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(Winning Ways to Wellbeing)
(Judi Clements, Chief Executive, Mental Health Foundation)
JUDI CLEMENTS: Wellbeing is a positive sense of being.
It's not just the absence of physical discomfort,
or the absence of illness.
It's a positive state of mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, existence.
(Connect)
Connecting means being in touch with the people around you,
whether they’re family, whānau, colleagues, people that live in your community.
And community in this context doesn’t have to be geographical.
It could be a community
that’s connected by computer technology.
It could be a community that's connected by shared interest,
but it's having that sense of belonging, being part of something bigger than yourself.
(Be active)
Being active isn’t just about playing sport or joining a gym.
It could be going for a walk, it could be going for a swim,
it could be taking advantage of the beautiful New Zealand countryside,
getting out into the environment,
walking, taking your dog for a walk,
going out with friends, playing with your kids.
All of those things count as physical activity.
(Take notice)
'Take notice' maybe sounds a little curious to start with,
but it’s really about being in the moment, being in the present,
being mindful about what is around us every day.
Take notice of something that’s... that to you is beautiful.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
so it may be different things for different people.
For people who find it difficult to slow down,
I think - I’d actually count myself as one - practice.
(Learn)
Learning can be a pleasure. Learning can be fun.
It doesn’t have to be book learning.
Learn a new musical instrument, learn a language,
learn to do something maybe physical that we haven’t done before.
That’s all learning.
It all helps to keep the brain active and keep our emotional state positive.
(Give)
Give is one of the five ways,
and it doesn’t mean giving something physical or giving money.
It could be about giving time, giving attention.
That’s a really positive way of,
of that, giving, being part of everyday life.
The five ways to wellbeing sound very individual to start with
but if you think about it further, different levels in society have different roles to play, different layers.
But what we don’t want to do is say,
“Oh, it's all down to Government." Or, "it's all down to somebody else,”
because we all each have a part to play,
so it’s putting that whole together to make the best possible circumstances for all New Zealand.
(Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, www.mentalhealth.org.nz)