With the launch of the new wellbeing hub on the Park – it seems like a good time to think about wellbeing and what gives you purpose in life.
I love this image of the parrot because it looks like he’s asking the questions for me – what is this wellbeing? purpose in life? and why does it matter?
Wellbeing is linked to so many aspects of our life and our circumstances. I have seen it defined in a few ways but on a personal level it is linked to how well we are doing mentally. How long and how many positive emotions and experiences we have in our daily life and this is why anxiety and feelings of hopelessness have such a big negative impact on our sense of overall wellbeing.
We can be the most wealthy, physically healthy individual but if we suffer from any kind of anxiety that impacts our daily life or if we feel lost and helpless in our situation we can still experience extremely poor wellbeing. Think of all the celebrities who seem to have everything yet admit to feelings of severe anxiety or even depression that they simply can’t understand or explain.
Talking can help as it can help develop awareness of how we react to circumstances and issues which can then help us to learn to mitigate the impact of the negative stuff. It’s important that talking is about recognising the issue and exploring ways of moving forward though rather than simply dwelling on the issue without allowing ourselves to explore why it’s affecting us badly.
Having a purpose in life can help us to stay focused and to create a sense of meaning and value. This can swing both ways though if we constantly over reach with our goals. That’s why its important to break them down into small steps and celebrate each step as we achieve it. Someone once said (I think it was Lao Tzu) that the longest journeys begin with a single step. So make the most of every step forward. Using the wellbeing hub or talking to a chaplain, (or both) can be one (or two) of your single steps if you are finding circumstances difficult and don’t feel you have a purpose in life at the moment. That means different things to different people and that’s fine. As chaplains part of our role is to help you find ways of nourishing yourself, giving yourself time to explore what will help you to feel positive and hopeful in life. We are that listening ear that you can bounce thoughts, hopes or concerns onto. We’re here to listen whatever you would like to talk about and if you just want to break up your day with a light-hearted conversation that’s all good too.
If you don’t manage to catch up with a chaplain on site, as always you can contact us via email on info@mitechaplaincy.com where you can request a call-back, or you are very welcome to call me directly on my mobile: 07526 378529 either to chat or to arrange a time to meet up with one of the chaplains.
We also have a range of resources on our web-site including some that are more specific to the Covid-19 outbreak and some that help in dealing with stress: https://mite.org.uk. If you prefer you can easily keep in touch with us on social media: Facebook: @mitechaplaincy Twitter: @mitesthwarr
Photo by Dejan Zakic on Unsplash