1As mentioned PERMA is an acronym which captures the five pillars, or building blocks, of wellbeing. These building blocks are how a person can construct a good life characterised by flourishing and happiness. 

Please open your books to page 21. Here you will find the PERMA dashboard.

In this activity we will recap what each letter of PERMA stands for, and provide information about what it means. We will then pause and give you time to reflect and work on the relevant section of our PERMA Dashboard.

So first is Positive Emotions - feelings of pleasure and enjoyment. They might include joy, love, gratitude, feelings of excitement, feelings of warmth, feelings of happiness, feeling inspired…in rapture! There are lots of positive emotions, and these impact positively on health and wellbeing….  Some people are more genetically predisposed to being positive while others are more pessimistic. However, we can make deliberate changes to increase our positive emotions. This is not about “positive thinking” or denying bad feelings it is about increasing genuine joyful moments and taking time to be mindful of them. Tools like ‘gratitude journals,’ our Creating Memories exercise and engaging in our Signature Strengths can help us achieve this.

Go to the first column on the dashboard and colour in the icon in terms of where you feel like you are at now. Do you feel like you have positive emotions most of the day? Where do you think you are at? Go ahead and complete the Positive Emotions Icon. Once you have done that jot down something that you do NOW which gives you positive emotions. Is it listening to music, sitting in the sunshine?….. Then below that jot down something you might like to do NEXT. Perhaps it is something you use to do that you haven’t done for a while. 

Engagement - sometimes called flow - is when you are at one with the music. When you are using your Signature Strengths and are fully engaged in what you are doing. You are in the zone. In the moment. Time stops for you. Engagement comes naturally when you are doing activities you love or are good at. For a surfer it could be the moment you catch the wave. For you, it might be going nuts dancing to your favourite song! For a child, it might be jumping in puddles. Time disappears when this happens. Not because you have “zoned out’ but because you are totally present in the here and now.. 

Again we would like you to think about how often you are fully engaged in something? Colour in the icon so that it represents your current level of engagement…. Once you’ve done that think back to the times in your life when you have had engagement. Make notes of some of those things in the Now and Next section of the Engagement column. 

In the middle column we have Positive Relationships - relationships are very important for our well being. Positive relationships are linked with feeling supported, feeling secure, feeling comfortable. There is a correlation in experiencing positive relationships and being more likely to live longer. An eight decade research study done at Harvard showed that “People who are more socially connected to family, friends and the community are happier, healthier and live longer than people who are less well connected.”

Consider each type of relationship you have and colour how satisfied you are in each one: child, family, peers, professionals. (by professionals we are referring to those people working with our children) Jot a few things down about where you are currently experiencing positive relationships, and below where you may find or build positive relationships next.

Meaning - this is belonging to and serving something bigger than yourself, things you are doing that have meaning beyond you. It could be religion. It could be politics! It could be the environment. It could be about helping others. It could be love - inspired to live for and take care of someone other than yourself. It doesn’t need to be about work, although it may be. Meaning increases well being because it gives you a sense of purpose in life.

Colour in the ball based on your current meaning levels. Jot a few things down about where you currently find meaning, and below where you may find meaning next. 

Achievement - This is about achieving goals - child, family and personal. It is not just about achieving but recognising your achievements. That is why during Now & Next we are very focused on tracking and celebrating your goal success!!

Think about where you are at with achievement. Where are you “now” and where would you like to be “next”

Linking Signature Strengths & PERMA - When you use your Signature Strengths you are more likely to experience PERMA. Signature Strengths are the backbone for PERMA. Martin Seligman tells a story about his student who worked part time in a supermarket packing groceries for customers. Her Signature Strength was social intelligence. So she made it a goal that every person she packs groceries for was going to have a positive experience - and it totally changed her outlook on her job and she now loves it - her PERMA increased!

For those of you who want to dig deeper into this content check our resource tab which includes a link to a video of Prof Martin Seligman where he goes into more detail about the link between Signature Strengths and PERMA.

Gently find a comfortable sitting position … you might like to sit forward on your chair, rest your two feet on the floor, your spine vertical and your head balanced over your spine, rest your hands on each thigh so your shoulders can relax … gently close your eyes or lower your eyes to the floor in front of you … When you’re ready, take one big breath in and let it out fully …

🌻  1 cycle of breath: We’ll begin by gently moving our focus from our thoughts to watching our breathing … There’s no need to change your breathing, just observe what the breath is doing all by itself.

🌻  3 cycles of breath: After your next in-breath, follow the out-breath as it empties your lungs and in the little space between the out-breath completing, and the in-breath beginning, count one, following the next breath in and out, count two, and so on to ten. We’ll just count a couple of cycles of ten breaths. If your attention wanders, when you notice, just bring it back to the breath and start with one.

🌻  20-30 cycles of breath: For one minute more, you can drop the counting, and just watch and feel your breathing rising and falling …

🌻  3 cycles of breath: We’ll finish with a moment of appreciation for these bodies that make everything possible … the breathing which keeps us alive, these feet and legs which carry us everywhere to do everything we do, these arms and hands which hold, carry, hug and comfort our children, these hearts and minds which tend our gorgeous little kids …

🌻  3 cycles of breath: After your next breath, when you’re ready, gently open your eyes and come quietly back to awareness of the room and the people around you. You can take some of the gentle quietness of the breath with you when you go home.