"Happiness is the emotional state of a happy person; it is the sense of well-being and fulfillment we experience when we achieve our goals, desires and purposes; it is an enduring moment of satisfaction, where there are no pressing needs, no tormenting suffering." (Significados.com)

On this page, you will find episodes of Podcasts, TED Talks, and Wellbeing Gym Activities.

This kit is a simple and replicable guide that will allow you as an employee, mentor, or tutor, in particular, to implement key activities that support the well-being of our students.

The effective use of these monthly kits will not only allow students to have access to relevant information but will also contribute to the well-being of our employees.

During the month of January we will be working on happiness.

In this section, you will find resources with question guides and activities that you can do with your minds to work on during this month. If you would like to refer them to this site, please share with them the mirror page, tqueremos.tec.mx/en/values/happiness as these guides are just for you.

We hope it helps and thank you for your work!

TED Talks

TED Talk: You Don't Find Happiness, You Create It

Objective: To reflect on what it means to build happiness and how you can take positive actions that have an impact on your emotions.

Duration: 15 minutes

After watching Katarina Bloom's talk, reflect:

What is your reflection on negative vs. positive thoughts? How do you feel about controlling your actions more than your thoughts?
How do you think your actions affect the way you approach the concept of "happiness"?
Katarina Bloom talks about psychological exercises as a source of benefits for understanding happiness What are some ideas that come to mind for exercising our well-being?
Try to make a list of positive messages you would like to send today, who would you give it to?

Podcasts

The Happiness Lab: Embracing Sadness in the Pursuit of Hapiness

Objective: To reflect on the role of feelings of sadness as part of our human experience, and how to be happier, we must accept the emotion and work with it.

Duration: 35 minutes

Before listening to the episode, reflect:

Have you ever felt ashamed for experiencing negative emotions?
Why do you think you have thought this way about your emotions?

After listening to the episode, reflect:

When you have experienced situations of sadness, how do you deal with it?
How have you felt after talking about situations that trigger sadness?
After understanding sadness from the perspective of journalist Helen Russell, would you like to allow yourself to feel sadness in order to learn how to be happier?

Wellbeing Gym Activities

E13 - Chemistry of Happiness

Goal: To work on processing stored emotions by designing a postcard about a situation that the student feels they have yet to resolve, although they will not necessarily send or display this postcard.

Description: The student will have a span of one week, to complete a series of activities. Once the dynamic is completed, they should cross it off the following table:

table

At the end of the activities, you should ask yourself:
How did I feel before and after doing the dynamics?
Did my mood improve?
Could I implement any of them in my daily life?

Closing: Doing activities that generate happiness has multiple benefits. Psychologically, it fosters a cheerful or optimistic mood as well as the implementation of healthy habits such as exercise, healthy eating, socializing, and good sleep hygiene. In addition, physically, it strengthens the immune system, greater resilience to stressful events, lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and faster recovery from illnesses, among others (Mead, 2020). Therefore, it is vital that students put into practice these dynamics or some similar ones since it contributes to their overall well-being and quality of life.

E7 - From: Me, To: Me

Goal: To write a letter to oneself on a topic of one's choice.

Description: The student will be able to write a letter to him/herself for a future time on a topic of their choice. In this way, they will be able to observe their personal growth and reflect on it. To support the writing of the letter, the following questions or topics can be provided:

Talk about personal aspirations for the next year.
"Stop, Start, Continue": Write 3-5 things the student should stop doing, start doing and continue doing.
Questions for your "future self".
The student can talk about how he/she feels today, and what their fears and motivations are.

At the end of the activity, the following online tool can be used to write the letter (https://www.futureme.org/letters/new), select a date on which you want to receive the letter, enter an email and send it. When the established date arrives, the student will receive the letter in their personal email.

Closing: As a closing, a reflection is sought on how generally the things that the students want to say or ask themselves in the future are those questions that most concern them at this moment.

E9 - Daily Gratitude

Objective: To generate awareness of the positive aspects of each person's life through constant reflection and gratitude.

Description: A small notebook should be placed on the desk along with a pen. At the beginning of the day, the person will dedicate some time to write down 3 things they are grateful for. They can range from simple things like having the opportunity to have a morning coffee or being able to go for a walk in the park to more complex things like being able to enjoy the company of his or her family for another day.

Closing: The constant reasoning and analysis of what the person is grateful for help the individual to release negative emotions and gradually improve mental health. Likewise, a study conducted by the University of Berkeley confirms that when people feel more grateful they present a greater neuronal sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with learning and decision-making. Therefore, it is suggested that people who are more grateful are more attentive to how they express their gratitude toward others (Brown & Wong, 2017).