Activity 1: The Bull's Eye
Description:
Reflect for a moment about how satisfied you feel in each of the domains represented on the board.
The centre of the bullseye means that you are fully satisfied with how you are living your life in that domain. In contrast, the outermost ring, indicates that your level of satisfaction is lower in that area.
Debrief
Why it is useful?
The position of the darts on the board represents how close to your values you are living your life.
Values represent:
- those qualities of the person you want to be,
- what really matters to you and
- how you want to live your life for it to be fulfilling.
The middle of the board means that your behaviours and values are in ‘perfect’ harmony while the farther you are from the bullseye indicates lack of coherence between your behaviours and your values.
Wellbeing Home activity – Values
Do you know what your values are in each domain? If you do not, then it is time to think about it.
Being aware of what you value in life and the qualities of the person you want to be, will make your life easier because this will help you to guide your behaviours and make better decisions, even if they are difficult, because they will be done based on what you consider important in your life.
Do you want to work on improving your wellbeing and life satisfaction?
Activity 2: Emotional Vocabulary
Description:
During the following 2 min, write down as many emotions as you remember.
Debrief
Why it is useful?
Having a good emotional vocabulary is essential for your wellbeing. A rich emotional vocabulary helps you to adequately understand, express and deal with what you feel and it is the first step to develop emotional awareness.
Wellbeing Home activity – Emotional Awareness
To help you to get familiar with your daily emotional states, expand your emotional vocabulary. Research the types of emotions and moods that exist or you can experience.
There are many tools that can help you with that such as the mood meter (uncover the board above).
Do you want to improve your emotional intelligence?
Activity 3: Mood Meter
Description:
The mood meter is a tool to help you learn, recognize and understand your (and others) emotions.
Here feelings are classified in four groups according to their pleasantness and energy level. Each group has a different colour following colour-emotion pairing studies: red, yellow, cyan and royal blue.
With tools like this, you can start building the skills needed to learn the appropriate strategies for emotional self-regulation which include learning self-generation of positive states.
Remember: all emotions are ok and all of them have an important function, that is to provide valuable information about yourself and how you experience or interpret the different situations in your life.
Do you want to work on improving your wellbeing and life satisfaction?
Activity 4: Mindful Mandala
Description:
Step 1. Select one of the coloured pencils in front of you. Once in your hand, notice its weight and the balance as it sits in your hand.
Step 2. Take one deep breath at your own pace and turn your attention inward and notice what you are feeling. Continue breathing normally.
Step 3. Whenever you are ready start colouring and during the following 2 minutes or so simply enjoy it, use all your senses, and stay connected to this action in this very small part of your day.
Know that you will NOT finish colouring this page today and that is okay.
Debrief
Why it is useful?
Mindful colouring helps reduce stress levels, since during this activity (when done correctly) the flow of negativity and worries is paused, allowing the mind to calm down. As a consequence, our emotional system and our body also relax.
Wellbeing Home activity – Mindfulness for stress management
Select one day of your week to repeat this exercise. Notice if judgements about yourself or your artistic work arise during this activity. Allow them to be there and gently bring back your attention to colouring.
Give permission to yourself to be like a little child that is discovering colour.
At the end of the session, reflect on any benefits of this practice.
Activity 5: Drawing your Breath
Description:
Step 1. Position the marker in your hand, ready to draw. Notice the feeling of the pencil in your hand- its weight and its surface.
Step 2. Take a moment to observe your breathing. Slowly bring the tip of the pencil onto the board, ready to begin drawing. During the following 2 minutes, see if you draw your breath, using lines on the board.
Step 3. Now, during the following two minutes, using the other side of the board, try slowing your breathing down and stopping for a pause between breathing in and breathing out. Each time you inhale or exhale make a line, during each pause, stop and make a dot. Just play around with this.
Step 4. Put down the marker and notice how you feel.
Debrief
Why it is useful?
Research has shown that every emotion has a pattern of breathing and that breathing is directly linked to the system that controls physiological arousal. Because of that one can induce physiological relaxation through the breath.
Specifically, it is known that slow breathing has stress-relieving properties which has led to its adoption as a relaxation technique.
Wellbeing Home activity – Breathing for stress management
“Changing your breath is easier than changing your thoughts and emotions”. Every day, plan short breaks (1 -2 minutes, twice a day) where you take the time to check your breathing pattern and enjoy the action of breathing in an easy, luxurious and slow manner.
Activity 6: Compassionate Worry Tree
Description:
Do you have a worry? Explore a way to deal with it uncovering the branches of the tree according to you answer each of the questions posed here..
Debrief
Why it is useful?
Worry is a cognitive process with a very important function in your life: to anticipate potential problems or obstacles that will make your life difficult.
Knowing how to deal with worry can make your life easier. But, if left untreated or managed inappropriately it can increase your stress levels, lead to anxiety and uneasiness, and decrease your overall wellbeing.
It is essential to understand that not all worry is problematic and that we all have worries in our lives. However, some know how to deal with them better than others.
Learning to correctly classify your worries as hypothetical or current and developing a proactive approach when they are real, is key to make this biological process a friend and not a foe of your wellbeing.