Well haven’t we been going all out on celebrations recently, what with the enormous success of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the way it touched so many people not only in this region but nationally and worldwide. Are there still flag bunting remnants lying around your house or local unit meeting place? Will you take away good memories from the long weekend at the beginning of June? Let’s hope so.
And for some of you the plans for other Festivals this month are high on your to do list. With the summer weather all sorts of music, performance and art festivals are being held. How do we record those celebratory times we’ve had and how might we record those we will have in future? We could write about them, a seemingly old-fashioned skill but a valuable one; how many texts do you save for posterity? Have you ever kept a diary? Do you use writing to get your thoughts out of your head, sort of like a download?
Check out the First Story site with all it has to offer; I didn’t know we have a National Writing Day on 23 June:
https://firststory.org.uk/writeday/#:~:text=National%20Writing%20Day%2C%2023%20June%202022
This time of year is also one of stresses and exams for young people who can find the fever pitch pressure of proving themselves with their future in mind a bit mind boggling. Once the exams are over how are we going to help them celebrate their perseverance and application; how about learning how Girlguiding has got behind Pride, see the website here:
https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/events-and-opportunities/regular-girlguiding-events/pride/
or here:
Alternatively joining one of the local going away camps, sleepovers or visits to an activity centre, with plenty of time for forming friendships and doing things together, learning about our physical boundaries and how we might extend those by trying out new sports and activities; you never know you might discover a new one, even as an adult.
Here are a few suggestions from Action for Happiness:
- Bring to mind a favourite memory you feel grateful for
- Get outside and find the joy in being active
- Rediscover and enjoy a fun childhood activity
https://actionforhappiness.org/
And there’s always commemorative days to help with the treats:
https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/united-kingdom/world-chocolate-day
https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/united-kingdom/national-ice-cream-day
So, until next month, here’s to the appreciation of events big and small and recognising what we all have in common with each other.
Another month rolls in and with all the wildlife and flora running wild, the imminent Jubilee celebrations, and the excitement of residentials and camps on our minds we can officially call it summer. This month’s reflections are all about fun and enjoyment. How can we make the preparation time more fun, as we squeeze time in around our usually busy lives?
actionforhappiness.org has its usual monthly calendar and in May one of the days suggests you ‘find a way to make what you do today meaningful’. How about adding in ‘find a way to make one of your volunteer tasks fun this week’. Could that be shifting your expectations and relaxing around how much you get done?
Oliver Burkeman, who has presented a webinar online this week ‘How to make good use of our time’ for ActionforHappiness made reference to his new book ‘Time Management for Mortals’ and suggests we accept there will always be things left on our ‘to do list’ and a more useful set of lists might be a ‘to be list’, a ‘done list’ and a ‘stop doing list’. Is it enjoyable to see your ‘done list’ or your ‘to do list’ with lots of ticks on it? Could you use an app to help you stay on top of your preparation? Check out this one from the 80s that asks you to ‘work smarter, not harder’ https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique with its bright tomato timer as its logo it already gives us the sense of something more fascinating than we might expect.
As volunteers sharing your volunteer tasks with someone else may make it more fun or we could see things from the perspective of one of your girls, for example, Rainbows imagining and developing their Superpowers or Brownies getting their hands covered in super soaps as they experiment to find soaps to get rid of grime, grease, and paint (from a UMA).
When I asked our team to come up with some sound bite words off the top of their heads for fun and enjoyment, they included the following: skipping ropes, tent building, campfires, badges, learning, and holidays! So it may be that you’ll be involved with some of those fabulous summer month trips to activity centres or campsites or be inventing new ways to experience outdoor UMAs in an urban setting. For our older girls, festivals certainly feature strongly; see below for a Girlguiding story from our group of 18 – 30 members, with memories of Festival fun and learning amongst them:
Have fun until we blog again next month!
Welcome to another month with our wellbeing theme ‘our bodies, our life’ focusing on our physical selves. With our getting out in the Spring weather, warm and sunny, windy and wet or otherwise, do we ever, for example, think about how our bodies function in different temperatures? Are we a hot weather lizard or a cooler weather frog? And how much time do you spend sitting down rather than on your feet?
As I write this I notice today is ‘On Your Feet Day’ and although by the time this is made public the day will have passed, you might find some of their tips useful to balance your work life. I am at my standing desk this morning but will be sitting down later. They encourage standing time and time sitting throughout your day. You may have that movement built into your day, for example, if you are a teacher, but if not, why not check out their site here: https://onyourfeetday.com/
For those of you who have active interests like guiding or running, you might find this a fascinating article from Michael Mosley, with his new ‘Just One Thing’ series and giving us a completely new angle on that root vegetable that stains our chopping board pink, the humble beetroot.
We can also pick up all sorts of ideas for our lives as volunteers from the Girlguiding programme; have you seen any of the UMAs that the Rangers use? From using body language to influence others positively ‘Resist this’, to harnessing the power of non-verbal language and improving how to work well in teams ‘Don’t say it, display it’.
In ‘Resist this’ the aim of the activity is to filter out the influence of others around you, to go with your ‘gut’ reaction, as making independent decisions within a group can be difficult. It describes an interactive game that involves physical expression, like jumping into a circle or jumping out. It aims to help with listening skills, trusting your instincts and resisting the influence of others.
With ‘Don’t say it, display it’ the activity aims to look at low and high-power poses and how they can affect conflict. It explores body language by trying it out to harness a relaxed and assertive physical experience ready to handle pressure and conflict situations. Talking about how it feels helps incorporate an understanding of how we communicate non-verbally.
There are lots of similar activities for all levels, Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers.
Wishing you all an energetic month, setting an example and holding the space for your unit, embodying your interest in and dedication to your girls and to Girlguiding.
This month’s wellbeing theme is ‘life in nature’. We all understand that getting outdoors is good for all of us, children and adults alike, and we know our favourite green places to visit, either with our unit or with our family and friends. Caring about our world, our environment, and the realisation that our actions matter can be an eye-opener. With unprecedented challenges being faced by the whole world, caring about our immediate environment may be a way to manage our feelings and will certainly benefit our physical health as well as our mental health.
The Queen’s Green Canopy project to commemorate her Jubilee is a magnificent idea and we will be able to see in years to come the impact it will have for us all. See the website for more information:
https://queensgreencanopy.org/
You may be doing UMAs with your unit with the outdoors in mind. Or you may be planning residentials, now that we are able to access all those activity centres that were closed during the last two years. Are you doing something for yourself too to help make the most of being in nature? In Norfolk, there’s an urban project called Nature Connect offering connection with nature through allotment work, garden libraries, and bread kitchens among other things. Maybe your area has something similar? Even if you live in an urban area there are all sorts of outdoor workshops and classes that could inspire you across your life as a volunteer.
Check out this website where they list 7 good reasons to have an allotment courtesy of Gransnet:
https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/2018/04/20/all-about-allotments/
And as well as the benefit for those working and hanging out in the allotments, there’s the double benefit of how much nature gets from those areas set aside for allotments, especially when we avoid the use of pesticides and harmful chemicals. Could you take your unit to a friendly local allotment plot for a meeting of discovery in nature? There’s so much to see and take in when we leave the house and get outdoors.
And a daily note from the March Mindfulness calendar as you head to work or your unit meeting: ‘Choose a different route today and see what you notice’ https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar
