January is the runt of the calendar litter. It’s most people’s least favourite month, coming as it does after the fun of the festive season, and smack in the middle of winter. If it were a film, it would be The Revenant – cold, depressing, and over-long
But January doesn’t have to be a low point and shouldn’t be. A quick change of mindset – a flip of attitude – and it becomes a time of renewal and purpose. A time to put the past to bed, look to the future and set intentions for the year ahead.
And there are lots of ways to feel better that don’t include an expensive new gym membership, coffee colonics or cold-pressed juice detoxes. Indeed, one of the simplest and most ineffective ways to banish the January blues is to be a bit kinder.
Happiness Fund – first grant giveaway
Knowing all this, Laughology has made it our New Year’s resolution to spread kindness and happiness in 2022. And we’re doing this with the Happiness Fund. A grant-giving fund to support grassroots, not-for-profit groups, and activities. It will help fund groups and projects that are designed to build happy, strong, resilient communities and that enable sustainable mental health, wellbeing, happiness, inclusion and learning and skills development.
And although the official launch of the Happiness Fund was in January, we couldn’t wait. So, we’ve already made our first kindness spreading donation, giving £500 to Truly Giving, a wonderful charity providing gifts to children in the UK from deprived and underprivileged homes who may be in care or hostels. The charity is a great example of the type of community project that the Happiness Fund aims to support.
Tell your community about how they can apply for a Happiness Fund
You can find out more about the Happiness Fund and how it can support projects in your community on the Laughology website. And even better, help us spread happiness by telling others. In doing so, you may brighten someone’s January and boost your own serotonin levels. All applicants will also benefit from some free publicity as we’ll endeavour to publicise each project through our online and social media channels, so there’s everything to gain by applying.
Projects will be chosen by our independent panel and the fund will award £2,500 per quarter – allowing up to four different projects per year to apply. But to be successful, applicants will need to indicate how the activity/group can become self-sustainable or able to attract funding from other sources over the longer term.
So, although January is the month when, inexplicably to my mind, people choose to deprive themselves of things thanks to Dry January and Veganuary. Consequently, it’s quite normal to feel a bit blue at the start of the year, when all you really want to do is sit on the sofa with a glass of wine and cheese toastie. You can boost happiness with kindness.
This isn’t a glib sentiment, science backs it up. Studies have found that acts of kindness are linked to increased feelings of wellbeing. Helping others can also improve our support and boost our self-esteem. It also helps us create, maintain and strengthen social connections.
Kindness boosts happiness
On a chemical level, being kind boosts serotonin and dopamine – neurotransmitters in the brain that give you feelings of satisfaction and wellbeing, and cause the reward centres in your brain to light up.
And in the meantime, here are some top tips for creating more kindness and happiness this month:
- Say thank you to someone who helped you in the past. Write them a letter and send it in the post. You’ll get feelings of joy writing it and they will when they open it.
- Pay for a stranger’s coffee or drink and leave a note asking them to pass it on. Simple acts like this spread kindness.
- Volunteer for a day at a charity close to you. You don’t have to spend money to be kind. Your time is just as valuable.
- Have a neighbour who lives alone round for dinner or bake them a cake they can eat at home if they’re being safe. A regular call will mean the world to them.
- Let someone know about the Happiness Fund. It’s free to apply and we’ll let others know about them too.
