Cómo los líderes empresariales pueden enfrentar la crisis de salud mental Cómo los líderes empresariales pueden enfrentar la crisis de salud mental

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Es el Día mundial de la Salud Mental y aún es un tema que nos elude en el mundo empresarial. Tal vez porque se siente como un tema privado, difícilmente entendemos nuestro rol frente a un reto que es altamente público.

Hace unos meses, tuve la oportunidad de tener una experiencia inmersiva en uno de los encuentros más importantes a nivel global. Entre las  palabras de bienvenida, un líder empresarial explicaba: “El bienestar emocional tiene un rol central en el sector privado, es fundamental para la innovación y colaboración,” dijo Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner de Dalberg, frente a más de 1000 personas que se dieron cita en la ciudad española de Bilbao la primera semana de junio.

El encuentro global “The Wellbeing Summit” o Cumbre del Bienestar, juntó a las mentes más influyentes en la intersección de la salud mental, el bienestar integral, el activismo  y la investigación científica. Este encuentro, este año 2022 no es para menos: de manera colectiva, los ponentes presentaron un reto enorme al que nos enfrentamos como sociedad de frente al bienestar integral y la salud mental.

La OMS define a la salud como “el estado de bienestar físico, mental y social, no solamente la ausencia de enfermedad” y a la salud mental como “el estado de bienestar en el que cada individuo logra su potencial, se enfrenta a los estreses normales de la vida, puede trabajar productiva y fructíferamente, y puede contribuir a su comunidad.”

La pandemia y sus secuelas presentan retos sin precedentes para la humanidad en términos de salud mental. En los últimos dos años, la estimación conservadora de suicidios está en 700,000 personas anuales; sin explicaciones alternativas, los médicos continúan atribuyendo más y más enfermedades al estrés.

Si el número previo nos genera una fuerte impresión, al llevarlo a un lapso más concreto, cada hora del día, se suicidan 81 personas en el mundo; y a ello, también encontramos el fenómeno aterrador  de school shootings, los feminicidios, los enfrentamientos por causas raciales, y más. Se estima que la mala salud mental le cuesta a la economía mundial entre $3 y $5 trillones al año en productividad reducida.

En América Latina, la salud mental continúa acarreando un tabú en el mundo empresarial, se lo habla poco pero se siente su efecto cada vez más seguido. En el mejor de los casos, se lo aborda de manera tangencial, solamente cuando los impactos se hacen visibles. Pero los diagnósticos de patologías de salud mental son sólo el primer paso. El liderazgo integral debe abordar el tema mediante prácticas, servicios y acciones tangibles que arrancan desde el lado preventivo.

Uno de los ponentes del Wellbeing Summit, el neuro-científico Richard Davidson , presentó una colección de hallazgos científicos sobre lo que él llama la “neuroplasticidad’ del cerebro – nuestra cualidad de tener una mente que puede ser moldeable mediante repetición y prácticas que re configuran cómo está programada. La tesis principal es que la compasión y felicidad es un habilidad que se puede aprender:

  • El cerebro de un monje en estado meditativo es algo replicable –   Davidson propone que la habilidad de estar presente, consciente de sus propios pensamientos es un camino de prevención buscando el bienestar mental. En un estudio del 2004  (Lutz et. al) se midieron las oscilaciones gamma, que predicen niveles de claridad de percepción, en el cerebro de un monje budista con años de experiencia en meditación. Las oscilaciones de las ondas en el cerebro de los monjes en estado meditativo eran significativamente más amplias. Es decir, cuando el cerebro se encuentra presente y perceptivo, las ondas gamma se abren. En estados de miedo o incertidumbre se contraen. Lo importante, es que los monjes tienen la capacidad de controlarlo con práctica, y que la incorporación de hábitos de manera consistente puede crear el mismo efecto en la población general.
  • La capacidad de conexión con otros re-configura el cerebro – Un estudio del 2013 (Weng et al) trabajó con un grupo de personas ofreciéndoles capacitación en técnicas meditativas de cultivar compasión. En sólo dos semanas, los neurocientíficos encontraron diferencias tangibles en imágenes de escaneos cerebrales de quienes habían participado – sus niveles de “conectividad DPLFC-Nacc”, que se asocia con comportamiento altruista (un indicador de salud mental), se muestran claramente dilatados en los scans.
  • El sentido de propósito correlaciona con la longevidad – Un meta-análisis de estudios de la última década (Cohen et. al, 2016) determinó que el sentido de propósito (incluso en las actividades diarias más mundanas)  es un predictor potente de longevidad y prevención de eventos cardiovasculares. Los efectos del bienestar son reales – un estudio del 2019 de Evans y Soliman presentaron una fuerte correlación entre la expectativa de vida promedio y el bienestar en 151 países: aquellos con percepción de bienestar más alta tienen hasta 30  años más de vida en promedio que quienes viven en países bajos niveles de bienestar emocional.

Hace un siglo, el hábito de tomarse 3 minutos después de cada comida para lavarse los dientes no existía a nivel global. Sin embargo, como sociedad, lo incorporamos como una acción de importancia para nuestra supervivencia como especie. Este principio de incentivar hábitos, promoviendo  una mente más saludable, puede tener efectos enormes en las distintas crisis que enfrentamos. La diferencia es que esta vez contamos con avances de tecnología móvil y de wearables (relojes inteligentes, tracking devices, etc) que nos permiten acelerar la incorporación de buenos hábitos de manera exponencial.

Por esta razón, no sorprende que el Dr Barry Kerzin, el médico personal del Dalai Lama, se apoya en una aplicación móvil para hacer prácticas de compasión y altruismo más accesibles a la población, o que Betterfly , la start-up unicornio Latinoamericana incentiva buenos hábitos meditativos  recompensando a los usuarios con medallas que facilitan la donación a causas. El potencial de generar impacto positivo mediante modelos de negocio que innovan con propósito es enorme.

Los retos más grandes que enfrentamos como humanidad siempre han presentado oportunidades para el empresariado que quiere marcar una diferencia.

Las buenas noticias son que podemos entrenar nuestros cerebros para crear bienestar mental y que podemos promover estos hábitos gracias a los avances de la tecnología móvil.

Con una oportunidad como esta, es cuestión de tiempo para que el sector empresarial tome el liderazgo para escalar la construcción de una sociedad más conectada consigo mismo y con su propósito. Así es cómo el mantra intangible de que “la paz interior puede crear paz para el mundo”, se convierte cada día en algo más tangible y viable conforme esta intersección única de maestros de meditación, científicos y empresarios convierten sus voluntades en una nueva realidad. Así es como el mundo empresarial puede enfrentar la crisis de salud mental: no solamente con voluntad, sino también apalancándose de tecnología y ejerciendo el liderazgo que este reto público exige.

Author bio

Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter is the Global VP of Purpose and Communities at Betterfly, the first social unicorn start-up, with operations across Latin America. Before her current role, Michelle was the CEO and co-founder of IMPAQTO, a B Corporation with a mission to support impact entrepreneurs reach their goals by building the ecosystem and network they need to thrive. Michelle is a recent mother of twins and a member of The Ecosystem Network at The Wellbeing Project.

How business leaders can face the mental health crisis How business leaders can face the mental health crisis

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October is World Mental Health Month yet, mental health remains a topic that eludes us in the business world. Perhaps because it feels like a personal issue, we hardly understand our role in the face of a challenge that is highly public. 

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to have an immersive experience in one of the most important global meetings related to mental health and wellbeing, which is a more holistic way to explore it. From the very first welcoming remarks, I was all in:  “Emotional wellbeing plays a central role in the private sector, it is essential for innovation and collaboration,” said Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner of Dalberg, in front of more than 1,000 people who met in the Spanish city of Bilbao the first week of June 2022.

The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change brought together the most influential minds at the intersection of mental health, holistic wellbeing, activism, arts, and scientific research. In the convening, the Summit speakers collectively presented the enormous challenge that we face as a society and the wellbeing of our people.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as “the state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease” and mental health as “the state of well-being in which each individual achieves his or her potential, copes with normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to the community.”

The pandemic and its sequels present unprecedented challenges for humanity in terms of mental health. In the last two years, conservative estimates of suicides are at 700,000 people per year; with no alternative explanations, doctors continue to attribute more and more illnesses to stress. If the previous number makes a strong impression on us, when taken to a more specific period, every hour of the day, 81 people commit suicide in the world; besides, we also find the terrifying phenomenon of school shootings, femicides, clashes for racial reasons, and more. Poor mental health is estimated to cost the global economy between $3 and $5 trillion per year due to reduced productivity.

In Latin America, mental health continues to be a taboo topic in the business world, it is rarely talked about but its effects can be noticed more and more often. At best, it is approached tangentially, only when the impacts become visible. But diagnoses of mental health pathologies are only the tip of the iceberg. Business leaders must address the issue through practices, services, and tangible actions that start from the preventive side.

One of the speakers at the Wellbeing Summit, neuroscientist Richard Davidson, presented a collection of scientific findings on what he calls the brain’s ‘neuroplasticity’ – our quality of having a mind that can be molded through repetition and practices that reconfigure how it is programmed. The main thesis is that compassion and happiness are skills that can be learned. Below are a few of the findings that back up this theory that we can train ourselves to shape the health of our brain:

  • The brain of a monk in a meditative state can be replicable – Davidson proposes that the ability to be present, and aware of one’s own thoughts is a preventive path toward mental well-being. In a 2004 study (Lutz et. al) gamma oscillations, which predict levels of perceptual clarity, were measured in the brain of a Buddhist monk with years of meditation experience. The wave oscillations in the brains of the monks in a meditative state were significantly broader. That is, when the brain is present and perceptive, the gamma waves open up; in states of fear or uncertainty, they contract. The important thing is that monks have the ability to control it with practice, and incorporating habits consistently can create the same effect in the general population- we don’t necessarily need to be super-meditators to reap the benefits.
  • The ability to connect with others reconfigurates the brain – A 2013 study (Weng et al) worked with a group of people by offering training in meditative techniques for cultivating compassion. In just two weeks, the neuroscientists found tangible differences in brain scan images of those who had participated – their levels of “DPLFC-Nacc connectivity”, which is associated with altruistic behavior (an indicator of mental health), looked clearly dilated in the scans. Again, visualizing scientifically the effects of human connection on our brains.
  • A sense of purpose correlates with longevity – A meta-analysis of studies from the last decade (Cohen et. al, 2016) found that a sense of purpose (even in the most mundane daily activities) is a powerful predictor of longevity and prevention of cardiovascular events. The well-being effects are real – a 2019 study by Evans and Soliman found a strong correlation between average life expectancy and well-being across 151 countries: those who live in countries with the highest perceived well-being levels live up to 30 years longer on average than those who live in countries with low levels of emotional wellbeing.

A century ago, the habit of taking 3 minutes after each meal to brush your teeth didn’t exist globally. However, as a society, we incorporated it as an important action for our survival as a species. This principle of encouraging habits, and promoting healthier minds, can have enormous effects on the different crises we face. The difference is that this time we have advances in mobile and wearable technology (smart watches, tracking devices, etc.) that allow us to accelerate the incorporation of good habits exponentially.

For this reason, it is not surprising that Dr. Barry Kerzin, the Dalai Lama’s personal physician, relies on a mobile application to make practices of compassion and altruism more accessible to the population. Or that Betterfly, the Latin American unicorn start-up, encourages good meditative habits by rewarding users with medals that make it easy to donate to causes. The potential to generate a positive impact through business models with purpose-driven innovations is enormous.

The greatest challenges we face as humans have always presented big opportunities for the business community that wants to make a difference. The good news is that we can train our brains to create mental wellbeing and that we can promote these habits thanks to advances in mobile technology.

With an opportunity like this, it is a matter of time before the business sector takes the lead in building a society that is more connected with itself and with its purpose. This is how the intangible mantra that “inner peace can create peace for the world” becomes more tangible and viable every day as this unique intersection of meditation teachers, scientists, and start-up leaders turn their wills into a new reality. This is how the business world can face the mental health crisis: not only with will but also by leveraging technology and exercising the leadership that this public challenge demands.

Author bio

Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter is the Global VP of Purpose and Communities at Betterfly, the first social unicorn start-up, with operations across Latin America. Before her current role, Michelle was the CEO and co-founder of IMPAQTO, a B Corporation with a mission to support impact entrepreneurs reach their goals by building the ecosystem and network they need to thrive. Michelle is a recent mother of twins and a member of The Ecosystem Network at The Wellbeing Project.

Fatima-Zahra Maelainin

Co-Chair of the Expert Community at Orygen Global

What made the Wellbeing Summit for Social Change different was the mindful curation of physical spaces and the thoughtful creation of psychological havens that allowed us to foster connections with ourselves and others, and engage in transformational conversations opening the space for a collective identity to emerge; an identity that puts our humanity at the forefront.

The words in my journal read: “This space is different. I am invited to put down all my hats, so I may arrive fully, intimately. I assumed it’d be frightening, but it feels peacefully liberating.” And a few pages later: “In this space, we celebrate our humanity, in its most open, raw, and honest expression.”

Indeed, we were in a space that celebrated our humanity before our roles and contributions. It reminded us of our worth as humans, regardless of our titles and achievements, and of the importance and necessity of continuously re-inventing our self-narrative.

As leaders and actors in the social change sector, we often get too immersed in the realities we deal with, becoming too consumed by the limitations we face and the challenging ambiguities of our endeavours, oftentimes pushing beyond exhaustion to continue serving. Ultimately our sense of self and personal worth become deeply attached to our role and contributions, and we lose sight of the many facets of our identity as we stick to a single self-narrative. With time, we either burn out or forcibly readjust our expectations, ultimately confining our imaginations and debasing our sense of self and contribution to the world. At least, that’s what happened to me, and a number of others I shared my story with.

The Summit arrived into our lives with a gift: a much-needed opportunity to revisit our assumptions, unleash our imagination, and embrace the shifts we experience as we rethink our narratives – the kind of inner work we often mention and rarely dive into.

My most memorable lines from the summit were:

“How do you walk away when the world is still so messed up? Sometimes, you just have to. Because you’ve planted the seeds well, and you can trust that someone will continue the work. And while you still have the energy, you can be someone else: a friend, a mentor, a witness.”

I spent the next month following the summit reflecting on my relationship with my own personal narrative, and poured it all into a ‘letter to self.’ It reads:

“you spend years and hours building a narrative, making sense of your identity, who you are, where you come from, what you seek, and what you stand for, and as soon as the words connect into a story coherent enough to share with the world, you start to experience dissonance. 

confused and curious, you look inwards, demanding answers. 

slowly you begin to notice that your personal evolution outpaces the process of expressing it. gradually, you start to realize that every time a sense of self is crystallizing, a shift in your inner landscape is well underway. 

and so, like most of us, you often numb yourself into denial, desperately holding onto an established identity in a vain attempt to avoid the all-too-familiar pain of meaning-making that you know awaits you if you listen to the emerging voice within.

you choose denial because it is a space that allows you to dismiss every thought and every feeling that may cause you to waver and wonder. 

you and I choose denial because we live in a world that disapproves of a story-in-the-making. because those of us who understand that self-knowledge is an iterative journey, never a destination, require additional bravery and tenacity to search for wholeness in the midst of incessant external incentives to settle. 

but, sticking to one narrative is, simply put, stagnation. 

to be human is to honor our complexity, fully, by refusing to settle for a reduced, prematurely bounded narrative. 

to be human is to continuously generate stories that make sense of our experiences, reinventing our self-narrative time and again as we continue to integrate the new with previous identities. 

here’s to continuous becoming.”

Connect with Fatima-Zahra on social media :

About Fatima-Zahra About Fatima-Zahra

Fatima-Zahra Ma-el-ainin is a Moroccan psychologist and poet who brings together her background in program development, principles of systems work, and her rich experience facilitating paradigm-shifting workshops and discussions to rethink systems, narratives, and policy. FZ is a member of The Ecosystem Network at The Wellbeing Project and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Expert Community at Orygen Global, an advisor to the WEF’s Global Shapers Community, and a member of The Lancet-LSHTM Commission on the Emotional Determinants of Health. She was invited to speak at the UK Parliament, TEDx, IAYMH, and the WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos, among other platforms. In her free time, you’ll find her writing poetry, hosting conversations, or finding stillness in nature or a cozy teashop.

Emily Eldredge

Founder + CEO of ChangeLight

“This seems so incredibly spot on!!!”. Such was the WhatsApp message that popped up on my phone in early April, and attached was an invitation to the Wellbeing Summit for Social Change.

The message came from my dear friend and colleague Marlou Cornelissen who had received the invitation and immediately recognized that, without question, I needed to be there.  As an emotional health innovator who is passionately focused on increasing the well-being of leaders and changemakers, I couldn’t agree more.

However, the weekend of the Summit was the same weekend that my husband and I would be driving cross-country from Arizona to New York!  We’d be finalizing his move from Tucson to New York City, and we’d been planning this drive for months.

I just couldn’t make it work.

And yet… the Wellbeing Summit kept sticking with me… and sticking with me…

Finally one day, I said to my husband, “Hey, honey.  Ummm, I know we’ve both really had our hearts set on doing this drive together, but I really feel like I have to be at this thing in Spain.  Is it okay if I don’t join you on the drive or maybe only join you for part of it?”  He was clearly disappointed but understanding and supportive. Our original plan was to drive to Dallas and spend the night there with my parents, so I mentioned my dilemma to them.  By complete coincidence, they were already planning on driving up to New England a couple of days later! So my husband and I drove from Tucson to Dallas, I flew from Dallas to Bilbao, and my husband and parents drove in tandem to New York!  (And they had a perfectly wonderful time without me!) We made it work.

As an impact-driven leader and changemaker myself, I spent years struggling with my own “demons” and burnout.  Working hard to live one’s own Truth and fulfill one’s life mission has a tendency to trigger one’s deepest wounds and defenses!  And I’ve seen so many of my fellow leaders and changemakers struggle with similar stresses and pressures.  However, prior to learning about the Wellbeing Project, I hadn’t heard of any collective efforts to address this pervasive issue.  Typical changemaker, I felt like I was the only one focused on it.

The Wellbeing Summit changed everything.  Immediately, I felt embraced by a tribe of lovely, loving human beings who, in their own unique ways, are working hard to make our world better while, at the same time, recognizing their own vital need for health and well-being.  I met activists, philanthropists, coaches, spiritual figures, artists, innovators, investors, yogis, and others with whom I felt an immediate connection and trust.  Though we had only just met, we were instantly open and vulnerable with one another – sharing our struggles as well as our joys.

One thing was also clear: every element of the Summit’s program was deeply intentional.  We had time to experience, time to learn, time to connect, time to rest, and time to heal.

What surprised me the most was how profoundly I was impacted by the art.  When I had initially read about the Wellbeing Project’s commitment to art as a source of healing, I thought with a shrug, “Oh, that’s nice”.  However, the Summit’s well-curated artistic experiences left indelible – and, yes, healing – impressions on me.  For example, on the first night, we were treated to a kind of poetic sound bath in which a woman read a long poem while someone stroked a gong to make it shimmer.  The sound vibrations penetrated me so deeply that all of my tension was released, my body fell away, and I felt myself floating in a space of pure peace.  That and other experiences since have helped me discover the incredible power of sound in my own self-care and healing.

My dear friend, Marlou was right. She, too, was “spot on” that I should attend the Wellbeing Summit. And, oh my, am I grateful that I could forgo that cross-country drive to be there!

I left the Summit feeling healed, encouraged, and inspired by the transformative experiences I had and the wonderful people I met. I’ve made friends for life – some of whom I’ve since rendez-voused with here in New York City – and I feel so much less alone in my commitment to changemakers’ well-being. In fact, to cement my support of the Wellbeing Project’s mission, I joined the Wellbeing Welldoing Network, a group of visionary philanthropists who sustain and grow The Wellbeing Project’s work.

Connect with Emily Eldredge on social media:

About Emily

Emily Eldredge is the founder of ChangeLight , the creator of the ChangeLight System™, and a member of the Wellbeing Welldoing Network at The Wellbeing Project. With her rare blend of deep compassion and fierce determination, Emily leads global leaders and everyday heroes through inner work that accelerates their power to change the world. As an innovator, entrepreneur, and humanitarian, Emily’s mission is to accelerate the healing of humanity and our planet.

JOURNALING FOR A BETTER LIVING JOURNALING FOR A BETTER LIVING

by Sambridhi Pandey

My hands slowly begin hurting as I am trying to finish the last few sentences on my “journal” while my eyes start clouding up and I cannot see clearly anymore. In the silence of the night, all I can hear is this prominent sound created from fiction; the pen against the paper when a pang of a sharp pain passing somewhere inside reminds me how difficult the past few months had been. Yet also reminding me, I was there…still there…breathing through another day.

Writing has always helped me revive through heartbreaks; both big and small. It has been an essential part of my human existence and a reliable source of contentment. Through times, when I needed a friend and didn’t have one, the paper and pen always came in handy to save the day.

Journaling, I realized, allows me to reflect, have a conversation with myself and look at situations through a new set of eyes.

The process is almost therapeutic as I begin flowing in with the words…stumbling into new perspectives and derivations from a situation that wouldn’t have otherwise occurred to me in a real time scenario.

Whether the moments are of sheer joy, gratitude or remorse, journaling blends into all the molds.

On occasions, it also plays the role of a time machine, meaning you can literally transport to a specific day or period in your life to revisit the memories, the emotions that come to life each time you go through the pages reminiscing the moments exactly the way they were.

As a good point of entry towards the journey of self-discovery, journaling lets you know yourself better, you begin understanding what makes you tick and what makes your heart sink as you write down. It’s almost like seeing yourself as a third person and really comprehending the inner workings while being detached and unbiased about situations.

I do not get to write in my journal daily and I don’t plan on logging the day-to-day mundane entries into it either. I am not super keen on tracking every hour or day of my life or what I ate for breakfast or lunch, although sometimes, that adds value too. I’d rather jump to the point and talk about things that need talking and attention. As a matter of fact, my journal entries are very intense. They are mostly monologues, where I talk myself out of a difficult phase, give myself more courage and hope to keep going.

It’s not always about stormy days though, I also make time to count my blessings and note down tiniest instances of coincidences, miracles, or my versions of “signs from the universe”, if you will. The entries are what I feel and what I think, they are mere mirrors of separate versions of me, the heart and mind. It’s always a pleasure knowing yourself from different phases of your life and seeing how you have evolved — there are certain moments where you realize how your vision had been morphed about a certain happening, how certain developments from the time of a journal entry has now shifted and your priorities have now transitioned. There is a lot of learning that goes around, rest assured.

If you’ve been considering journaling but don’t know where exactly to start, don’t fret, I’ve been there. Sometimes, its all at the top of your head, but you somehow lack the words or inspiration. To get started, you could try using some journal prompts.

SOME JOURNAL PROMPTS WHICH HAVE HELPED ME IN THE PAST:

  • My word of the day is…
  • How I feel about things that happened today…
  • One emotion that lies deep in my core is…
  • I am grateful for…
  • What has this incident taught me…
  • This thing made me happy/sad today.

We often underestimate the profound effects of something as simple as writing that comes with the least effort but has a wondrous and healing effect on us. Journaling is something I recommend to everyone interested and invested in wellness and betterment of their mental health and life.

You don’t have to be a great writer to commence your journaling journey, you don’t even have to be a writer to begin with. All you will ever need are three things — a pen, a few papers and all your consciousness, that does it!

Grab these things, sit down in a quiet space, put on some music, if you’d like and start jotting down whatever you feel, think or sense at the moment. Begin somewhere…anywhere and I promise the rest will fall together. So, whenever you feel clouded or you think you could use a friend and cannot confide in anyone just yet, a journal is what you need. It does miracles. So do yourself a favor and get yourself your paper binded friend. Trust me, I tried it and that’s what brought me here.

About the author:

Sambridhi is based in the U.S. and works in Marketing/Communications at the moment. She has also been in freelance writing for a while and has previously contributed to many global initiatives. Sambridhi considers herself to be a proprietor of mental health and emotional wellbeing and loves adding her insights to related conversations.

FEEDING THE MIND, BODY, HEART AND SOUL FEEDING THE MIND, BODY, HEART AND SOUL

By Greta Rossi

How do you feed yourself?

I am a foodie, hands down. I do not eat out of hunger alone; rather, I take enormous pleasure in savouring all the flavours in the meal in front of me. Especially if I cooked it myself, expressing my culinary talent (no, I am not ready for MasterChef, but I do like to expand my repertoire by trying out new recipes). I find it deeply rewarding to get locally sourced seasonal ingredients at the farmers’ market and to dedicate time to artfully create a balanced but tasty culinary experience that provides my body with the nutrients it needs. As I am feeding my body, I am also feeding my soul. Hopeless Italian romanticism? Maybe so, but I can genuinely say my levels of joy increase if this becomes a shared experience where I am cooking for others.
In a similar manner, I love working. Even if I won the lottery and did not have to work to sustain myself financially, I do not think I would stop. In fact, working goes beyond feeding my bank account (which has been on a fairly regimented diet since I started my first social enterprise almost five years ago); it deeply nurtures my soul. I see my work as a lifelong journey that invites me to explore, experiment, and express new ways of being and acting in the world. Like me, many people around the globe find infinite joy in dedicating their lives to enacting a purpose that serves other people and the planet. These are what I call changemakers, people devoted to imagining new recipes for a nutritious, balanced, and flavoursome world.
However, the dominant paradigm is urging us to do everything bigger, faster… even bigger and faster… without taking a moment to breathe between one bite and the other, between one project and the next. As a result, many people find it difficult to maintain healthy and nutritious habits. To keep up with the demands of modern life, some opt for hypercaloric fast foods (think about people who work in fast-paced stressful environments where it is all about maximising profits at the expense of others’ wellbeing); others slip into binge-eating (observe how many friends mindlessly move from one task to the next without absorbing the experience), while yet others forget about eating altogether (how many colleagues compromise their health by stopping to sleep or exercise to work longer and longer hours?).
This growing disconnection with the food, the ingredients, and the land, is nothing but a reflection of a deeper sense of alienation from ourselves. Our kitchen is a complete and utter mess, with dirty pans left everywhere, the smell of burning covering everything else, and a stained apron left hanging on the table… Could we find inspiration from the great chefs to learn to clean our internal kitchen?

Discovering Recipes for Wellbeing

This is the intention behind Recipes for Wellbeing, a newly-established not-for-profit association, co-created and co-led by young changemakers who find joy in cooking and sharing wellbeing experiences with others. Our aim is to shift the culture of changemaking to re-discover the importance of holistic wellbeing to enable anyone to contribute more effectively to creating positive change in the world. We interpret wellbeing both as a catalyst for positive change in the world, and as the positive change in the world itself. In particular, we support changemakers in experiencing wellbeing for themselves and in spreading wellbeing to their teams, societies, and to the whole world.
Recipes for Wellbeing offers a series of services and products to boost the wellbeing of changemakers and their organisations to increase their capacity to tackle more effectively the challenges that are in the way of broader societal and ecological wellbeing.

Wellbeing recipes

In the same way a recipe in a cookbook takes you through the steps to prepare a particular dish, our wellbeing recipes guide you through specific processes to cultivate wellbeing in your everyday work and life.

There are a number of ways you can engage with our recipes: you may wish to focus on a particular category, which guarantees a balance among all recipes; or you may prefer to dig deep into the main courses but across categories; or else you may want to choose a particular level of difficulty, based on your needs and previous experience.

Our recipes are divided into four main categories:

Mind: Recipes that engage your mind and benefit your mental wellbeing.

Body: Recipes that engage your body and benefit your physical wellbeing.

Heart: Recipes that engage your heart and benefit your emotional wellbeing.

Spirit: Recipes that engage your spirit and benefit your connection to your unique and deepest identity, as well as to the universal consciousness that animates the cosmos and everything in it.

As with any cookbook, there are different kinds of recipes: starters, main courses, desserts, etc. but also quick-on-the-go options, or more elaborate alternatives. We also provide various difficulty levels, from easy recipes that do not require any previous knowledge or experience of wellbeing, through medium to hard recipe that require some or extended knowledge or experience of wellbeing.

Wellbeing labs

When you go out for a meal, you look for more than merely satisfying your physiological need for food. You may be curious to taste new combinations of flavours, to savour new ingredients, to find new recipes to try out at home… overall, you are looking for an experience. Our wellbeing labs offer similar experiences for individuals and their organisations to savour wellbeing.

We host anything from short inspiring talks through half-day interactive workshops to emergent personalised wellbeing retreats immersed in Nature lasting from 2.5 to 4 days for groups of individual changemakers or changemaker teams and organisations. Our retreats allow participants to explore the different ingredients of wellbeing through our recipes, which they choose at the beginning of the retreat to meet their needs and fulfill their hopes. Participants also receive valuable insights into how to become “wellbeing cooks” able to create a wellbeing plan to incorporate in their life and work to sustain their wellbeing.

Check out our website to find out more about our work and explore our wellbeing recipes to feed your mind, body, heart, and soul!

TIPS FOR FACING “TURNING POINTS” IN YOUR LIFE TIPS FOR FACING “TURNING POINTS” IN YOUR LIFE

by Radha Ruparell

On April 5, 2020, I started feeling tired, more tired than I usually feel in the middle of the day. Two days later, I realized that I had been hit with this new virus that everyone was talking about,  COVID-19. The virus was like nothing I had ever experienced in my life. I started the year as a healthy, active, young professional. Then I contracted this virus and suddenly found myself bedridden, unable to work, and suffering from a full-body assault on my heart, brain, stomach and other organs. More than a year in, while much has improved, I still have not recovered my full health.

We all face turning points in our lives. One minute we’re doing well, the next, we’re in the middle of a crisis. Turning points can be terrifying. The ultimate question is, how are we going to face them?

Here are three lessons I discovered while battling the biggest turning point in my life:

  1. Get rid of your “invisible mask”: The single biggest thing that helped me through my battle was having a strong support network. In the early days, I barely had strength. So I reached out only to a doctor friend and to my sister for support but no one else. But soon, a work colleague of mine, who I would not have expected to be one of my core pillars of support, started reaching out to me every day. Her encouraging text messages offered me so much comfort and helped me get through the difficult nights. I used to think that reaching out for help implied weakness, that strong people don’t complain, and tough it out. Now, I believe the opposite: that reaching out for help is not weak at all. What I discovered in removing my “invisible mask” was that, on the other side lay connection, a deep human connection with others so beautiful that it completely stirred my soul. What might be possible if you removed your “invisible mask?”

2. Slow down and soak it in: Like many New Yorkers, I lead a busy life. This experience has gotten me to slow down and take life in. Slowing down helped me rediscover things I had taken for granted. When I left my apartment after 27 days in isolation, the first thing I noticed were the beautiful tulips growing in a little patch outside my building. I had lived in this apartment for a year. Why had I never noticed these flowers in springtime before? Oh, and the feeling of a breath of fresh air, a gust of wind, and the first time seeing trees after a month indoors! What would life feel like if we always approached the world with childlike wonder? What if you soaked in the magic of each moment like it was your first and last on earth?

3. Focus on “being” not “doing”: When my life flashed before my eyes, I found myself wondering not about what I had accomplished, but who I had been along the way. Had I been kind to my family and friends? Had I taken full responsibility for my mistakes? We spend so much of our lives focusing on what we are doing, but in the end, all that matters is who we are being. I have found that one way to bring more of a being paradigm to your life is to pick a word or two that defines who you want to be, and then treat this as your highest priority. For me, that word is “generous”. What is it for you?

I’ll leave you with one final thought from my new book, Brave Now: “Being brave is not an innate characteristic reserved for a select few. At any moment, any one of us can choose to be brave.” 

BIO

Radha Ruparell has worked with CEOs, Fortune 500 senior executives, social entrepreneurs, and grassroots leaders around the world to unlock their leadership. She currently heads the Global Leadership Accelerator at Teach For All, a global network of organizations in 60 countries committed to developing leadership to ensure all children fulfill their potential. Her new book is BRAVE NOW: Rise Through Struggle and Unlock Your Greatest Self.

“THE WELLBEING PROJECT TO ME IS AN EXPLORATION OF LIFE… OF WORK.” “THE WELLBEING PROJECT TO ME IS AN EXPLORATION OF LIFE… OF WORK.”

CENTRING YOURSELF IN A WORLD THAT’S IN FLUX CENTRING YOURSELF IN A WORLD THAT’S IN FLUX

“Within you, there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” – Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, economic instability and dramatically shifting political landscapes of 2020, it’s been hard to find a solid piece of anything that isn’t in a state of flux. Travel bans, working from home and social distancing are the new normal, replacing time together in person with screens and Zoom calls. If the change and uncertainty have been negatively affecting your stress and anxiety, The World Health Organization has stated that you’re not alone.

Now more than ever it’s important to look within and channel the tools we already have to centre ourselves. Centring is the process of getting back in touch with ourselves when we’re feeling lost or off-balance. To be present in the now. Think of the centrepoint as the bullseye at the core of who we are. When we’re feeling off-balance, we might act out of character, make bad decisions or feel as though we lack purpose and meaning. For me, feeling off centre during this time has meant some unhealthy patterns of behaviour emerging; eating more than my fair share of junk food, frantically scrolling through pages and pages of news, trying to find answers. 

My partner and I are both cut off from visiting our immediate family members who live in different countries to us. Not knowing when we might next see them, and worrying that someone will fall ill and we won’t be there to care for them has been, and continues to be, a major stressor for us. My natural reflex has been to speed up, searching for ways to preserve our normality. I’ve been on overdrive. Yet, to centre ourselves requires taking the time to slow down and look within for guidance. At the time, for me this felt counterintuitive and it was the opposite of what I’d found myself doing. 

If you’ve been reading the news as much as I have, then you can’t have missed the coverage about our healthcare workers during the peak of the virus. Our frontline workers, in particular, have been asked to operate in overstretched and traumatic conditions, with little or no time for recuperation. But where does this trauma and grief go when there’s limited space to heal?

In our various roles as colleagues, partners, parents, friends, leaders, activists, we may feel the need to be there for others; to hold things together, to present a solid front. We may be the one others turn to looking for support and guidance at difficult times. But how can we hold it together for others when we’re struggling to hold it together for ourselves? It’s difficult to take care of other people before we’ve taken care of ourselves. 

Quietening down in order to disconnect is key. It can help to carve time out of your day to prioritise yourself whether it’s after the kids are in bed or by saying ‘no’ to something. If you feel overwhelmed, try reducing exposure to media channels. Writing and other creative outlets can be therapeutic, or if you find going for long walks in nature activates your reflective side, give it a try. I personally find getting out on my own into green space with no phone helps me clear out the white noise and access my deeper emotions. We’re all different, though, so a good place to start is remembering times you reconnected with yourself. 

It can feel uncomfortable to be alone with one’s thoughts, especially if you’ve been drowning them out by overworking rather than simply being. But the practice of expressing difficult thoughts and acknowledging what comes to the surface is important. In doing so, we can recognize our true sense of self and better find ways to heal. 

Elissa Goldenberg, COO at The Wellbeing Project encourages us to take stock during times of change by asking ourselves what matters most to us, and what we stand for. Spending time figuring this out can help us reconnect to our values, and recognize where we may have strayed away from prioritising them. In doing this, we identify energy-draining activities that aren’t helping us to grow or reframe our outlook to help us get back to where we need to be.

We need to practice compassion in our actions, our communications, our service, and importantly, our self-care. When we make a habit of taking good care of ourselves, we’re likely to lead healthier lives and feel less stressed. Within us, space becomes available to deepen our connection to others; to listen more intently, and to show up in a new way for the people and the causes we care about.

When did you last take the time to truly switch off and reconnect with your inner voice? 

About the Author:
Sarah Plant is a content writer and author of the current affairs blog That News Thing. While she spends most of her professional life writing about wellbeing and current affairs, outside of work she’s often found curled up with a cup of coffee, reading non-fiction or wrapping up warm to explore the stunning (but cold!) northern English countryside.

ON A SIMILAR NOTE ON A SIMILAR NOTE

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“Our project started with research—deep conversations with people working for and leading social change.”

TO MARK MENTAL HEALTH ACTION DAY, WE ASKED SOME MEMBERS OF THE WELLBEING COMMUNITY TO SHARE SOME ACTIONS THEY TAKE TO PRIORITISE THEIR MENTAL HEALTH. TO MARK MENTAL HEALTH ACTION DAY, WE ASKED SOME MEMBERS OF THE WELLBEING COMMUNITY TO SHARE SOME ACTIONS THEY TAKE TO PRIORITISE THEIR MENTAL HEALTH.

I realised that if I wanted to regain my mental health I must unlearn denial of anger.
wbp_article2

“Depression is anger turned inwards” – my Psychiatrist.

Like many people, particularly women, I grew up believing I should never be angry. Various influences taught me that it is bad to be an angry woman — she is ugly, untrustworthy, and unhealthy. I became expert at denying myself anything resembling anger, avoiding conflict, taking responsibility for maintaining harmony, and never having a strong opinion.

At 33, I experienced a profound loss that triggered a major depressive breakdown. Sitting in front of my psychiatrist week after week, I gradually began to understand his statement. Anger is an essential step in the grieving process, but because I couldn’t allow myself to even acknowledge anger I wasn’t able to grieve and move on from my loss. Over the years, a repressive toxicity collected inside me, condensed over decades, and had finally imploded. I was pulled into a blackhole of depression where my ability to feel anything was gone. All that existed was a robotic sense of nothingness. I was trapped in the vacuum of depression for 13 months.

I became expert at denying myself anything resembling anger, avoiding conflict, taking responsibility for maintaining harmony, and never having a strong opinion.

Several years later, I’ve experienced several different types of grief including the loss of: a belief system, people I’ve loved, faith in those I’ve trusted, an organisation and team I co-created, a perception of my identity and contribution in the world. With each loss the invasive thoughts of depression and anxiety attacks have resurfaced.

While I’m still terrified of depression and what it takes away from me each time, the length of my episodes have decreased as I’ve gathered tools that increase my awareness of when I’m repressing anger and skills to redirect the process towards allowing myself to feel and work through it.

The journey is often one step forward and two steps back as I clumsily learn to explore expressions of anger. But I’m making messy progress.

Tools that help me realise I’m repressing anger :

  • Weekly Therapy: Being completely honest with my psychologist about my symptoms and thoughts.
  • Keeping a list of my cognitive biases and unhelpful assumptions that I can refer to and ask myself if I am unwittingly applying them. A few example: I must never show anger; I must always improve a situation; I must not be a burden to others).
  • Let others around me know what signals to look for and how to gently ask me if that might be what’s happening when they notice those signals.
  • Dream analysis with my psychologist or psychiatrist.
  • Time in nature to allow space for subconscious thoughts to rise to consciousness.

Skills I use to redirect myself towards working through anger:

  • Saying out loud to someone I can trust, ‘I’m angry–here’s why…’.
  • Writing about why I might be angry and why I might be repressing that reaction.
  • Gradual exposure therapy exercises set by my psychologist.
  • Reading about why it’s not unusual to repress anger and the benefits of unlearning it (the book, Rage Becomes Her was a great example of this).
  • Meditation focused on awareness and acceptance of anger.
  • Controlled destruction (I went to a smash room on one occasion; took a hammer to a watermelon in my back garden on another).
  • Finding those who understand the type of situation that made me angry and discussing to gauge if anger seems to be a normal or appropriate response.
  • Asking others what their strategies are for appropriately and healthily acknowledging, expressing, and processing anger.

My hope is to eventually feel comfortable in acknowledging, experiencing, and expressing anger in a way I’m confident is productive and appropriate —regardless of what other people think. Because what could be more beautiful, honest, and healthy than being able to embrace the entire emotional spectrum of the very human condition of love and loss.

Bio

Jessamyn Shams-Lau was previously co-CEO of the Peery Foundation, where she implements and advocates for grantee-centric philanthropy, aiming to minimize the power dynamic inherent to grant-making. She is creator of Do Good Better, a university curriculum for social change leaders, and co-wrote and illustrated the book Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations Can Build EPIC Partnerships with Jane Leu and Vu Le.