Hello Lovelies,

With all the uncertainty in the world, I invite all of you to stop and take a collective deep breath right now, no matter what you are doing.

A lot of us may be panicked or feel jarred at the moment. This is a unique time in history for all of us. It is also an opportunity for connection and insight as we revisit our values and how we want to show up in our lives. It is a time to open our hearts and share our best selves with our families, friends and communities.

In positive psychology, we try to focus on what is going well and then we can weave our character strengths—-what we are innately good at, into the vision and goals we imagine for ourselves. It offers the opportunity to be resilient no matter what the challenge and to draw on our unique talents. Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard positive psychology professor and cofounder of the Wholebeing Institute, created an innovative model with the acronym SPIRE to support us in moving towards flourishing. It is an integrated, whole person roadmap of sorts that can guide us towards happiness, meaning, empowerment and creative growth in our lives. It also allows us to come up with ways to address various aspects of our lives where we feel we need more focus.

Ben-Shahar says, “to lead a genuinely happy life, to enjoy a deep and lasting sense of wellbeing, it is necessary to embrace the whole self, looking at the well-being of individuals, groups, and society across the five elements that together constitute the whole person.” He explains that spire encompasses a whole-being approach and is about supporting us in fulfilling our potential by becoming our best selves. Also, it is about moving towards a growth mindset where we approach and go beyond challenges and boundaries that prevent us from flourishing. Ben-Shahar says that the, “spire is the breath, the life force: the whole-being approach can inspire us and make us come alive."

Granted, we may not feel settled at the moment, but checking in with ourselves to see where we are on the SPIRE model can support us like a compass in finding our way back to what matters most.

So here we go. Let’s unpack SPIRE and see how we might apply it to this moment in our lives.

S stands for spiritual in leading a meaning life and mindfully savoring the present. That is powerful! It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to subscribe to any religious dogma, but to recognize meaning and purpose in our lives. It offers perspective and a rich opportunity to look beyond ourselves at our global community and planet. We can think about this in our everyday lives. We can learn to savor the present moment. What is working well? What are we grateful for? What intentions do we set for the day? How do we want to show up in the world. How can we serve our family, friends, community and take care of ourselves?

P stands for physical caring for the body and tapping into the mind/body connection. You can ask yourself what you are currently doing to take the best care of yourself? Are you able to prepare meals to support vibrant health? Are you mindfully eating and sharing meals with your family? Are you engaging in a regular sleep schedule where you can rest and restore, which is so important in reducing stress, increasing clarity and preventing illness? Are you getting up and moving your beautiful body to feel strong and calm? How are you attending to stress? Can you spread out your yoga mat and stretch or attend an online yoga or meditation class? Are you able to go out for a walk and enjoy a moment of solitude. How much time are you allowing for news and media? Perhaps a media break is in order or a defined amount of time determined so you can prevent information overload and panic. What ideas can you think of to care for your mind, body and spirit?

I stands for the intellectual or engaging in deep learning and being open to experience. This relates to activities that stimulate your mind and allow for growth or comfort. Perhaps you are steeped in a novel that allows you to relax and be immersed in another time and place. Are you able to journal, blog, work on a puzzle, play games? What hobbies do you enjoy or what is something new you would like to learn? I know people who are enrolled in online language courses at the moment and you can even take an online art class! How are you stimulating yourself beyond reading current events?

R stands for relational or how we can nurture a constructive relationship with self and others. The is a big one for sure. We may be at home right now with our kids or extended family and may not be used to this. We are being asked to slow down and with all of our usual busyness, this may feel strange. How can we use this time to cultivate loving and caring relationships with family and friends? In this time of social distancing we may feel isolated and lonely. How can we use our character strengths to be supportive leaders in positivity and calm? What strengths do you posses that you can harness towards benefiting others? Consider how are you nurturing relationships at the moment? You can choose love, kindness, teamwork, serenity, gratitude and small moments of joy which will radiate out into the world.

E stands for emotional or recognizing and feeling all emotions, reaching towards resilience and optimism. We are complex beings with a lovely life affirming array of emotions. Recognizing and acknowledging what we are feeling is powerful. Just checking in to ask yourself, what am I feeling right now— allows us to be open to kindness and compassion with ourselves and others. It offers a broader perspective and allows us to make choices we can feel good about. If you are stressed or panicked right now, what is one small thing you can do for yourself? How have you dealt with stress in the past and what has worked for you? Can you take a moment to check in with yourself to see where tension lives in your body and then let your breath soften that area? When we begin to take a step back and check in, we become empowered. Our choices become ours.

Yes, this is a big topic but one full of possibility and hope. I say hope—and wrote an entire blog post on the topic—because hope comes with an action plan. You can choose your moment in all of this craziness to be who you really want to be. It takes courage and awareness for sure, but it is something you can own. See what ideas you can come up with to care for yourself right now. When you feel a sense of grounding, you will become more resilient and flourish even in the face of tough challenges.

Sending love to you all! XO