By Dawn East
When I came home from a year’s travel sabbatical in July 2019, I found myself feeling a little lost. I was going to be re-turning to a job I’d fallen out of love with and I had no idea what I wanted to do next. From out of the blue, an ad popped up on Facebook, asking if I wanted to take part in an eight-week Action For Happiness (a registered charity) course in Staines. Curious, and in need of a dose of happiness, I signed up. It was the best thing I could have done.
Over the eight weeks, I joined an amazing group of like-minded people and we learned about the science of happiness. We discussed what we could do to make our own lives hap-pier, the lives of those we love and the lives of those in our community. I came away from each session feeling empowered, having com-mitted to a small action to complete over the following days. My actions included starting a gratitude diary, smiling at strangers, telling close friends why I valued them and making the time to talk to stressed colleagues. They were small things but together they made a huge difference to my life. I also made some wonderful new friends.
Once the course finished, a core group of us stayed in touch, meeting monthly instead of weekly. We also shared our ideas, worries and achievements via WhatsApp. Once the pan-demic hit, our meetings continued via Zoom. Even though I often didn’t feel like joining the sessions at the start, I always came away glad that I did. We made each other laugh and of-fered listening ears if someone was struggling.
Towards the start of summer, Mandy Ruks (one of the Staines group leaders), asked if anyone was interested in starting up a new group with her, based on Action For Happi-ness’ 10 Keys to Happier Living. The 10 keys are giving, relating to others, exercising, awareness, trying things out, direction, resili-ence, emotions, acceptance and meaning (you can find more on these on the Action For Hap-piness website). Wanting to give back to the local community, I agreed to lead a Shepper-ton group with Mandy.
We have been running the group since June and it has been very successful. We meet once a month on Zoom, on the second Tuesday of each month (7pm). People can sign up online at https://airtable.com/shrf2zWAIKGuK0cFz?prefill_GROUP=GRP24%20(Shepperton) It is up to each individual how often they attend – there is no expectation or pressure. Please note that you do not have to live in Shepperton to join this group, anywhere in the local area is fine (Staines, Ashford, Walton etc.)
The sessions always begin with everyone in-troducing themselves and saying a little bit about how they are feeling. We then discuss the month’s key theme (based on one of the ten keys). At the end, everyone decides on one small action to take forward and we see how people are feeling as we say goodbye. There is no pressure to do any action or to share with the group and anything said in the session is confidential. If you want to inject a little hap-piness into your life and community, then please sign up and join us for our next session – Mandy and I would love to meet you!