at least call these Womantras.)
I would love to hear if you have any womantras (c’mon, let’s do it. Let’s literally just add WO to everything that starts with Man. Harhahahah.) Anyway, sorry, tell me what things help you stay strong and calm.
I just want to take a second too, to say THANK YOU HEAPS AND HEAPS for reading this year. I count it a complete privilege that I get to write and make videos and that people stick around to be a part of the conversation. Thank you x x x
I don’t think it is too early for New Years resolutions. I heard recently that how you end the year is how you will start the next.
I love the idea of hanging on to a special moment for just a little bit longer 🙂
You can’t make others happy (including things like justice tolerance and freedom) if you’re not happy yourself. So, thank you for tending to your own happiness and contributing to the happiness of others <3
I recently read a great book called “The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Achor. It is all about a relatively new study of Positive Physchology. It goes into how happy people are more productive workers, citizens, etc. The bottom line is basically that you choose to be happy and there are little things you can do day-to-day to make you happier. It was very interesting and helpful. The writer is a Harvard grad who is a great speaker as well. Totally recommend! Thanks for the post 🙂
I love that you catch Tim changing his shirt and still sneak a peek! As a newly wed this give me hope!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA that is so funny that you notice! 😛
I am going to give the 15 seconds things a try! Love this post!
Time on my own makes me feel strong and calm – just a little nothing for a while before the noise of life begins. I always get up first
I’ve just finished the novel called How To Be Happy. It made me both laugh out loud and cry. It reminds me of this post and the quest for happiness.