How engaged do you feel in your daily life? As you read this blog, I encourage you to think of one new way you can feel more engaged in your day to day.
Relationship Engagement:
Being social and engaging with others is a great way to support our well-being. Our relationships with other people are one of the most important things for our happiness. People who develop and nurture relationships tend to be happier and healthier. Close relationships with family and friends provides support and increases our sense of self-worth. Broader social networks are also helpful to bring a sense of belonging. To bring more meaning to our life, we can make new connections, and work on strengthening our relationships.
As we move towards post-pandemic life, more groups of people are coming together to nurture their relationships. This summer I was extra grateful to gather again with those I care about. We visited my dad and step-mother at the cottage as well as my brothers and their families. While we had engaged in small family gatherings before, it was great to come together again as a bigger group. In Toronto, my sister visited from the U.S.A and I got to reconnect with my nephew and two nieces. And more recently my mother also visited Toronto and she helped out with my mother-in-law. I also had the opportunity to go for walks with friends on the boardwalk here in The Beaches.
Making time for a dedicated partner is another form of engagement. Getting “engaged” is making a formal commitment to each other. When my partner and I got engaged, we also made a commitment to practice yoga and mindfulness together. In addition to our yoga training, we completed applied mindfulness meditation courses together. In addition, we continue to enjoy a variety of physical activities from strength conditioning to dancing and walks in the park.
Mindfully connecting with nature is another way to be engaged. Ever stop and think about what your relationship is with nature? Do you vibe more with the lake, ocean, waterfall, stream, or the sky, grass and trees? Do you ever take time to smell flowers or touch a leaf? Ever take off your shoes at the beach, walk in the sand, and consciously breathe in and out to experience the fresh air? Ever sit close to an ocean and just to listen to the sound of the waves? Ever put your bare feet on the grass to feel the energy of earth? Ever take time to look up at the sky and notice the clouds or a sunset? It’s OK if you don’t connect with nature, but if you do….can you find more time to get outside and enjoy whatever makes you feel most alive?
We can also mindfully engage with ourselves! Ever take time to reflect on the relationship you have with yourself? How often do you take time to notice your own thoughts, feelings, and sensations? Do you practice kindness with yourself? What do you tell yourself each night before you go to sleep? What do you tell yourself each morning when you wake up? When you make a mistake, can you forgive yourself and embrace the lesson? Are you aware of your breath throughout the day? Do you notice when you experience tension in the shoulders, back or neck? If so, can you make an effort to relax those areas that are tight?
When you are feeling tired, can you find more time for rest and catch up on sleep? When you are dehydrated, can you set an intention to drink water more regularly throughout the day? When you eat, can you take time to notice the taste and texture of your food? Can you eat more mindfully, staying present in the moment? When you speak, do you notice how you affect others? The more we practice mindfulness and work on our relationship with ourselves, the easier it is to develop and nurture healthy relationships with others!
Physical Activity and Community Engagement:
Engaging in physical activity helps to make us feel happier and it’s also good for our physical health. You can join a health and fitness centre or sports club, or attend dance and movement events with friends. Participating in activities with others provides opportunities to be social, engage with community, and experience a sense of belonging.
When I was a kid, I experienced a sense of community engagement during my gymnastics training sessions at the the University of Toronto Athletic Centre. I was training 15 hours a week in grade 3 & 4 and the entire building felt like my second home. In Connecticut, I had similar experiences at our local Y and the Arena Gymnastics where I continued to train as a competitive gymnast. During August, I also had the opportunity to explore new physical activities at a summer camp in Ontario. In addition, I met new friends at Merestead Field Hockey & Lacrosse Camp.
Physical activity engagement continued to be an important part of my life when I moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and joined the Varsity Diving Team at Pine Crest School. Then as a student at the University of Toronto, I joined the Varsity Lacrosse team, taught fitness and movement classes, coached gymnastics, continued my dance training and performed in the U of T Festival of Dance with friends. All of these experiences helped me feel a sense of belonging and contributed to my overall health and well-being. As an adult, I continue to find ways to engage in physical activity and connect with community.
There are many options to be active and experience community engagement. Today many gyms offer a hybrid model that includes virtual classes, online training and in-person programs. If the monthly or annual fee isn’t within your budget, you can ask about what discounts might be available. If needed, you might be able to explore options related to financial assistance. For example, here in Canada each YMCA has its own process for determining eligibility for financial assistance. You can contact your local YMCA for more information. Universities and Colleges also often offer alumni discounts.
Regardless of what location you choose to be active, participating in group classes and training with others provides opportunities to meet new friends and experience community engagement. You can also engage with community by volunteering at a local food bank, animal shelter or homeless shelter, participating in a local blood drive, creating support groups in your community, or maintaining a community garden.
You can also go beyond your local community to feel part of something bigger around the world. Leading virtual workshops and mindful trainings accessible worldwide provides a sense of community engagement. Presenting mindful sessions for A Mindful Society Global Institute helped me feel part of something bigger. When the gyms closed during the pandemic, I also reached out to my colleagues who are a part of the Immunotec World community. I had presented for an Immunotec Team Toronto training back in 2004 and enjoyed reconnecting with my network. With the growing interest in the immune system, it can provide a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life to provide wellness coaching and consulting including education on a high quality, scientifically proven natural health product that helps maintain a strong immune system, supports the production of antibodies, helps increase muscle strength, and enhances performance when combined with regular exercise. To learn more about Immunocal (28 universities involved in research), click here.
Work Engagement:
How engaged do you feel with your work? Do you feel actively engaged and passionate about what you are doing? If you work for an organization, are you aligned with the company’s mission, vision and values? Do you feel engaged with the work you are required to do in your role? Or do you feel not engaged, or actively disengaged?
When we feel fully engaged with our work, we can experience a positive, affective-motivational state of high energy combined with high levels of dedication and a strong focus on work. If we feel fully aligned with what we are doing, we may even experience a state of “flow”. For example, when I’m presenting a workshop, delivering mindful training, teaching a class or providing coaching and consulting services, it doesn’t actually feel like work. I feel fully present in the moment, in a state of flow and fulfillment.
In my program development work at the University of Toronto, I experienced this state of flow when I was collaborating with partners to support student wellness initiatives such as MoveU, Mindful Moments, and Exam Jam. I have also experienced this state of flow when I support employment engagement through wellness activities. At U of T, I have enjoyed leading a variety of workshops, trainings and movement programs to encourage employees to integrate wellness within the work day. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to deliver presentations during Mental Health Week and Healthy Workplace Month wellness events. Teaching fitness, dance, yoga and mindfulness meditation classes to students also kept me in a state of fulfillment. After the pandemic, I enjoyed leading virtual mindfulness for students completing their MBA through the U of T Rotman School of Management. In my work with the YMCA GTA during the pandemic, leading workshops and trainings as well as delivering virtual and in-person classes also helped to keep me in a state of flow. To continue to invite a state of flow into our work, it’s important to learn what brings us joy and keep creating opportunities to do what we enjoy most.
Reflecting on our strengths can help increase work engagement. Ever take time to think about what your top 5 strengths are at work? There are different assessment tools that can support this process. CliftonStrengths is one popular tool. I’ve completed this assessment a few times and my results are always similar. In addition to being an achiever, I am a maximizer, relator, futuristic, and strategic. Knowing these strengths helps me create new opportunities to feel engaged at work.
We can take time to identify our strengths, review them, think about how we use our strengths currently in our daily work, and also reflect on new ways we can apply our strengths. The VIA Character Strengths assessment is another tool you can take a look at. Or instead of using an assessment tool, reflect on what you think your top 5 strengths are then ask a friend or colleague to let you know what they think your top 5 strengths are. Then have a conversation with your friends and colleagues as you continue to reflect on the various ways you can use your top strengths.
A number of factors can affect work engagement. If you are in a workplace, working from home, or have some sort of a hybrid model, there may be some differences in how engaged you feel, but if you have growth opportunities for professional development and feel appreciated for your work, you may feel more engaged.
Appreciation doesn’t only support employee well-being and mental health; it can also help employees feel committed to both their organizations and their leaders. However, while appreciation can give employees a compelling reason to stay with an organization, a lack of appreciation can also play a big role in pushing employees out the door. It is important to note though that feeling appreciated at work is not the only factor contributing to what many call “the great resignation”.
The pandemic has inspired many people to consider career changes even when they did experience appreciation for their work. Some people were seeking a change in schedule, a change in environment, opportunities to work with new people, more time with family, or change just for the sake of change. I have many friends and colleagues who had great relationships with their boss and colleagues and felt appreciation for their work, but they still made the decision to explore new career opportunities and apply for a new job.
While it’s great to be appreciated and recognized for your accomplishments, it can be problematic if you don’t learn to validate yourself first and foremost. External validation means that you are getting your feelings of self-worth based on sources outside of yourself. Internal validation means that you are gaining your sense of self-worth based on what your own opinions about yourself are.
Due to “the great resignation”, some people in the workplace are appreciating their employees and colleagues so frequently that they are running on autopilot. Ever witnessed someone recognizing another for something they didn’t even do? Perhaps they are so in the habit of appreciating others, they are not taking time to think through the best strategies to practice appreciation with others. Mindful appreciation of others can feel healthy! On the other hand, habitual unconscious appreciation of others can feel inauthentic.
One thing everyone can do is learn to appreciate themselves! We don’t want to get in the habit of valuing the approval of others more than valuing ourselves. To prevent this type of co-dependent behaviour, start appreciating you! Rather than be dependent on recognition and praise from others all the time, take time to write down all of your accomplishments. Talk to your close friends, partner and family about all the work you’ve done that you are proud of. Update your resume even if you are happy and satisfied with your job to remind yourself of all the great things you’ve done throughout your career. Appreciating yourself will also help you feel better if you receive constructive critique on your performance at work. When we create a sense of self-worth on the inside, we are less sensitive to feedback from others and more to celebrate our strengths and work on the areas we need to improve on.
If you are feeling burned out from your experiences during the pandemic, take more time for you and let yourself renew! Set intentions to experience a “great reset” and make self-care a priority. Give yourself a pat on the back every so often. Do something to celebrate your small wins. Remind yourself each month of one thing you did in your work that was meaningful and fulfilling. Take time to reflect daily, weekly, and monthly. If you are struggling to think of something you did in your job that makes you proud, think about one lesson you learned, something you were able to turn around. What learning were you able to embrace? Take time to celebrate that.
Alumni Engagement:
Connecting with former classmates and other graduates provides opportunities for fun, friendship and community!
Staying in touch with friends from the various schools that we’ve attended is one way to stay engaged. Many schools have an alumni office that you can contact to find out more information and explore ways to stay engaged. As a dual citizen (Canadian & American), I feel more engaged when I connect to friends in both Canada and the USA. During the pandemic, I reconnected with a few friends that I went to school with in Connecticut. I also reached out the alumni office at Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I had a great experience there in 12th grade and it was fun to connect virtually with the staff from the alumni office. I updated my information, got back on the newsletter email list, and found the contacts of some of my former classmates. I also had the opportunity to be interviewed for their blog and the alumni newsletter. For a link to the interview, click here.
Universities and Colleges provide a variety of opportunities to stay engaged. The University of Toronto is a great example of a higher education institution that provides amazing alumni engagement opportunities. As a U of T graduate, we are connected to a global network of U of T students and alumni, faculty and staff, collaborators and friends. Graduates can join an alumni group, explore events and programs, and continue to get involved. For more info on the U of T alumni networks, click here.
If you want to stay engaged as an alum, you can also check out the various websites for the specific areas that you studied. For example, as an alumna of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), I stay connected by going to the Alumni and Friends community website. It’s a diverse network of professionals, leaders and changemakers who are making an impact in the world of education and beyond. There’s options to sign up for the newsletter, get involved with programs and events, follow social media updates, subscribe to videos, reconnect with former classmates, meet other alum and continue to expand connections. During the pandemic, I enjoyed reaching out to my former classmates from the OISE Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education. The friendships and support networks that we developed during our MEd continue. From taking a look at each other’s resume and providing constructive critique to sharing our goals, plans and dreams for the future. We also take time to celebrate each other’s accomplishments and share updates related to life beyond work. For my BPHE classmates from U of T, we have a Facebook page set up and it was fun to share photos in celebration of our 25 year reunion this year.
Student Engagement:
Participating in learning opportunities helps keep us motivated, curious, and excited about life. If we are experiencing fatigue, a great way to get back our energy is to learn something new. Learning has a positive effect on our well-being. It helps us stay curious and engaged, exposes us to new ideas, and gives us a sense of accomplishment. Learning can also improve our self-confidence. We can all be a “student of life” even if we are not in school. The key is to keep learning new things.
If you are going to school right now, remind yourself that learning can take place beyond your academic courses. Meaningful education can happen both inside and outside the classroom and virtual courses. When completing a formal degree at a university or college, engagement differs from involvement as it directly links to desired educational outcomes and improvement in student learning. Feeling engaged within the campus community or feeling engaged in virtual programs beyond academic courses helps support student well-being and academic success.
You can learn a new sport, take a dance class, or learn to sing. Participating in physical activity and recreational opportunities can provide opportunities to meet new friends, create support networks, and enjoy life. Joining a club, practicing mindfulness with other students, or working out with friends can also support the student experience. Forming relationships with peers, staff, faculty, instructors, teachers and coaches helps develop a sense of belonging, and can help you feel integrated into the campus community culture, and feel more engaged. Students who experience a sense of belonging are more likely to be able to focus, manage stress, and experience positive learning.
While completing my MEd at the U of T Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, I wrote a paper on The Roles of Physical Activity and Health in Enhancing Student Engagement: Implications for Leadership in Post Secondary Education. Since the paper was published, student engagement opportunities have continued to evolve! Today there are many more virtual opportunities. These online options provide more accessible ways to engage. As we move towards post-pandemic life, in-person options to engage will likely expand along with the hybrid models that continue to embrace virtual learning.
Reflection & Action Steps:
What’s one new thing you might want to do to feel more engaged with life? You can engage in a new type of physical activity, engage with community in different ways, appreciate yourself more for the work that you’ve done, reach out to former classmates and friends, complete a new course or practice being a “student of life”, learn a new skill, explore new professional development opportunities, develop new connections, expand your support network, make time for those you care about, engage with nature, take time to reflect and connect to your own thoughts and feelings, and continue to nurture your relationships!
