“Do your little bit of good where you are: It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
Welcome Spring! The much-needed rain has gifted our area with a blanket of green, and the clear sunny skies ahead are inspiring us to bring in the new season with a positive and hopeful mindset. If we choose to notice, many good things are happening within our community. Most are the result of shared human efforts and fueled by good intentions. This weekend’s Love SLO and March for Our Lives are exemplary ways of our community coming together to do good things. And, whether we’re showing our tiger pride at school events or our SLO pride by working together, our collective actions contribute to or affect our community well-being.
The 2017 results from the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index showed that community well-being (defined as liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community) improved for Americans between 2016 and 2017. Given that social well-being, the mental health aspects of physical well-being, and purpose showed sharp declines in their rankings, taking time to focus on the positive and making time to care for our well-being is something we can all encourage. The following articles from the website Hey Sigmund offer wonderful ways to strengthen our well-being and work on things we can change.
Resources
5 Simple Ways to Build Resilience and Well-Being in Children by Dr. Hazel Harrison
19 Practical, Powerful Ways to Build Social-Emotional Intelligence in Kids & Teens and
Hardwiring for Happiness. How We Can Change Our Brain, Mind & Personality by Karen Young
We leave you with some perspective and sound advice from the author of Happiness is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old, gathered from his interviews with older New Yorkers, many in their nineties.
Celebrating being perfectly imperfect,
