Happy Growth – How do we take care of each other so that our “happiness” grows? I must say that the problem of mental health is a very big issue nowadays. No matter what level of data, it all indicates the same thing. And it became even clearer when the Covid situation worsened. Whoever you turn to, they all complain about their increasing stress. And the pain points of working-age people are becoming more apparent.
For example, in China, couples have a higher divorce rate because working from home during COVID-19 has intruded on their personal space, and couples have to shoulder additional burdens, both working from home and taking care of their parents or children. They can’t go out, and they can’t change their routine, which adds to the pressure.
Although COVID is gradually easing, working at this time is not always smooth. There are problems of burnout, Gen Gap, or suffering from relationships or communication. Therefore, the happiness of working-age people these days may not be just about compensation and benefits or potential development. Taking care of the minds of working-age people cannot be done in the same way anymore.
Many people have probably heard of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, or the Health Promotion Foundation, which is an organization whose mission is to directly develop people’s health. In such a changing and volatile situation, how does the Thai Health Promotion Foundation take care of its employees? This post has the answer.
Add self-care tools to understand yourself and those around you.
Ms. Sirinpa Sathanprachan, Director of Human Resources Management, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, said that Thai Health Promotion Foundation works to promote holistic health, including physical, mental, social, and intellectual health. Thai Health Promotion Foundation people therefore have an eye for all four dimensions and have tried to develop these through various processes so that people can work efficiently and happily.
In addition to developing potential and expertise in the work, it is also necessary to develop soft skills that will help strengthen the ability to understand oneself and others. And since the main work of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation itself is an organization that promotes well-being for other organizations, it must strengthen this issue from within.
The Spiritual Journey project is an example of a project that ThaiHealth has been working with its network partners since last year to strengthen the aforementioned mindset and is part of holistic healthcare for employees. It started with a survey of employees’ internal states, which found that amid the COVID situation, employees were burned out, had problems with relationships, teamwork, lacked motivation, and lacked life goals. Therefore, we worked with the Intellectual Health Network to develop mental health tools into various activities for employees to vote on and choose to participate according to their preferences, such as listening with the heart, arranging flowers and hearts, meeting friends with the heart, taking a break and being aware, watching movies and listening to the heart, and Spiritual Cafe’, where we talked about life and the mind.
After the event, there will be a time for employees to talk, exchange ideas, and learn from others’ experiences to reinforce the perspectives and tools for taking care of the mind that have been gained from the activities, with an emphasis on applying them to everyday life, both personal and work.
Change starts with seeing yourself.
Dr. Sorayuth Ratanapojanath from the Volunteer Bank elaborated that everyone wants to change, to be a better person, to do a better job, but they don’t like anyone telling them to. They want to change by themselves. That’s the nature of people. Making them reflect on themselves through seeing themselves to change themselves is the duty of those who take care of employees, such as HR, who must find a way and perform their duties to create opportunities like this. They should do it in a way that integrates everything into their lives because today’s world needs working-age people to take care of themselves more, including their personal lives, work, parents, children, family, and society as a whole. Therefore, when the tools chosen for use should provide results in many aspects at the same time.
The Spiritual Journey project activities that ThaiHealth has given as examples are fun activities and, more than just fun, they also give us tools. When we can do it, people will be able to apply it in their own lives. Importantly, the person who leads the activity, or what is called a facilitator, must embody this matter, meaning have the ability to take care of their own minds as well. When it’s time to share knowledge, it’s not like a lecture, but rather using oneself to share knowledge and experiences that people with these characteristics are the ones who are happy.
Open your mind, learn, put the old things aside.
Most of the activities of installing the tools for taking care of the heart are direct experiences where everyone does the same activities, such as watching the same movies, doing the same volunteer work, listening to the same songs. However, the experiences and perspectives that each person has are different. When we talk and exchange ideas, we can see lessons from other people, even those we like or those we don’t. They will have their own good lessons, which may be good lessons for us as well. It makes us see humanity closer. Importantly, we have to open our minds, learn, and put the old things aside. In the end, we will find the important tool, which is ourselves.
These activities not only enhance intellectual well-being, but also improve relationships among people in the organization. Many times, problems in organizations arise from poor communication. Anyone can join these activities, whether they are bosses, subordinates, employers, or employees. This creates love and care for each other, leading to productivity at work, as well as a sense of community, employ engagement, job satisfaction, and even marketing. It’s like doing one job but answering many questions. Although it’s similar to recreational activities, it helps employees find their optimum point or balance between body, mind, society, and intelligence. This is a personal matter. Each person must find it within themselves in order to take care of themselves.
The secret is to come back and be aware of what’s right in front of you.
If something bad happens today, where should we start? How?
Dr. Sorayuth explains a simple way that all working people can take care of themselves, which is to come back and be aware of what is right in front of them. Believe it or not, one of the easiest ways is to drink water because most people tend to drink water in front of them, meaning to finish drinking water in order to go to work or do something else, or to wash their hands, they wash their hands in order to go do something, which is washing their hands in front of them, not washing their hands here, right now, or washing their hands in order to wash their hands.
In fact, if we drink water to drink water, wash hands to wash hands, it will help us relax immediately because we have already let go of all our worries at that moment. This seems like a small thing, but it is very miraculous, like a hair covering a mountain. Each person has their own way, whether it is doing art, volunteering, moving the body. No matter what you do, just come back to be aware of what is in front of you. You may find that that is our path to relaxation. When you find it, and do it continuously, you will return to your own balance point.
Join the happiness network and grow together.
Finally, Ms. Sirinpa added about the latest tool of Thai Health Promotion Foundation that allows employees to “assess their intellectual well-being” with a 38-question questionnaire that has been researched by experts to allow employees to reflect and review themselves in terms of their emotional state, thoughts, and behaviors. The organization also received information to continue working, including this year, adding a variety of activities. Last year, which focused on online activities, this year, there are also on-site activities to allow people to meet more face-to-face.
In addition, the Happy Growth project invites various organizations to join the network with Thai Health Promotion Foundation to help working-age people grow from the inside out by developing intellectual well-being for a happy life and work, using activities/tools of Thai Health Promotion Foundation and network partners, including intellectual well-being assessments, activities (workshops), and various tools, with the hope of creating a network of happiness organizations.
#Happiness is growing #ThaiHealth #LifeTalk #HappyGrowth #Decoding the happiness of working people
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LIFE TALK HAPPY GROWTH : Taking care of modern workers who can no longer do things the old way.
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