March: A Whole Month of Happiness and Wellbeing

Posted on 01. Mar, 2011 by Julia Barnard in Articles, happiness

March is the third month of the year and is named after the god Mars. This month marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and the start of autumn in the southern hemisphere. Make sure to note the changes in the season, no matter where you are in the world. March is International Listening Awareness Month. Since good communication promotes happier relationships, we will consider the art of listening. Brain Awareness Week also takes place this month and as such we will consider the benefits of learning to your happiness and wellbeing. Finally, we will look at human rights to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Be an active listener

If you communicate well, your relationship with others will be improved. Good communication means you are able to transmit successfully your own wants and needs. It also ensures you fully understand what the other person is trying to say to you. There will be fewer misunderstandings or hasty assumptions made. This will mean reduced conflict and a greater awareness of the people around you.

If you listen actively to another person, you are able to attend fully to them without your own thoughts and feelings interfering. So often we want to jump in with our own stories, and therefore stop listening to what the other person is trying to communicate. Try using the following techniques to help you become an active listener.

Paraphrasing: Here you put into your own words what the person has just said to you. It ensures you understand and the other person knows you are listening.

Reflecting: Here you focus on feelings, emotions and experiences. What do you see and hear? Reflect this back to the person you are talking to. Be aware of body language.

Summarising: Offer a summary of what the person has said. This is especially useful if the person has been speaking for a while.

Question: Ask questions to further your understanding. Try to avoid closed questions that require a one-word response. For example, “did you have a good day?” will likely give you a one-word answer, whereas “what did you get up to today?” should give you a longer response.

Body language: This is important to communication and can tell you a lot about what a person is thinking. Keep an eye on posture, gestures, amount of eye contact, facial expression and changes in the voice. You can use reflecting to check what you think you see is correct.

Tip

Watch a person conducting an interview on the television and see how they use listening skills.

Lifelong learning

There’s a great deal to be said about the brain. It is your best asset and so should be looked after. Brain Awareness Week aims to teach people about the brain and raise awareness of brain research that has been conducted. The brain is a muscle that needs exercising and learning is a great way to keep it in tip top condition.

Learning as part of life also brings great benefits to your overall happiness. It is an opportunity to renew your energies, get excited and curious. As you learn and get absorbed in a new project, you are giving yourself the chance to experience flow which is a sure-fire way to happiness. Learning can help prevent boredom as you have allowed more opportunities to come into your life. Importantly, you will learn things about yourself. As you develop your skills, it may take you to new places and perhaps push you to face your fears. You will learn to not be afraid of change and how to face a challenge.

Tips

Learning can take whatever shape or form works for you. Whether you attend a class, read a book or website or get hands-on is up to you.

Take a trip to the library. Explore the shelves, especially those you would not ordinarily visit. See what interesting pieces of information you can pick up. You never know, something might pique your interest.

Try to ensure your learning is always interesting and a challenge you can manage. You may need to take your learning to the next level to get the most out of it. Try to reflect regularly on how you are progressing. This also keeps the brain working hard.

Human rights

International Women’s Day first took place in 1911 and was established to promote equal rights for women, particularly the right to vote. This year marks 100 years and is a celebration of women’s achievements as well as work still to be done. It is an ideal opportunity therefore to reflect on the women in your life and the positive contributions they have made to it.

However, if we want to be happy, we need to consider everyone, not just the people we know. How can a person truly be happy, knowing there is suffering and inequality that continues around the world as well as in your very own country? Of course, turning on the news every night and seeing terrible things happen does little for your wellbeing. You have little control over these events. So you need to consider exactly what you can do to make the world a happier place. The key is to start small. Look at your own community. When you see something that isn’t fair you can speak up. Or at the very least don’t collude with the instigator. So for example, not tolerating workplace bullying. Or racist, sexist or homophobic comments from your friends. You could say nothing, join in or speak up against it. By speaking up you are making an important statement that says you won’t tolerate such behaviour.

Of course, I called this section human rights, but let’s not forget the rights of animals also.

Tip

Visit Amnesty International’s website to learn more about what is going on in your world. It is also an opportunity to see the good things people do and how you can get involved. Visit http://www.amnesty.org/.

Links

International Listening Awareness Month

International Women’s Day

Brain Awareness Week

Remember

Every month there is a reason to be happy.

Tags: achievements, boredom, brain, change, communication, conflict, control, happiness, learning, listening, people, relationships, television, thinking, wellbeing