The Importance of Exercise and Play for our body and minds...........

Hello Happiness Explorers! My name is Donna and I have been running the Chelmsford Happiness Project for a year now and it has been a very exciting journey! I started it after finishing my Advanced Diploma in Integrative Psychology, where I learnt and fell in love with Happiness Psychology :). I have always wanted to start a community group and thought an Action for Happiness Club would be perfect for me; what's more there wasn't one in the whole of Essex at the time, which was exciting! The first group meeting was in March 2014 and we all made Happiness Jars, while discussing the 10 keys for Happier Living . Since then, the group has lots of new members and over the past year, we have tried lots of FUN things - Basketball, Geo-caching, Forest Bathing and Yoga. Other highlights included a talk to 250 members of the Chelmsford 'New City' Woman's Institute on happiness (sharing the stage with my friend and founder of the Colchester Happiness Project). It was scary but I loved it and the feedback was amazing! I also created a happiness tent during Chelmsford's Fling Festival, where we encouraged people to pop in and take part in happiness activities. Check out my blog for lots of pictures and more info - https://wordpress.com/stats/chelmsfordhappinessproject.wordpress.com x The Chelmsford Happiness Project is now one of Psychologies Magazine's 100 Happiness Clubs! I was really excited about being a part of this, so CHP could connect with other clubs, share ideas, and grow. Most importantly I want CHP to be a part of this experiment to see how we can spread happiness................

For the March meet-up the Chelmsford Happiness Project had an Art Class and discussed the 'importance of relating with others' x

The world is being left un-noticed - we rush past the old oak tree, miss the sheep clouds in the sky, don't listen to the wood pigeon singing its song and feel the wind blow against our cheeks. We are too busy thinking about the shopping we need to buy and checking our phone for updates on all the amazing things everyone is doing on social media to notice. I am the worlds champion at this! I need to start cherishing life and taking the time to enjoy the moment! The key to taking notice of the world around us is 'mindfulness'. Mindfulness is often defined as "the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present" (Action for Happiness).

Take risks - educate yourself - find new skills - have fun - be more.