Tag: mental health

Posted on in community, science of happiness, mental health, health and wellness, arts, ageing

A new prescription for better health in Canada

Heart with puzzle pieces

In November 2025, The Toronto Star ran an opinion piece called, “How the arts can help cure the loneliness epidemic. It’s called a social prescription and it’s catching on.”

Social prescribing is a relatively new philosophy and practice in health care. It involves health practitioners writing prescriptions for their patients to participate in social or physical activities, just like a prescription for traditional medicine.

Instead of asking, “what’s the matter with you?”, health care professionals ask, “what matters to you?” to prescribe activities that help patients build strong community connections improving their overall health.

The United Kingdom has been at the leading edge of social prescribing. In 2023, doctors in the UK wrote more than one million social prescriptions for patients to participate in social, cultural and nature activities. These patients saw their doctors 40% less than the regular population saving the health care system $2,400 per person.

Social prescribing is starting to take off in Canada too. A University of Toronto researcher started the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing (CISP) in 2022 in response to the after effects of COVID-19. A national organization anchored by the Canadian Red Cross, it connects people and practices, shares knowledge and gathers data to influence policies to strengthen health and community care. There’s even a Social Prescribing Day in Canada (March 19) and week, filled with lectures and events.

I have to confess when I first read about social prescribing, I was a bit put out. Have we really come to a point where we need to rely on health care professionals to tell us to get out of the house and get active or be social? There is enough strain on the health care system already. I’m pretty sure my doctor has better things to do than discuss whether signing up for a watercolours class, drum circle or swimming lessons would improve my mental or physical health.

Some of these programs however can be expensive, even cost prohibitive for individuals. One solution is for insurance companies to offer a certain amount of coverage each year ($200-$400) as part of their benefits program for employees to participate in these types of programs, similar to the amounts allocated for physio, massage and chiropractic services.

Another solution is for employers as part of their health and wellness offerings to subsidize these programs. It’s not as crazy as you think. Good employers now offer a wide array of perks or provide financial support for programs and services that contribute to their employees’ wellbeing, such as gym memberships, fitness equipment, and educational courses.

As someone who writes, I was interested to find out that one of the organizations CISP has partnered with is the Writers Collective of Canada, which runs between 20-30 free workshops a week in major cities across Canada.

I can attest to the great value, friendship and social connection I’ve discovered through the writer’s and badminton groups I belong to through the Kingston Seniors Association.

And it’s not just seniors who can benefit from social prescribing. According to CISP, social prescribing can result in 3,900 fewer cases of adolescent depression and 3,500 years of additional schooling completed by Canadian youth aged 15-17 experiencing signs of depression.

This week’s #HappyAct is to sign up for a new activity and write your own prescription for happiness–give your doctor the day off.

Posted on in health and wellness, mental health, money, relationships, science of happiness

Feeling anxious? Try this simple technique to clear your mind

Two circles showing the things you have control over, and the things you don't

It’s an anxious world we live in. According to Anxiety Canada, 1 in 4 Canadians suffer from anxiety.

It’s normal to feel anxious sometimes. Anxiety can plague even the most positive of people. But for some, especially people who struggle with positive mental health or depression, it can become a death spiral.

What triggers anxiety can differ from person to person. Maybe it’s a job change, or the feeling of being stuck in your job. It could be worrying about money, or feeling unhappy in a relationship. I think most people are experiencing some degree of anxiety seeing what’s happening in the world today.

Recently, someone shared with me this simple five-step technique to clear your mind and be in the moment when you are feeling anxious. Focus on

  • 5 things you can see
  • 4 things you can hear
  • 3 colours
  • 2 things you can smell
  • 1 positive feeling

Finish by taking three deep breaths.

I’ve always found this graphic of two circles helpful as well. There are many variations of this graphic–this one is geared towards teenagers, but I’ve seen the same concept in corporate circles when trying to help employees through change. The first circle is everything happening in the world that you have no control over. The second circle is things you have direct control over. When your brain is feeling overwhelmed, remember the two circles and focus on the things in your life you can control.

This week’s #HappyAct is to try this simple technique the next time you’re feeling anxious.

Ed. note: This five-step technique is often referred to as a grounding technique focusing on the five senses. I prefer this variation. Studies show that anxiety plagues women more than men. If your anxiety is getting in the way of living, talk to your doctor.

Posted on in health and wellness, mental health, science of happiness

Find your happiness sweetspot in 2026

sign saying The Happiness Sweetspot

It’s a New Year and as always, I wish you my loyal readers, much joy, success and most of all happiness in 2026.

One thing I’ve learned after blogging about happiness for more than a decade is we don’t always know what we want or need to do to be happier. We get caught up in the daily hamster wheel of cooking, cleaning, going to work, taking our kids to activities or rushing out to our own commitments leaving us feeling drained, exhausted and defeated. Or worse, we suffer from a general malaise, where it’s hard to see the happy in our lives.

So in the spirit of the eternal optimism a new year brings, here is a simple little exercise to help you discover what actions to take this year to be happier. I call it the Happiness Sweetspot Table.

  1. On a blank sheet of paper or in a spreadsheet, make a table with six columns across the top. In the first three columns, write
    • Things that make me happy
    • Importance (on a scale from 1-5, 5 being most important to you)
    • Frequency (on a scale from 1-5, 5 being you do them frequently and 1 being you do them rarely)
  2. In the next three columns, do the same for Things that make me unhappy
  3. Start filling out the Things that make me happy and Things that make me unhappy columns. Examples could include playing a favourite sport, spending time with friends, spending time in nature, playing guitar, etc. Try to be specific as possible. Examples of things that make you unhappy could include commuting, eating alone, cleaning the house, a volunteer commitment, etc.
  4. Next, rank how important and how frequently you do each activity on a scale from 1-5.
  5. Multiply the importance and frequency columns to get a total score for each activity.
  6. Add one final column at the end called “Things I’ve Always Wanted to Do/Try but never made time for”.
  7. Analyze your list. Your table should look something like this.
Table ranking things that make you happy

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  1. What items received the highest score on the unhappy list and how can you reduce or eliminate them? For instance, if you hate cleaning the house, can you lighten up on the cleaning or afford a housekeeper once a month?
  2. What items on your happy list did you rank highest for importance but lowest for frequency. How can you make time for these going forward?
  3. What surprised you?
  4. What items did you add to the things you’ve always wanted to do but never made time for? What’s stopping you?

Try to be introspective and as brutally honest with yourself. While we all enjoy watching Netflix, ask yourself does it truly make you happy, or is it just a default for something to do on a cold winter night? If it doesn’t make you happy or unhappy, leave it off the list. The goal is to identify the things in your life that give you the most joy and fulfillment and the things that are acting as a drag on your happiness.

Of course, it isn’t an exact science. If you ranked “playing golf” as a 5 for importance, but 1 for frequency because it’s January, for an overall score of 5, that may not reflect how much golf makes you happy. Feel free to adjust the numbers, but also maybe think outside the box. Play some indoor golf this month, or book a golf trip if you can afford it.

Finally, identify two to three specific actions you can take this year to do more of what makes you happy, and less of what makes you unhappy. For instance, if you discovered that eating alone makes you unhappy and you eat alone seven nights a week, see if any of your friends are interested in starting a rotating potluck supper night one night a week, or suggest meeting a friend in the park for lunch once the weather gets nice.

This week’s #HappyAct is to discover your happiness sweetspots. May 2026 be your happiest year yet.

Posted on in ageing, family, mental health, retirement, work

Retirement: a man’s perspective

Man with a big fish

Special guest blog by Dave Swinton

Retirement has been a difficult transition for me. I’m coming up on two years now and I still haven’t adjusted as well as some people do. I was sitting this afternoon, watching the rain pelt against the window obscuring a grey fall transition to winter, when it hit me.

Nobody needs me anymore.

I was always in middle management in my career. Always giving vague direction and punishing people for not reading my mind as the old Dilbert cartoon used to read. My specialty was putting out fires. People came to me looking for answers and I tried my best to write a plan on a cocktail napkin and hope it worked well enough to fool my superiors. 

My days were an endless mix of planning, timesheets, scheduling, maintenance and finding the best ways to get the most out of each and every person who worked for me. I loved being needed at work even if I didn’t always love the work itself. Fast forward two years later and the only decisions I have to make are which trail to walk the dog on and what we are having for supper. Work doesn’t need me anymore.

My kids certainly don’t need me either. Both are out living their lives, one almost finished university (so proud) and looking at where she will end up next, the other knee-deep studying whatever biochemistry is. Except for rare conversations about new musical groups (Red Clay Strays and Tyler Childers) and the odd supper, they are completely and utterly embracing their own lives. No more rides to a remote hockey rink on a snowy winter road, no more conversations asking for advice on relationships. They don’t need me anymore.

Honestly the only person who even tolerates me is my life partner. Truthfully, I think if she had to pick between me and the dog, we all know who would win. Bookending Monday badminton and Tuesday line dancing is Friday writing groups and Saturday stock sport tournaments. She has embraced retirement with gusto and I am glad for this. She doesn’t need me anymore.

All the influencers talking about retirement being the golden age should have their heads examined. For some, retirement is a time to worry, to wander aimlessly trying to find direction and meaning in their lives, all the while wondering if their investments will support them until they leave this earthly abode. 

I know that some of you are saying to yourself, what does he have to whine about? Lives on a lake, semi-good looking, gorgeous wife, yada, yada, yada but for some, myself included, the emptiness from not being needed outweighs all aspects in life.

Tread well into retirement my friends, sometimes it’s not all as advertised.

And if you see a white Dodge Cummins diesel with a 30-foot trailer rolling down the 401 at a buck twenty, festooned with Kingston BMW logos on it, know that someone is still depending on me to deliver a car that is worth more than my last annual salary. I guess someone still needs me……….

More on retirement

Posted on in global relations, mental health, Technology and social media

Hit delete

Picture of globe and words "Delete one thing from Earth that you think would make it better"

I read a post on Twitter the other day that asked if you could delete one thing from earth that would make it better, what would you delete?

As always with the internet, the answers were fascinating and insightful.

Three old men destroying the world with pictures of Putin Trump and Netanyahu
Mosquito biting a man
Evolution of man saying "Go back we fucked up everything"
Woody and Buzz from Toy Story saying "Assholes, Assholes, Everywhere"

Some people said racism, social media, war, hatred.

Still more: fossil fuels, lies, nuclear weapons, cell phones.

One person said, “The necessity of money to survive”.

I laughed at the guy who said, “Beers, I’ve been trying to delete them one at a time.”

It made me wonder, if you could delete one thing from your own life, what would it be?

Posted on in arts, entertainment, health and wellness, humour, mental health, science of happiness

A funny thing happened on the way to my improv class

Group of people from improv class

Special guest post by Jon Begg

Our bus hit a polar bear. Someone was giving the bear CPR and my head was stuck in its jaws and no one was helping me. Seriously.

Fear. Absolute fear. How did I get myself into this situation?

Well, I signed up for it, a Level One improv class at the Tett Centre in Kingston.

I was a longtime fan of Whose Line is it Anyway so when I saw the ad for improv classes pop up on my Facebook feed I thought ‘Why not’?

I sent the payment, put all the dates on my calendar, told my wife I would be busy Tuesday nights, poured myself a tall glass of red wine and thought to myself “What have I done….?’

The class will probably be filled with quick-thinking Queen’s students… and me. I’m almost 62. I forget people’s names, I can’t think of the right word now and then, I never remember where I put my wallet and keys and the list goes on.

Now I’m going to be put in odd situations with people I don’t know, with no prep time, and have to make a 3-4 minute scene flow seamlessly by blurting what comes to mind first! “Don’t think” they tell you, the gold is what comes out first. Oh, and it helps if you get a few laughs along the way. No pressure at all.

It turns out there was no pressure.

I wasn’t the oldest in the class which for some reason made me feel good.

And there was laughter. Every class. We laughed with others and we laughed at ourselves.

Reader’s Digest had a section called Laughter is the Best Medicine. Turns out it’s true. Laughter is a wonderful thing. Studies around the world have shown laughter boosts immunity, lowers stress hormones, decreases pain, relaxes your muscles, and can help prevent heart disease. Those are just the physical benefits. Mentally, laughter eases anxiety, tension and stress, and can improve your mood. It checked a lot of boxes for me.

Improv was a great way for me to challenge myself, but more importantly, a great way to laugh at myself and at others sweating it out on stage!

For two hours a week I gave no thought to divisive politics, inflation, how to survive retirement, or the long list of social issues we hear about on our daily news feeds. I just laughed. I highly recommend it.

I hope that polar bear is doing okay.

Jon Begg

Jon Begg is a communications specialist, husband, father, grandfather, and fisherman who’s been telling jokes and laughing all his life.

Posted on in mental health, nature, science of happiness

Rainy day people

Girl walking on the beach in the rain

It feels like it’s been raining cats and dogs and elephants this spring. The grass and yellow dandelions in the yard are a foot high, the plants from the garden centre sit shivering in our driveway, and muddy shoes lay strewn across the front porch caked with mud. Everyone I talked to is fed up with the rain.

It begs the question, how does rain affect our happiness and mood?

Rain can make some people sad or depressed. We can’t (or won’t) get outside to do the things we enjoy which puts a damper on our mood. This is true and well-documented for people who are more prone to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in the winter months. Lack of sunlight decreases the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter proven to help regulate anxiety, happiness, and mood.

But you may be surprised to learn rain can have a positive impact on our mental health and happiness and there are some of us who love the rain. They even have a name: pluviophiles. For these people, rain can be rejuvenating, calming, and restorative. Let’s dive into the science.

When it rains, negative ions are released. These are odourless, invisible molecules which are created in moving water. When it rains and water hits a hard surface, the drops break up and pick up a charge. If it is a negative charge, it can generate electrons that can be picked up by molecules in the air, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, forming negative ions. Research on the effects of negative ions indicates they boost mood, relieve stress, and give us more energy.

Then there is the impact on our olfactory senses. The earthy scent after a rain has a name too. It’s called petrichor, from the Greek words petra, meaning “stone”, and ichor, meaning “the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods”. Petrichor includes a chemical called geosmin, which is made by bacteria in soil. Inhaling it can have a calming effect.

I personally love the sound of rain. On a rainy day, I’m quite happy to sit in my screen porch and listen to the steady drumming of the raindrops on our steel roof. Relaxation and meditation videos use the sound of rain and buildings include features such as artificial fountains and indoor waterfalls for their relaxing sounds and calming effects.

There are even benefits to the grey skies that come with rainy days. With less light, the body tends to produce more melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, helping you rest better. 

And yet we tend to be wet blankets when it comes to rain, hiding ourselves indoors until the stormy skies pass.

If you live on the West coast or in Great Britain, you make the best of the rain, dress for the weather and get on with your day.

I once spent six weeks in England and Scotland in November and December. It rained almost every day. That didn’t stop the intrepid Brits. The streets of London were bustling with shoppers, brollies in hand, and the parks were filled with young families with babies in strollers covered in plastic and little ones dressed in bright yellow and red raincoats, splashing in puddles.

Sure, there were days I was tired of the grey skies and panda-sized puddles on the slippery sidewalks, but I remember the wonderful feeling of coming in from the cold, and warming up with a hot cup of tea or enjoying a pint in a cozy pub with some friends.

This week’s #HappyAct is to become a pluviophile and get out for a walk in the rain. Time to go, I see the sun is starting to come out…

Related reading: Swimming in the rain (a poem)

Photo: Clare walking on the beach in the rain in South Carolina

Posted on in health and wellness, mental health, science of happiness

It’s okay to be sad

happy and sad face pictures

People don’t talk about being sad anymore. They talk about being unhappy, struggling with their mental health or being depressed, but they don’t talk about being sad.

It’s like the word has been eradicated from our vocabulary.

This is a dangerous and disturbing trend because it presupposes that when we are sad, we have an illness or problem, when sadness is a natural emotion.

The other day I asked a friend how they were doing after spending the first Christmas without their Mom. My friend naturally admitted there were times she was sad, missing her mother very much.

Last week, we dropped Clare off at the airport in Ottawa. We knew it would be the last time we would see her until spring, and I was very sad for a day or two, missing her terribly as we returned to a quiet, empty house.

Author and happiness researcher Helen Russell in “How to Be Sad” says that in order to be happy, you need to allow yourself to be sad sometimes, but most people are terrified of being sad.

Exacerbating the problem is society’s newfound hyper-focus on mental health. We are so focused on mental health that there is a propensity to self-diagnose a deeper issue or problem when we may just be in fact, experiencing temporary, normal sadness.

We are often sad when we experience grief or loss, all inescapable emotions in life. If we are sad, it is because we’ve been blessed to have held something dear and joyous.

For example, as a parent, it is hard to watch your child experience heartbreak, but if they are sad from having their heart broken, it means they have lived and loved, and sadness and heartbreak are all part of the process of loving and finding the right person.

So the next time you find yourself feeling a little down, remember it’s okay to be sad.

Posted on in health and wellness, mental health, retirement, work

The top 12 Happy Acts of 2024

Author at a work booth before their retirement

Another year of happy acts have come and gone. Here is my round-up of the top happy acts of 2024. Happy reading!

On climate change, work, and the world we live in

Inspiration and mental health

On parenting, retirement and my friend Harry

Posted on in inspiration, lifestyle, mental health

The Crap Joy Ratio

Penny Marshall quote, "If you're not having a good time, find something else that gives you some joy in life."

Sometimes you find inspiration in the least likely of places.

I often glance at the obituaries in my local newspaper. This morning, I was reading the obit from an accomplished doctor, Dr. Nicholas Evans. The caption under his photo read, “I have used my days well.”

He was Chief of Gastroenterology at The Toronto Western Hospital and a world leader in the research of the gut-brain interaction. What struck me the most was the majority of the column was devoted to his family and life outside of work. One paragraph in particular captured my attention.

His family wrote, “He shared his life-long belief in the ‘Joy/Crap’ ratio with generations of family, friends and colleagues in need of guidance. Everything in life can be distilled down to one simple question—does the crap outweigh the joy? If so, you have your answer, follow the joy, ditch the crap and change what you can to ensure the joy always outweighs the crap.”

So my friends, what is your crap/joy ratio? This week’s #HappyAct is to make one change to achieve a healthier ratio. Ditch the crap. Find the joy.

And if you need a smile, along the same vein of dealing with life’s crap: