DOES SOMEONE NEED CLANGERS?
Eight steps to a happy mind and body
AS A CHILD, I was captivated by the Clangers, a community of pink moon mice who spoke in whistles, ate sensible portions of soup served by a dragon and lived a gentle life built around friendship, experimentation, collaboration and compassion. Their inventor and narrator, Oliver Postgate, was one of the voices of my childhood. The slow stopframe photography made us use our imagination and the stories were wonderfully inventive.
The Clangers are all just a little overweight but comfortable in their skin. They wear handmade clothes and are not tortured by the need to be fashionable. The Blue Planet is mercifully free from the constant comparison and envy that aggressive advertising and social media bring. There’s no self-harm or eating disorders, no ownership, hate or Brexit. Everyone gets the soup and sustenance they need. In one episode, Vote For Froglet, Postgate introduces the Clangers to the concept of party politics, which they reject as pointlessly adversarial and lacking in generosity of spirit. How I love the Clangers.
My eureka moment was when I realised Clangers is an acronym for the things we need to do each day to live a happier life: Connect, Learn, (be) Active, Notice, Give back, Eat well, Relax and Sleep. It’s a bold claim, but I believe this lifestyle is better for you than all the drugs in the world. If enough of us managed our Clangers, and helped others to do theirs, it might even help save the NHS.
CONNECT with the world around you. Human beings are social animals. Reach out to people, pets, plants, places and the planet. These connections are the cornerstones of our life, so nurture them. Disconnection and loneliness can be as bad for us as 15 cigarettes a day. I recently got all my audience members to hug the people on either side of them. A man came up to me after the show and thanked me. ‘That’s the only hug I’ve had all year,’ he said. And don’t forget to connect with yourself. Are you happy in your skin? Can you enjoy your own company? Can you disappear inside your own head and not mind what you find there? People who like their own company like being on their own sometimes. You have space to think, reflect, explore and relax.
LEARN A passion and purpose in life often stems from learning about what matters most to you, developing a passion for learning and keeping your curiosity alive. For the last 10 years I’ve done a radio show for BBC Bristol, interviewing inspirational local people who connect, teach and inspire me. Recently I was debating why humans are so good at lying to other people, and whether the real purpose was to lie to ourselves. We edit our memories and social media pages to present a version of ourselves we want others to see and ourselves to believe. A zoologist guest then told me how good capuchin monkeys are at lying. Like humans, the monkeys have a language and like humans, they don’t always share treats. If one monkey is outside in the cold and the others are inside in the warm, and a researcher gives it a treat like mango, it will shout ‘Cabbage!’ to the others. The monkeys in the warm think, ‘I’m not going outside just for some cabbage!’ and so the lying monkey gets to eat all of the mango. But here’s the really clever bit. He then pees on his hands to take away the smell of the mango, so the other monkeys won’t beat him up. If a monkey can be so splendidly deceptive, we shouldn’t be surprised that we humans spend so much time peeing on our hands, metaphorically speaking.
ACTIVE people rediscover activities and passions they left behind, and have the courage to try new ones. Aim for five portions of fun a day for mind and body, each different, at least one outdoors and one that involves getting pleasantly breathless. Physical activity is better for us than any drug, and let’s not forget the power of pets. Unless you’ve got a red-flag symptom of something serious, you may be better off with a dog than a doctor. Dogs give you unconditional love. If you hug a dog it reduces your blood pressure. They can also reduce your cholesterol (by eating your food). Dogs look you in the eye (not even your husband does that) and keep looking at you until you take them out for a walk. You get exercise, the beautiful outdoors and friendship from other owners. And you can wrestle on the carpet with a dog without getting arrested. When did you have that much fun with a doctor?
EAT WELL Learn what’s good and enjoyable to eat, and in what quantities. Learn how to grow it, where to buy it and how to prepare it. Set aside time to eat with friends and family. Your body really likes fruit and veg – the more variety the better. I add in nuts, seeds, wholegrains, olive oil, sustainable fish, lean meat, dark chocolate and sensible amounts of wine and real ale. Cut down on sugary snacks and drinks, and processed food.
NOTICE, and be present in, the world around you. Fill up your senses. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Enjoy the everyday. Savour the moment, and your place in it. Life is a balance of being and doing. The older and wiser we get, the more we realise that most of the pleasure in life comes from just being. Notice how lovely your partner or children are without judging or diagnosing them. Simply slowing down and focusing on your breathing for 10 minutes a day can pay huge dividends. Fill up your lungs to their fullest extent. Then slowly let it all out.
RELAX Take time to rest and reflect on the day you’ve had, reliving and re-savouring the happy memories and having gratitude for friends and family. Learn to meditate. Be kind to your mind and let it wind down and declutter. My Uncle Ron used to have a sitting room that was just for sitting. At the end of the day he would relive happy little things that had happened during the day and be grateful for the love he had in his life. I used to think he was crazy, but I now know he was practising positive psychology. Our brains are neuro plastic, which means what we focus on is what grows. So if we learn to relive happy moments and have gratitude for the good things, it can actually make us happier.
GIVE BACK Helping and caring for friends, strangers and those less fortunate than ourselves is fundamental to good emotional health. It cements us as part of a community and develops more meaningful connections and insights. A friend of mine overheard a dad telling a waiter in a Glasgow hotel that his son was having chemotherapy in the nearby hospital, and that he was going to shave his head in solidarity so they would both be bald when they came down to breakfast. He wanted to warn the waiters, so they didn’t feel uncomfortable. The head waiter said he would pass the message on. When the father and son walked into the restaurant, they looked around and saw that every single waiter had shaved his head. The joy of being human is to be humane.
SLEEP Don’t cheat on sleep. It’s vital recovery time for mind and body. Relaxing and winding down beforehand is key, as is cutting back on caffeine after lunch. Sleep is like the antivirus software on a computer. It clears out all the clutter. Too much and it is no longer refreshing. Too little and we can suffer what’s known as sleep stupidity. Blue light wakes you up, so if you must take your phone or tablet to bed, listen to relaxing music but don’t look at the screen. Finding out on Snapchat that Wayne is going out with Marlene can wait until the morning. The blue light and excitement will be sure to wake you up.