Feature image by freepik
Last night my sweetheart was reading an article in the New York Times and said, “I’m going to describe a certain group of people who are said to have a high level of happiness. Who do you think fits? ‘Moves as much as possible, has a good sleep schedule, engages in positive self-talk, asks lots of questions, and laughs many times a day’.”
My first guess was “not me”. But I guessed the real answer right away, in part because I’d just spent a week at an education conference where the importance of all of these were discussed. Did you guess? Pre-schoolers! They laugh 6 times as much as adults, affirm themselves out loud (“I can do it!”), have endless curiosity without worrying whether someone will think they are dumb, and make full use of their amazing bodies. They crash when they are tired, and let negative emotions both come out and disappear with ease. They are living examples of being in the moment.
Research is clear that all of these are important to wellbeing, along with other skills preschoolers excel at: reaching out for help when they need it, smiling, making new friends, trying new things, and not being self-conscious.
What can you learn from their example and put into practice this week? Let me know how it goes. Sometimes being a grown-up isn’t about learning new things. It’s remembering what we used to know and how we used to be and getting back to it.
