Today is the International Day of Happiness, a day to highlight that ‘progress’ should be about increasing human happiness and wellbeing, not just growing the economy. This is meaningful not only to how we view the success of nation-states, but how we view our own personal success and achievements. When so much value is put on financial gain and acquisition of stuff, let’s take a moment today to congratulate ourselves for simply taking the time to do something which makes us happy.

Happiness Habits Cafes

Since last summer, we’ve been running ‘Happiness Habits’ cafes across the Scottish Borders as part of our Flourishing Borders project. These have been bringing people together to have soup and share what keeps them happy. The cafes have been, and are continuing to be, hugely positive events with many people benefiting from new connections, inspiration from others and the chance to reflect on their own happiness habits.

Watch this short video to get a flavour of what the cafes are all about:

Happiness habits for older people

These cafes grew out of conversations we had with older people about their happiness habits in 2015. We put together a paper on Happiness Habits for Older People & these are some of the things we heard:

• There’s no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to tips for happiness. You need to figure out what works for you. As we get older, things that once made us happy may not be possible of have the same impact. We need to keep working at it and find new sources of happiness in our lives as well as continuing to enjoy the old ones.
• Do things that you are not good at, as well as the ones you are good at. Learning new things in older age has a huge impact on our wellbeing as well as other aspects of a healthy mind. It isn’t about becoming an expert, or even being very good, it is just giving something new a try.
• Include music in your life. For many people it is a great way to look after your mental wellbeing as well as helping people enjoy and hold on to memories.
• If you’re feeling low, don’t wait until you’re better to do things. Doing things may help you feel better.
• Accept who you are. You have a lifetime’s experience and wisdom and knowledge. There may be other changes in your life that can be hard to accept, but there are also sources of happiness that you can hold on to.
• Celebrate and share your wisdom. Make a contribution and give something to others, even if they are not expecting it (some people would say especially if they are not expecting it).

Happy International Day of Happiness!

If you would like to know more about our Happiness Habits Cafes, visit our Flourishing Borders page, or contact Christine or Lindsey