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Hello friend! We want to thank you for participating in the Wellbeing and Resilience: Building a Better You program. We sincerely hope that you discovered something of value that's contributing to your sense of wellbeing in an ongoing way.

We received lots of great feedback on how to make the program better. One thing we heard LOUD AND CLEAR is that you would have liked more time to discuss the material and share your experiences during our Zoom sessions (rather than listen to us talk!). We agree. So we've been busy making significant changes to the program delivery. We're also making some adjustments to the program content and assignments. We truly hope these changes will make the program stronger for future participants. It is our goal to offer this program at regular intervals - not only to University of Mississippi employees but to anyone who works for an academic institution.

Over the past year, we've been busy creating an online community called the Wellbeing Elixir ... intended for like-minded people to learn more about the ingredients of wellbeing. We produce and send to members of the community a bi-monthly newsletter regarding a variety of constructs, strategies, and tactics from the positive psychology literature. We'd love to have you join and participate in our community! In addition to receiving our newsletter, you can post comments about the material and get access to some of our yoga videos (Seena is the star; Stuart does most of the behind-the-scenes production work). The Wellbeing Elixir is a work in progress. We hope to build a large library of materials that future program participants have access to through the website.

Here is a snippet of this month's blog essay that Stuart wrote entitled:

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Becoming Our Best Selves

As I get older, I periodically think about whether I'm living up to my full potential - becoming my best self. Is it something to be achieved? Is there some "endpoint" when you know you've arrived? In Buddhism, this transcendent state is called Nirvana. Paradoxically, if one strives to achieve Nirvana, it becomes more elusive. So, perhaps our best self is not something that is achieved but rather practiced every day.

At some point in your life, you've probably learned about Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which is often depicted as a pyramid that looks like this:

Most of us spend our young lives focusing our attention on and addressing these needs. If we're fortunate, we approach the top of the pyramid and begin the process of self-actualization .... READ MORE

Feel free to forward this email along to your work colleagues, family, and friend. Anyone can join our community - they do not need to be an employee of the University of Mississippi. All that we ask is that people have a sincere interest in learning how to develop themselves and have an open, curious mind.

Cheers-

Seena and Stuart

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Seena and Stuart Haines

Visit the Wellbeing Elixir website