This made me think about the original medical/biological definition of "disease". What do we mean by disease? Very simply it meant, back in the day, any state in which you feel ill at ease. Quite simple but broad ranging. So disease covers everything from mental to physical health and almost any degree of severity there in. Thus the opposite of disease is ease. i.e. a feeling of comfort, free from pain etc. You don't have to feel like an olympic athlete or someone about to climb everest or a euphoric feeling seeing your favourite band live or whatever. You just need to be at ease. Some sort of neutral state or equilibrium, neither good nor bad. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Equilibrium itself is an important scientific concept. Being totally euphoric for long periods is as dangerous as being depressed in the long run. The body and mind are not made to exist in extremes for log periods of time.
So for me well being probably encompasses all those things you do than can contribute to long term equilibrium of your mental and physical states.
Well said, particularly about being on a high for long periods of time. What goes up must come down.
It's kind of similar but my grandpa use to say "health isn't merely the absence of illness". He lived to 93 and was fit and healthy right up to the last die.
An interesting observation as we return from the holidays has been that almost every one of our leaders hopes we are “recharged”. Consciously or not, they are using the same language and metaphor of the battery that you use. To my mind, they are being simplistic in thinking that the very act of taking a break from work should recharge us. Where they should be focused now is on how they can support their teams to maintain “full charge” across the next 12 months. Their hope that we are recharged by a holiday is a tacit admission that work and life is inevitably draining. As you know, it need not be so.
I completely agree. Leaders should prioritise creating environments that recharge people weekly, rather than relying on the year-end holiday as a fix. What you do during the break is crucial, but even more important is ensuring the day-to-day work environment doesn’t drain people to the point where they desperately need to recharge.
Hope you got plenty of snogging done over the break!
Thank you, Ben, for your valuable "Wake Up Calls", always appreciated.
To me it is a combination of little things
1) Start the day with what is one thing I am grateful for today
2) Do something different every day, and you're not scared of change
3) Your worst day is someone else's best day
4) Eat the live frog first
5) Don't major in minor things
6) When you review the day you planned, don't beat yourself up for what you did not achieve, there is always tomorrow and check the things that you done, that were not on the list
This made me think about the original medical/biological definition of "disease". What do we mean by disease? Very simply it meant, back in the day, any state in which you feel ill at ease. Quite simple but broad ranging. So disease covers everything from mental to physical health and almost any degree of severity there in. Thus the opposite of disease is ease. i.e. a feeling of comfort, free from pain etc. You don't have to feel like an olympic athlete or someone about to climb everest or a euphoric feeling seeing your favourite band live or whatever. You just need to be at ease. Some sort of neutral state or equilibrium, neither good nor bad. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Equilibrium itself is an important scientific concept. Being totally euphoric for long periods is as dangerous as being depressed in the long run. The body and mind are not made to exist in extremes for log periods of time.
So for me well being probably encompasses all those things you do than can contribute to long term equilibrium of your mental and physical states.
Well said, particularly about being on a high for long periods of time. What goes up must come down.
It's kind of similar but my grandpa use to say "health isn't merely the absence of illness". He lived to 93 and was fit and healthy right up to the last die.
An interesting observation as we return from the holidays has been that almost every one of our leaders hopes we are “recharged”. Consciously or not, they are using the same language and metaphor of the battery that you use. To my mind, they are being simplistic in thinking that the very act of taking a break from work should recharge us. Where they should be focused now is on how they can support their teams to maintain “full charge” across the next 12 months. Their hope that we are recharged by a holiday is a tacit admission that work and life is inevitably draining. As you know, it need not be so.
I completely agree. Leaders should prioritise creating environments that recharge people weekly, rather than relying on the year-end holiday as a fix. What you do during the break is crucial, but even more important is ensuring the day-to-day work environment doesn’t drain people to the point where they desperately need to recharge.
Hope you got plenty of snogging done over the break!
Thank you, Ben, for your valuable "Wake Up Calls", always appreciated.
To me it is a combination of little things
1) Start the day with what is one thing I am grateful for today
2) Do something different every day, and you're not scared of change
3) Your worst day is someone else's best day
4) Eat the live frog first
5) Don't major in minor things
6) When you review the day you planned, don't beat yourself up for what you did not achieve, there is always tomorrow and check the things that you done, that were not on the list
Once again, many thanks
Respectfully Yours
Mick B
Great list. Love point 5. Similar to "say no to the good so you can say yes to the great"
What does point 4 mean?
The worst task of the day do first…. Then the rest of the day is a breeze 🥳