Last week, as I travelled back to my parents I had a few moments of calm. Both the kids were asleep, the children’s songs were turned off and, apart from the background hum of the motorway, all was peaceful. The sun was shining on the bare winter trees and there was that beautiful haze that only comes in winter.

In the calm, I was struck by how my mind and body started to relax. Winter and Wonder encourages you to become aware of yourself and what you are feeling so instead of turning on the radio I chose to stay in the enforced stillness around me. It helped me to engage with myself and allowed me to focus on what I was thankful for. I noticed the little things, the beauty of the trees, the warmth of the sun on my face. It allowed me to think about something bigger than my to-do list or tiredness. And I was mindfully thankful.

This week, as we think about celebration, and particularly the theme of dance, you might be wondering how this can help your wellbeing. Especially if dancing isn’t your thing. Or the partying of the season is far from what you want to be doing just now.

Don’t worry, we won’t be enforcing dance on anyone in this week. But we do want to celebrate the three gifts that we believe dancing can bring to us:

Exercise in dancing produces endorphins which produce a positive feeling in your body
Dancing and celebrating often requires the removal of inhibitions. Even the best dancers need to risk. This is a vulnerable act which writers such as Brene Brown suggests are the keys to relationship.
Celebration is a good mindset to have as it enables us to see what we have in life, rather than what we’ve lost. It enables us to be “glass half full.”

This week, Winter and Wonder encourages us to make the choice to celebrate. Not to discount our current circumstances but to lift our eyes and minds beyond them for a few moments and celebrate the things that we have to be thankful for. And if as part of it we get to eat some cake [one of this week’s suggested activities] then I’m all for it!

You can download Winter and Wonder from the Space to Breathe website for the special winter price of £3.50 and join us in exploring what it looks like to look after our own wellbeing throughout this season.