Lublin 2016 – Appendix - Kultura Enter

Activities that help people feel well, fit and happy have been identified in a research commissioned by
the British government (Foresight Mental Capital and Well-Being, UK Government Office for Science
2008). The results of this research are mirrored in Five Ways to Well-Being.
• Connect. With people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work,
school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time
in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich your every day.
• Be active. Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes
you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level
of mobility and fitness.
• Take notice. Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing
seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends.
Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will
help you appreciate what matters to you.
• Keep learning. Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a
different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite
food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident
as well as being fun.
• Be generous. Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Give your time
to someone else. Join a group. Take notice of other people’s needs just as you notice yours. Seeing
your own happiness within a greater whole can give you an unbelievable satisfaction and build relationships
around you.
Cultural Development
Strategy
International medical, public health and sociological research shows that people who observe these rules
feel better and live longer. These rules seem easy to follow and their significance lies in the fact that
they have been scientifically proven to be of fundamental value for quality of life and life expectancy.
Participation in culture enables anyone to implement these recommendations in the easiest and most
stimulating way.
• Connect. Culture is a social activity. From the shared interests that bring people together to sports
clubs or a drama group to the collective experience of audiences in performances and festivals. Culture
furnishes sensations, tales and images that we can share, talk about and argue about.
• Be active. Sport is an obvious and very important way to promote healthy lifestyle; dance is even
more popular: from nightclubs to weddings, from folk dances to ballroom dancing; dance is always
an art form. But also walking through a city or a gallery, going out to concerts and taking part in
local celebrations - all these keep us fit and active.
• Take notice. Art observes - and questions - the world: it is all about noticing things, producing
experiences and sharing that with others. We capture special moments through poetry, photography,
and stories (and share them on Facebook and Flickr). We take part in private and public rituals
to mark symbolically the times that matter.
• Keep learning. Culture makes learning a pleasure, whether it’s the discovery of a new book that
you just have to share with a friend, fascination with new music, or learning the steps of a new dance.
To express yourself in culture, we constantly and almost involuntarily improve our soft and hard
skills that, if taken as a theory or an educational program, would not be that appealing.
• Be generous. Culture is both priceless and worthless. A picture, book or a music album have little
usefulness compared with a loaf of bread or piece of clothing, although they can be traded (thus developing
the creative economy sector). Pieces of art are only carriers or traces of what really matters
- the human experience of art, shared with others, unique and unrepeatable and, in a profound
sense, as much a gift as life itself.
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