Wellbeing Archives - Enlightenment Blog

The art of mindful parenting

Posted on September 20, 2020 March 28, 2021 by Emma Jansen

Bringing mindfulness to the challenges of children can help parents to better enjoy the precious early years.

Parents can struggle to enjoy the present. Children fill parental minds with lists of things to do and challenges to overcome. Many mums and dads struggle to enjoy the moment they are in, even as they know this stage won’t last forever.

Mindful parenting brings the concept of mindfulness to our experience as parents.

When we practice mindfulness, we tune our thoughts into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than living in the past or imagining the future. This simple-sounding approach has been shown to have many benefits. Psychological research suggesting it can relieve stress, anxiety and depression.

Why remote work makes business sense

Posted on September 19, 2020 April 8, 2021 by Emma Jansen

Flexible work should not be a perk or a privilege. Implemented correctly, it benefits both company and employee.

Thanks to advances in technology, office work no longer needs to be done only in the office. As employers strive for a more productive workforce and employees demand flexible working conditions to better balance work and life, remote work – or telecommuting, which is performed by about one-quarter of Australian workers – offers a win-win solution for both groups.

Indeed, all senior executive jobs in the NSW public service will be open to employees choosing flexible working arrangements by 2019. Plus, major infrastructure works in Sydney and Melbourne will increase traffic congestion and commuting times, making remote work a more practical option for many employees.

How to find your flow and boost your psychological health

Posted on September 18, 2020 April 8, 2021 by Emma Jansen

Moments of pure absorption in your work provide powerful insights that help to boost your wellbeing and performance.

Have you ever gone with the flow? It might seem a shallow question, but psychologists have linked the concept to wellbeing and achievement.

Flow refers to those times when we experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement in life. The term was coined by renowned psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, and will be familiar to any athlete who has achieved the feeling of being totally “in the zone”.

10 ways to help your mental health

Posted on September 13, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

We all like to help others. But, when it comes to mental health, what steps can we take to support ourselves?

Psychological research has revealed a range of approaches that can help you stay mentally healthy and make the most out of your life.

A holistic approach to student wellbeing

Posted on September 12, 2020 April 8, 2021 by Emma Jansen

Positive education strategies provide Australian students with skills, behaviours and resources to thrive during the school years and beyond.

A key challenge for schools is how to best educate young people for the rigours of adulthood. The 21st century workplace increasingly requires flexibility, creativity, social intelligence and other soft skills. Unfortunately, by young adulthood many struggle, with one in four young Australians diagnosed with a mental health condition by the age of 25.

Educators are increasingly focused on how they can proactively equip students with thoughts, behaviours and skills to successfully ride the waves of life. ‘Positive education’ is an approach that aims to do just that.

Playing football can improve mental health – new research

Posted on September 9, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Playing football is a good way to get physically fit. But our new study shows that a regular kick about can also lead to improved mental health, social confidence and a sense of purpose.

As we explored the impact of the beautiful game on people with mental health challenges, many of the players we spoke to said their weekly games improved stress and anxiety levels. One commented:

Why apartment dwellers need indoor plants

Posted on September 3, 2020 October 8, 2020 by Emma Jansen

The number of Australians living in high-rise apartments doubled between 1991 and 2011 and that trend has continued since then. The quarter-acre dream is fast disappearing and larger blocks and family gardens along with it. As more people move from country areas to the city and as land to build homes near the city centre becomes scarce, we’re getting further and further away from nature. It turns out this isn’t great for our health.

The change in urban environments because of development, associated with a rapid increase in chronic disease, is a global phenomenon in developed countries. In the past children grew up running on bare soil and grass, explored backyard farms and gardens, climbed trees and were exposed to a high level of bacteria. And the diversity of the bacteria can change if an individual is exposed to different environmental conditions.

Cat lovers rejoice: watching online videos lowers stress and makes you happy

Posted on August 23, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Watching cute cat videos and looking at their online pictures may not be a waste of time. A new study has found doing so could boost energy levels and increase feelings of happiness.

Published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior the study even suggests that watching internet cats could be used as a form of digital pet therapy or stress relief.

Internet data shows two million cat videos were posted on YouTube as of 2014, totalling nearly 26 billion views. Celebrity cats – such as Grumpy Cat and and Lil BUB – have also sprung up on social media, garnering mass followings.

Getting serious about funny: Psychologists see humor as a character strength

Posted on August 22, 2020 October 8, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Humor is observed in all cultures and at all ages. But only in recent decades has experimental psychology respected it as an essential, fundamental human behavior.

Historically, psychologists framed humor negatively, suggesting it demonstrated superiority, vulgarity, Freudian id conflict or a defense mechanism to hide one’s true feelings. In this view, an individual used humor to demean or disparage others, or to inflate one’s own self-worth. As such, it was treated as an undesirable behavior to be avoided. And psychologists tended to ignore it as worthy of study.

Six simple ways to fill your wardrobe with sustainable clothing

Posted on August 21, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

The environmental impact of fashion waste is overwhelming. Every year the UK alone sends 350,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill. And as the majority of garments are made from oil-based materials like polyester – 22.67 billion tonnes of polyester clothing is produced every year worldwide – they aren’t going anywhere fast. Oil doesn’t decompose, and if burned the material will release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. There are also problems associated with trimmings such as buttons, zips, studs and interfacing or lining. When buried with other waste in landfill, the combination of metal components, moisture and heat causes gases such as methane to be emitted.

In response to this, and other elements of the fast fashion crisis, the industry is changing. Some brands have introduced recycling schemes to address what happens to their products post-purchase. And the UK’s Environmental Audit Committee recently recommended a penny charge on each garment sold to fund more and better clothing collection and recycling schemes.

Driverless cars could see humankind sprawl ever further into the countryside

Posted on August 19, 2020 October 8, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Self-driving cars will change how we live, in all sorts of ways. But they won’t just affect us humans – the coming revolution in autonomous transport has significant implications for wildlife as well. Nature conservationists and planners need to think hard about the impact of driverless vehicles, most notably in terms of renewed urban sprawl.

In some ways, wider developments in automotive technology bode well for the environment. Electric cars will increasingly replace the internal combustion engine, and that should, in theory, reduce carbon emissions and health-afflicting air pollution.

Through minimising traffic jams, driverless cars may also reduce overall energy use. Unlike human drivers, computers can avoid the “concertina” effect of needless acceleration and braking that exacerbates congestion, and won’t be tempted to “rubberneck” when passing an accident. And, as autonomous vehicles aren’t restricted by human reaction times, it may make sense to increase speed limits for them on major inter-city routes.

How to make the green belt productive – but still green

Posted on August 18, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

England’s green belts have had, and continue to have, a major impact on town planning. The idea of a ring of countryside surrounding an urban area to prevent sprawl originated in the 1930s and spread to post-war London and was adopted nationally in 1955. Today, about 13% of England is green belt land.

But what made sense in the 1950s seems outdated and rather stale now. A one-size-fits-all approach to tackling complex planning issues tends to create more problems than it solves. You don’t need a belt-shaped area of land to check urban sprawl; you don’t need to block all development to promote greener outcomes. Perhaps in the 21st century it is time to admit that green belts are no longer fit for purpose.