Member-only story
FIND YOUR HAPPY
One Easy Act That Will Instantly Make Your Body Happier
Easy Peasy, Free, and Possibly Life-Changing
Does your work ever brazenly announce “wellness initiatives” — and you cringe before curling up into what hippies might call the “bong position”? Yeah. Me, too. I often lean toward my colleagues at staff meetings and whisper, “Do you know what would actually make my mental health better? Not being in this meeting.”
You, too, huh?
Imagine my surprise when, at our last gathering, they shared a tidbit that turned out to be rather juicy. And helpful.
Picture a roomful of elementary school educators at the end of their workday. And the end of their sanity, to be honest. Some are clad in anti-bullying pink t-shirts, some fervently sucking back Monster drinks, and others bent forward in the only position they can muster after a day of door slams, scissors tossed at their skulls, and endless screams louder than Swifties at a Chiefs game. The principal casts the Smiling Mind app. Muttered groans of I’d-rather-be-home-cooking-dinner-and-opening-a-second-bottle-of-cab-sav turn to silence.
Breathing deeply and slowly can make you instantly happier. Who knew?
Okay, some people. Dacher Keltner, for example. He knew. Twenty-five years of…