This week in our virtual assembly, we began to explore Happiness. Our initial thoughts about what makes us happy might include feeling good or being rich; of being a state that we somehow ‘attain’.

However, expecting ‘things’ to make us happy (happiness materialism) can negatively influence life satisfaction in two different ways:

It is interesting to try this exercise:

1. List all the things you have done in the last 48 hours. How have you spent each hour of each day? What were you doing? Who were you with?
2. For each activity, rate how much you experienced positive emotions or pleasure, on a scale of 1-6.
3. Next, rate each activity according to how purposeful you felt. Was this something worthwhile for you? Did you feel valued or useful?

Paul Dolan, author of Happiness by Design, believes that the secret to being happy is the ‘Pleasure-Purpose Principle’. This is the idea that we need to experience both positive emotions and a sense of being valued and useful, to be truly happy in our daily lives. You may be interested to read his recent article about how to find happiness in lockdown.

Finally, in my assembly, I talked to the girls about the dawn chorus. We can hopefully still hear birdsong through our windows, even if we can’t get outside as much as we’d wish. I did flag International Dawn Chorus Day this Sunday to them – so they might be asking if they can get up early to listen to the birds – sorry!

Have a good weekend.

Mrs D-C