Our Healthier Habit for August is to give a friend, family member, colleague or stranger a compliment!
Have you ever received a compliment and found it changed the direction of your day and put a spring in your step? Huffington Post reports that receiving a genuine compliment can enhance performance, social interaction, positivity in relationships and increase general happiness. Compliments are free, and take seconds to do, but can leave a long-lasting impression on the recipient.
Receiving a positive compliment is always a lovely surprise, but have you thought about how often you give compliments to others? The team at West Gippsland Libraries set ourselves a challenge to compliment a team member in our organisation to express gratitude and appreciation about personality traits, work ethic, completion of an excellent piece of work or another workplace achievement. We found that by doing this, we began to compliment other people in our lives more often.
We had to think carefully about how to give a compliment. You will need to frame your praise in a meaningful way, and you may need to give some thought to what may suit the personal style of the person you wish to compliment. This could be by speaking directly to the person, sending an email or quick text, or even leaving a note in their letterbox. Be subtle in your approach! Not everyone enjoys attention, so make sure you are discreet with your words. When giving a genuine compliment, it’s important to not expect anything in return.
Set yourself a personal challenge for the month of August. Aim to give one compliment per week, or even one every day! We think it will help you to see the good in others, and boost your own mood.
We are listening to – And Life Lights Up by Alice Taylor
With Alice as a guide, explore the steps and ways to live a conscious life and focus on the goodness of the world around us. Alice’s beautiful and captivating writing is an act of mindfulness in itself, and she shares her favourite moments in life, encouraging us to ponder our own. This title is available as an e-audiobook on Borrowbox.
Podcasts we love – Small Change
Small Change is a podcast that looks at the small things you can do that make a BIG difference to your finances. A twice-weekly show with easy-to-action tips that relate to the everyday grind on a Monday and tips to keep you in check for the weekend on Friday.
August events
Dental Health Week
Tradies National Health Month
National Aboriginal & Islander Children’s Day
Homelessness Prevention Week
Daffodil Day
What’s on in the local area –
Due to recent restrictions, many local events have been postponed or cancelled. Stay up to date with events via the Shire pages:
Bass Coast events
Baw Baw events
South Gippsland events
Extra Support –
The opinions and recommendations in this blog do not replace advice from your doctor or mental health practitioner. If you feel like you need further support, you can access many free mental health helplines, support websites, online counselling, web forums, interactive toolkits, one-on-one counselling and group therapy sessions. Please visit the Better Health website for a comprehensive list of services.
Mental Wellbeing at WGL –
The Healthier Habits blog is adapted from West Gippsland Libraries employee ‘Page Break’ program. Page Break is an initiative from our Manager Volunteers & Community Participation, Kathie Olden. Kathie sends out regular updates to staff inviting them to participate in simple activities and conversation starters that focus on making small changes to their mental health and wellbeing.
Comments