What do we mean by wellbeing?

it’s a grey day outside and I woke feeling as though I really didn’t want to get out bed. I stayed for a while - it’s Friday and I’ve got no actual going out commitments or plans today. But I always notice that I don’t feel good for long when I stay in bed when I’m not asleep - especially in the morning.

So I get up and go downstairs where I have a lovely reunion with Milly - she stretches luxuriously in her basket and turns slowly exposing her long tummy. Tickle please she says. I tickle and stroke and a sense of wellbeing - that word - washes through me. What is that feeling? For me it’s spacious and warm, happy and relaxed. And just now it came as I stroked my dog. I pick her up and quite quickly she climbs my shoulder and looks out - it’s time for the garden.

So we wander out. It’s cold and drizzling, I’m not wearing a coat. And yet it still feels nice - a relief after being inside. Another rush of wellbeing - happiness. There’s masses of autumn colour around - both in my garden and the wider view and I decide to pick some flowers for my new vase.

They’re not easy to find (it is the first week in November after all) and I end up with some rather weather beaten Rudbeckia, autumn coloured Pittosporum foliage from a trusty bush in a pot by my back door and Ammi seedheads. It’s pretty nonetheless and the collection process, head on one side, thinking and creating, is nourishing and happy-making. Another flash of wellbeing courses through me.

I’m now sitting at my laptop writing this. I haven’t made it to my lovely studio in the garden this morning - the Aga behind my back in the kitchen is too much of a draw - maybe later - I love my studio as it is surrounded by green and lighter than where I’m sitting now. And as I consider the idea of going out there I notice Nigel laughing in the other room. He’s on the phone, at his temporary desk, working at home as it’s Friday today. And that’s part of why I didn’t, instinctively, go the studio - it’s nice to hear him happily engaged nearby.

I love this feeling of home. I’ve lit a candle, my flowers are on the window-cill, the dog is asleep in her basket by my feet. All feels well. So - ah - wellbeing - that word again.

For me, this morning, I recognise that I have created it through a variety of activities; that potter in the garden and creative moment choosing and arranging flowers, connection with Milly and Nigel, (who earned extra appreciation for the lovely breakfast he made this morning), good food - yokes on toast as I’m allergic to the whites, the candle I have lit - Comfort and Joy by The Smallest LIght- a delicious smell (meant for winter I think but I’m enjoying it now), the prospect of a phone chat with a client who has become a friend - we’re thinking of running a retreat together and this - my writing. I love the calm of sitting at my laptop doing a bit of writing.

The feeling of wellbeing encompasses me now as I write - so I realise (afresh - I know this and yet it still feels like new information when I realise it in the moment) that it’s also in the process of recognition - of noticing my good fortune and this lovely moment. It’s what is known as mindfulness. And now, as I end, I recognise that each of the small moments of activity this morning I have been really present - mindful I suppose and that’s what’s made me happy.

What is wellbeing anyway?