It’s a tough time for libraries, and people in customer service. And while we don’t want to veer into any toxic positivity, it is good to spend a little time focused on building your happiness level. We are not going to solve people’s serious mental issues here. But bringing some happiness skills to your week can be helpful to everyone!

Mondays can be a little hard, even when things are going fine. Use this small injection of a happiness skill to your week. We are here to support you, and to help you to be a little happier in the library.

Even with a deliberate focus on being happier at work, hard/bad/sad things will continue to happen. We can’t “happy” our way out of it all of our problems, unfortunately; but we can keep working on our resilience skills. Learning to be better able to let problems just roll away from us gives us more room to have happiness in our lives.

“Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based therapy approach that is problem-oriented and practical in providing people with long-term skills for mental health. This approach helps us understand how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are all inter-linked.

So, how do we “let go” and disentangle from these automatic negative thoughts? Below are three fun, science-based ways that can help us untangle from our automatic negative thoughts and shift to enjoying the holidays and reducing our stress. While we may still experience some stress, the idea is that our stress is more manageable and we are more mindful of when we need to pause and tune in.

• Noticing, labelling, and “BIH BOH”: Noticing some of our automatic negative thoughts and accompanying feelings, such as catastrophizing (“I’ve burnt the turkey; the entire dinner will now be ruined!”) plays a key role in managing our anxiety. By noticing these thoughts, we can catch ourselves before we spiral out of control.
• Let it be: Typically, when we encounter thoughts that we do not like, we may use some creative strategies to not think about these thoughts. Distraction is a common way to take our minds off unwanted and negative thoughts and feelings. Yet, a growing body of research shows the effectiveness of “letting go” of these thoughts in contributing to mental well-being. The ability to simply notice a thought and acknowledge, “I am having the thought that…” builds resilience.
• Mind-body connection: Tuning in and being mindful of not just our thoughts and feelings, but also how they are expressed in our body, is helpful in supporting both our mental and physical health.”

You can read the whole article here, to get more details!

CMLE can be part of your support network; we are here for you, and support you in your library work. Take a nice deep breath in, and whoosh it out; it’s going to be okay today.