We’ve put together our top 10 mental wellbeing hacks to place your mind into a more positive state. Find a better way to work from home, helping you avoid that crash-and-burn.

Here are some simple tips and suggestions can maybe get you into the right mindset.

According to the New Economics Foundation (NEF),  there are five ways to happiness and wellbeing.

Developed by NEF from evidence gathered in the UK government’s Foresight Project, research about mental wellbeing through life, NEF developed the Five Ways to Wellbeing to share the key findings from the research.

The Five Ways have been used by health organisations, schools and community projects around the world to help people take action to improve their wellbeing.

So what are the Five Ways to Wellbeing?

How to incorporate them into your life to enhance your own happiness and wellbeing?

Give

Whilst receiving is nice, giving to others, helping others greatly enhances personal wellbeing.

Be active

Working out every day, for instance, enables peace of body which helps peace of mind.

Keep learning

We’re designed to learn and grow and have access to so much content available in multi-media formats. One tip is to carve out just 15 minutes per day to read, you’ll be surprised how many books you’ll get through.

Connect

We are social creatures and connection with other, like-minded people makes a huge difference to our wellbeing. Connection doesn’t only mean connecting with other people, you could connect with an animal or even the sun, feeling the huge warmth of the sun on your skin.

Take notice

Being aware of every moment is hard, but try to catch yourself judging and consider the positive perspective which will always be there.

Our Top 10 Mental Wellbeing Hacks

Set three goals for the day

Set three reasonable goals for each day, things that are achievable, they help build a feeling of momentum. Make sure you tick your achievements off, you’ll be surprised how satisfying that feels. It stops a feeling of getting no-where, strengthening a belief of making progress. Developing your self-belief and empowers you to push-on.

Know your best time of day

I think we can all agree some of us are early birds, others can work into the early hours… Where would you put yourself? Knowing your own optimum time of day means you can tackle those more difficult decisions or challenging work decisions to coincide with your peak. Take this quiz to figure out your best time of day.

Get some sunshine and drink water

One of the biggest causes of tiredness is high levels of melatonin in your system. You must make sure your body understands it’s daytime, exposing it to sunlight helps it understand that. We should all regularly step into our gardens and get a breath of fresh air. Reduce looking at your computer screen before bed – allow a good couple of hours break (another tip is to ensure your tablets and Phones are switched to Night Shift mode) this stops   your brain thinking you’re still in daytime mode. There’s a great article in Time Magazine about why sunshine is so good for you.

If you’re feeling slothful and lethargic, you could be because you’re dehydrated. Ensure you keep topped up with regular amounts of water and your brain will perform at its best. You should be looking at drinking 2 litres a day – do you?

Take frequent breaks and get out of your head

We all have a timer or alarm on our phones – break up your day into segments. Set a repeat alarm for every 30 minutes, then regularly stand up and move about, maybe if you have stairs go up-and-down twice, or walk around your garden taking time and appreciate it, see Spring arriving. If you have a city balcony maybe take 10 mins and do some people watching. Do this activity regularly, you will see your energy levels increasing, and you will work better.

Many of us can feel anxious, thoughts we have might loop round-and-round about literally anything you’re worrying about, most of the time these can be small solvable problems if you talk to friends, colleagues, family etc. As we’ve said engage with your environment, look out of the window and see what’s there. Think of all those jobs you could do that you’ve never had the time too.

Getting outside of your head (which can be easier than you think) breaks the loop and allows a bit of space and relief. Maybe think about taking up a new hobby you can learn from home online (YouTube is a great tool offering free tutorials), fitness, yoga and more. A great website to visit is the Mind website for some excellent resources to help with anxiety.

Stop constantly checking your email

Someone once said email is ‘someone else’s to-do list’ sent to you. Email is one of the biggest things that breaks into our train of thought breaking our focus. It’s like a dripping tap.

A better approach to to your email is making time two or three times a day when you will look at your email. Remove notifications on every device, so you’re not interrupted in-between. Take a look at some simple email management advice.

Keep photos of loved ones close and don’t feel silly talking to yourself

You can’t underestimate the feeling of LOVE, warmth and connection. Look around your home, your desk and change the images maybe to images of fond memories and reminders of fun and connection.

Ideally have a couple at your desk so every time you look up that face is smiling back or fun memories.

Research shows that this helps trick the brain into thinking these happy scenes are the norm, priming you to have a happier and more positive disposition. Psychologies magazine explains how memories can boost your mood.

Verbalising your inner thoughts will have a big effect on how you feel. If we can all be a little more open at this time and can say out loud what is bothering you, it can be easier to understand what you need to address. We can all feel up-and-down at different times. People being open to talk and listen is a very important factor.

Learn to breathe

I think we all learnt early on how to breathe — but focusing your breath is important. A mindfulness practice, stilling your mind is a very healing activity and creates more space for contentment to open-up your creativity and problem-solving capacity. Its important when feel absorbed by anxiety or stress, remember to breathe, and breathe right. Find a quiet place, take five deep breaths, focus just on how that feels. Think about something positive, a memory, a friend, or a family member. You’ll feel instantly calmer and more focused. Read Healthline’s article which tells you, If you’re breathing effectively, your breath will be smooth, steady, and controlled. 

Practice gratitude

You’ll be surprised at how satisfying keeping a journal is at a time like this. A great online tool is Day One and you can complete it each day. Evidence shows that completing a journal or diary and documenting things to be grateful for, gratitude to people who support you and others and writing your thoughts down helps you become more open and positive.

It can become part of your routine, maybe each morning, lunch or evening before you go to bed, find three things you’re grateful for, or three things you did to help others. Write them down and, as you do, experience how great it feels, even for the very small things. Write about your day, how you’re feeling, what you’re going to do tomorrow to be more active and engaged.

Other free journals online are; journalmind.com/, penzu.com/ or my-diary.org/.

Learn something new every day

There’s never been a better time to learn something new… Einstein wrote, “Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”

Why not learn something that could be useful in the future; a foreign language, yoga, signing, using a camera correctly, how to facetime or zoom family and friends.

Never stop have faith in there being more we can learn, a capacity to develop. Be open to learning something new, maybe something out the box; wines, creative writing, cooking, video-editing, baking, or craft making – remove a potential closed mind.

Ask yourself what your intentions are

I think following a lockdown we’ve all appreciated how easy it is to let one day blend into the next in an ever-repeating pattern that feels unbreakable. Our tip is, once a week (maybe on a Friday at 3pm), sit down, review what you’ve accomplished this week, think about making a note of how you feel. When you’ve finished think to yourself, “Could I have done more, did I spend my time well?” – Did I achieve what I wanted, did I also do anything to push, or develop myself?

Aim to gradually improve your home/work life, one small step at a time.

Focus on one thing at a time, and take breaks

I think we’ve all felt overwhelmed this last couple of weeks, when busy, it feels things are coming at us from every direction.

Having to switch your attention quickly and continuously from one topic or issue to another quickly drains our brain. Multi-tasking has become some we’re expected to do, but our brains aren’t necessarily geared to do that on a regular basis. Guy Winch wrote about the hazards of multitasking.

Our resources (time, energy and attention) help us to complete a task or job. Our energy is a renewable resource, time is not.

Taking frequent breaks during the day isn’t a sign that you’re slacking. And when working from home those breaks are even more important, move away from your home desk, get air and break your minds loop.

10 Ways to make better decisions

• Don’t fear the consequences
• Go with your gut instincts
• Consider your emotions
• Play the Devil’s advocate
• Keep your eye on the ball
• Don’t Cry over spilt milk
• Look at it another way
• Beware social pressure
• Limit your options
• Have someone else choose

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Blackpool Grand

Take a look at what’s on at Blackpool Grand Theatre this Autumn / Winter 20/21

Blackpool Grand set out a COVID-Community Communication Programme (CCCP) during the Coronavirus pandemic. Our aims were simple, to CONNECT, COMFORT and UPLIFT. We would Connect people by offering tutorials on communication tools like Zoom and conduct community face-to-face meetings (book readings, youth groups and more). Comfort through stories of heritage, memories and storytelling, and to Uplift visitors spirits through laughter and exercise. Please do enjoy and if you can afford to donate please do.

The information in this story is accurate as of the publication date. While we are attempting to keep our content as up-to-date as possible, the situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic continues to develop rapidly, so it’s possible that some information and recommendations may have changed since publishing. For any concerns and latest advice around COVID-19, visit the World Health Organisation. If you’re in the UK, the National Health Service can also provide useful information and support, while US users can contact the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.