5 Ways to Wellbeing

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The five ways to wellbeing are five simple, evidence-based ways to improve mental capital and mental wellbeing throughout life.

What are the 5 ways to wellbeing?

Developed by the New Economics Foundation, the 5 ways to wellbeing are:

Connect

With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

Be active

Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

Take notice

Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.

Keep learning

Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

Give

Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

What Works Wellbeing has a neat post on how the UK compares to other European countries on the 5 ways to wellbeing and how they are affected by age, gender and other factors: 5 ways to wellbeing in the UK .

Curious? Evidence for the 5 ways from the New Economics Foundation (pdf).

Also, in doing this sketch, it’s quite clear that parks are awesome for wellbeing.

Also see:

Published 13 Oct 2019

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If you're a parent or buy presents for kids, perhaps Christmas brings mixed feelings. While we love spending time with family, playing together, and taking a break, Christmas gift-giving easily brings some stress and anxiety (one of the reasons that Thanksgiving is so good). This list from Pragmatic Parent is a potential antidote to the consumerism that can overtake at Christmas. The idea is to give one gift to each child in five categories: Want, Read, Wear, Need, and Do. 8x Christmas-As-Magic No one wants a Dudley Dursley on his birthday, "Thirty-six. That's two less than last year!" But at the same time, as a parent, you may have nostalgia for your Christmas or holidays as a child and want to create the same for your children. Paul Graham wrote in an essay Life is Short: "Having kids showed me how to convert a continuous quantity, time, into discrete quantities. You only get 52 weekends with your 2-year-old. If Christmas-as-magic lasts from, say, ages 3 to 10, you only get to watch your child experience it 8 times. And while it's impossible to say what is a lot or a little of a continuous quantity like time, 8 is not a lot of something." So, while, as parents, you may be working to make it memorable, at the same time, some things can easily get out of kilter. Here are some thoughts that cross our minds: It's easy to think that we're buying more and bigger gifts each year. And we want to ensure this year's presents are as good as last year's to avoid disappointment. It's easy to look at a pile of assembled presents and think, "We never had this much as kids!". And sometimes, the big ticket item we bought at great expense didn't provide nearly as much joy as racing around the house with family at Christmas. We wonder if it was really needed after all. It's easy for Christmas gift-giving to seem out of control. The 5 Gift Guide: Want, Read, Wear, Need, Do Years ago, I learned about this list from Corinne at Pragmatic Parent, which tries to redress some of the balance at Christmas—keeping Christmas wonder while also keeping it sane. The idea is to get one gift in each of the 5 categories: Want, Read, Wear, Need, Do. Something I want can still be the classic Christmas big ticket item that you dream about getting as a kid. This could be a big toy, Lego set, video game, or new bike... Something I need could support a hobby, some sports equipment, a musical instrument, maybe headphones. Or it could be something they need for school—a smart set of pens or pencils or pencil case, perhaps. Something to wear is an opportunity to get something that makes them feel good daily. Something to read might be a book, magazine, comic, or subscription. Something to do could be a game, tickets to a film, a day out or visiting somewhere new. In a later iteration of the list, Corinne added a 6th item, "Something for my family", for an activity everyone can do together. A Less Materialistic Christmas The 5-Gift Rule for Christmas is a potential way to reduce some of the consumerism associated with Christmas and adopt a more minimalist approach. It promotes useful gifts that won't gather dust after the excitement of the holidays has passed. It encourages gratitude for what we receive and minimises pining for what we don't. It also suggests gifts that create experiences for the receiver and the family—one of the best ways to spend our money. Full disclosure: Though we think about the list, we've yet to adopt it wholesale. But it's a handy framework for considering different types of gifts that your children may value. It reminds us to focus on more meaningful and thoughtful gifts and experiences with less accompanying stuff. Related Ideas Also see: If money doesn't make you happy, you're not spending it right The origins of Boxing Day Give gifts others can give Jólabókaflóð Pick a present (Venn diagram) (Groggy parents from Watterson)…If you're a parent or buy presents for kids, perhaps Christmas brings mixed feelings. While we love spending time with family, playing together, and taking a break, Christmas gift-giving easily brings some stress and anxiety (one of the reasons that Thanksgiving is so good). This list from Pragmatic Parent is a potential antidote to the consumerism that can overtake at Christmas. The idea is to give one gift to each child in five categories: Want, Read, Wear, Need, and Do. 8x Christmas-As-Magic No one wants a Dudley Dursley on his birthday, "Thirty-six. That's two less than last year!" But at the same time, as a parent, you may have nostalgia for your Christmas or holidays as a child and want to create the same for your children. Paul Graham wrote in an essay Life is Short: "Having kids showed me how to convert a continuous quantity, time, into discrete quantities. You only get 52 weekends with your 2-year-old. If Christmas-as-magic lasts from, say, ages 3 to 10, you only get to watch your child experience it 8 times. And while it's impossible to say what is a lot or a little of a continuous quantity like time, 8 is not a lot of something." So, while, as parents, you may be working to make it memorable, at the same time, some things can easily get out of kilter. Here are some thoughts that cross our minds: It's easy to think that we're buying more and bigger gifts each year. And we want to ensure this year's presents are as good as last year's to avoid disappointment. It's easy to look at a pile of assembled presents and think, "We never had this much as kids!". And sometimes, the big ticket item we bought at great expense didn't provide nearly as much joy as racing around the house with family at Christmas. We wonder if it was really needed after all. It's easy for Christmas gift-giving to seem out of control. The 5 Gift Guide: Want, Read, Wear, Need, Do Years ago, I learned about this list from Corinne at Pragmatic Parent, which tries to redress some of the balance at Christmas—keeping Christmas wonder while also keeping it sane. The idea is to get one gift in each of the 5 categories: Want, Read, Wear, Need, Do. Something I want can still be the classic Christmas big ticket item that you dream about getting as a kid. This could be a big toy, Lego set, video game, or new bike... Something I need could support a hobby, some sports equipment, a musical instrument, maybe headphones. Or it could be something they need for school—a smart set of pens or pencils or pencil case, perhaps. Something to wear is an opportunity to get something that makes them feel good daily. Something to read might be a book, magazine, comic, or subscription. Something to do could be a game, tickets to a film, a day out or visiting somewhere new. In a later iteration of the list, Corinne added a 6th item, "Something for my family", for an activity everyone can do together. A Less Materialistic Christmas The 5-Gift Rule for Christmas is a potential way to reduce some of the consumerism associated with Christmas and adopt a more minimalist approach. It promotes useful gifts that won't gather dust after the excitement of the holidays has passed. It encourages gratitude for what we receive and minimises pining for what we don't. It also suggests gifts that create experiences for the receiver and the family—one of the best ways to spend our money. Full disclosure: Though we think about the list, we've yet to adopt it wholesale. But it's a handy framework for considering different types of gifts that your children may value. It reminds us to focus on more meaningful and thoughtful gifts and experiences with less accompanying stuff. Related Ideas Also see: If money doesn't make you happy, you're not spending it right The origins of Boxing Day Give gifts others can give Jólabókaflóð Pick a present (Venn diagram) (Groggy parents from Watterson)

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