December’s calendar from Action for Happiness is all about small actions you can take to improve your own happiness levels while offering support and help to those around you.
And while many of us are inclined to be as generous with our time and money as we possibly can at this time of year, that inclination can also be overwhelming. So, it can be really helpful to have some ready-made suggestions available for when we need them. You can even add them to your Google Calendar.
Image description: The December 2025 Action for Happiness Calendar. Each day of the month lists a different December Kindness to try – a small action like “Look for something positive to say to everyone you speak to” or “Say hello to your neighbour and brighten up their day.” Each calendar block is either blue or green and the bottom of the calendar features cartoon images of some of the suggested activities including things like helping someone carry something upstairs, or picking up litter.
So, go ahead, try a few, try them all, or make up your own list of small ways to do good throughout December.
As a sidenote, I’ll be back with daily “Making Space 2025” posts starting on December 1 so you can use this calendar for prompts to be kind to others and my posts as prompts to be kind to yourself all month.
It may not be easy but it will be straightforward.
This video, entitled “Giving is a Gift” features Vanessa King from Action for Happiness. In this still image, she is sitting on the left hand side and the title of the video is in red on the right hand side. Ms. King has shoulder-length light brown hair, she is wearing a red jacket with a black shirt under it, and she has long earrings that are 3 stacked stars. She is smiling and looks happy. There is a narrow table with vases and other decorative items on it in the background.
Usually, it occurs to me to share the Action for Happiness calendar once the month has already started but, for once, I have remembered to share it in advance.
You may even have time to plan!
I always really like the ‘small’ steps approach outlined in these calendars and I am slowly, slowly, slowly learning not to try and ‘catch up’ if I miss a day. I hope you can do the same or even just pick a few things to try here and there.
I also enjoy how Active April invites us to take action for our own happiness AND reminds us that being more active can help boost our mood and our feeling of well-being.
And, to be clear, suggesting that we seek these small moments of well being is not about being in denial of the state of the world right now. Instead, it is part of fortifying ourselves so we can do the necessary work of supporting our communities and resisting evil.
image description: a calendar of daily suggestions for Active April. The blocks are in different shades of blue and green and there are cartoon images of people doing a variety of activities around the edge.
An embedded video of Vanessa King from Action for Happiness entitled ‘No Happiness Without Action: 3 top tips with Vanessa King.’ The still image shows Vanessa Kind, a middle aged woman with shoulder length hair and bangs smiling toward the camera.
By the way, if you are looking for other things to try/celebrate/do in April, check out the list here of national days, weeks, and month celebrations here: National Days in April.
For all the challenges that my ADHD throws my way, there are some benefits that come from having this particular brain-wiring.
For example, I enjoy making good use of my contextual thinking, I like the creative sparks and ideas that fly off in all directions, I’m happy with the string of connections that bring me to unusual solutions and, best of all, I like that my loose sense of time contributes to my hearty dose of optimism.
That loose sense of time can present some difficulties – I take on too much, I can’t always tell how long things will take, and I can lose track of how long it has been since I last worked on a given project.
BUT
That same flexible sense of time often means that, for me at least, it feels like there are a lot of possibilities open. I generally feel very optimistic that things will get better and that, even if I am having trouble right now, some future me will be better able to handle things.*
Now, before you picture me decked out in red curls with a little dress just made for curtsying, I’m not Annie. I’m not over here brightsiding myself and other people and you will never catch me singing ‘The sun’ll come out tomorrow!’ at you when things are challenging. (I’m much more of a ‘Yes, that sucks. I’m sorry that’s happening to you. Do you need to vent or are you in solutions-mode?’ kind of person)
And when I say ‘I live in hope’, I never mean that I sit around *waiting* for things to improve, my optimism isn’t empty. But my default setting is to assume that things will get better so I keep working in that direction.
So when I say I’m all in for Optimistic October with Action for Happiness, I mean it.
Image description: An image of a multicoloured calendar for Optimistic October from Action for Happiness with a tip for each day. The calendar blocks are in various shades of yellow, orange, pink, and red, with cartoon images around the edge. The image includes a small plant, a person on a hike, a book, a sneaker, a banana, an apple, and a very small person holding a huge sign with the image of the earth on it.
Optimism – believing in a positive future and taking steps to make that future happen- is a good strategy for feeling happier overall and I like how Action for Happiness makes it a bit easier to shift yourself towards optimistic thinking and a little extra happiness.
I especially like how this month’s calendar starts out with the suggestion that you identify three things to look forward to. What a great way to practice optimism and to savour something fun in advance.
Even though my base level of optimism is quite high, I will be trying the tips for Optimistic October.
And I hope you’ll join me for whichever ones feel doable for you. I think your brain might like it!
Still image description: a video from the Action for Happiness YouTube channel. The video is called ‘Building Optimism and Hope: 3 top tips with Vanessa King.’ The still image shows King, a white-appearing woman with blonde hair cut in a shoulder-length bob, from the shoulders up. She is in a sunlit room with plants and flowers behind her.
*Yes, this sometimes backfires on me when it turns out that future me is the same as past me but I’m learning to figure out when it’s a good idea to assign something to future me and when it is better for current me to do it.
I live in an urban neighbourhood, a 45 minute walk or 15 minute bike ride from Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital. It’s not a place I would expect to see a lot of wildlife, but I do.
Cormorants, green and great blue herons live at my local swimming holes. I hear and see woodpeckers, bats, ravens, cardinals, blue jays and many smaller birds. My back yard is full of fireflies. Occasionally I run into wild turkeys. I have even seen foxes and deer while out on walks. This year, people are being encouraged to plant gardens that will attract butterflies, and it seems to be working. I have seen both yellow and black swallowtails for the first time in 30 years living here.
Wild turkeys on my neighbour’s front yard, Canada Geese and their goslings, yellow swallowtail butterfly, black swallowtail butterfly, a red fox walking along a road, deer on a pathway in a wooded area. All photos are my own, taken within walking distance of my house.
I only see and hear these things when I’m out walking or riding my bike. It’s an aspect of active transportation we don’t talk about much, but it does get mentioned in this presentation on Nature and Mental Health, which is full of information and ideas for families, educators, employers, architects and policy makers.
It didn’t have any suggestions on how to convince these raccoons that they were not allowed to join me on my bicycle.
Five baby raccoons in a yard with lawn furniture and the back end of my bicycle.
I love the monthly calendars from Action for Happiness and my ADHD brain appreciates having a series of small tasks that will contribute to my happiness already chosen for me.
After all, on a given day, I can always choose whether I have time to do that particular task.
I particularly like this month’s theme – Meaningful May – because, like everyone, my sense of purpose really contributes to my happiness.
This month’s calendar is below. Even if you don’t want to follow day by day, why not pick a task or two and boost your well-being?
A brightly coloured calendar from Action for Happiness that has a tip for a meaningful activity to do each day in May. The edges of the image are decorated with cartoon drawings of people and activities.
And, as a bonus, here is a video from Vanessa King that’s all about finding meaning:
Yes, I know that September is really full of ‘get back into the swing of things’ pressure but that’s all the more reason to give Action for Happiness‘ Self Care September suggestions a try.
After all, finding new ways to create more space for yourself in your own life is a great way to decide just how many other things you want to fit in around that space.
This calendar has a lot of ideas but remember that you don’t have to do EVERYTHING. You can just pick SOME things.
Pick a few that appeal to you and run with those.
Please be kind to yourself about this (and about everything else.)
Image description: a calendar of self-care tips from Action for Happiness. The blocks are blue, red or pink and the text in each one is white, blue or red. Cartoon images illustrating the tips are scattered around the edges of the calendar.
A video entitled ‘Self Care 3: 3 top tips with Vanessa King’ from the Action for Happiness YouTube channel. Still image is of a smiling person looking toward the viewer, with various flowers in vases in the background. The title is in red and yellow text on the right side of the screen.
If you are interested in developing more self-care practices, I really enjoyed Dr. Pooja Lakshmin‘s book ‘Real Self Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included)’ because she gets into the deeper issues surrounding taking good care of ourselves. There’s a good written summary of many of Lakshmin’s key points here from a podcast called Inspired Together Teachers. (By the way, I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, I just read the summary.)
A multicoloured calendar of daily tips for finding joy in June. The calendar is decorated with cartoon drawings of joyful things, flowers, singing birds, a person building a sand castle, etc.
(By the way, if you download their app, you can receive the daily tip as a notification.)
Here’s this month’s introductory video:
A YouTube video from Action for Happiness entitled Joyful June with Vanessa King. The still image shows a woman with shoulder length blonde hair and bangs wearing a brightly coloured shirt. Behind her are vases of flowers and some shelves of books.
And here’s a quote that was shared on the Action for Happiness website.
Image description: A quote reading ‘ every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day, a green rectangular background with a small banner on the bottom that says ‘Action for Happiness’ on the right is a cartoon line drawing of a person looking at a bird in a tree.
For me, this quote is helpful and hopeful without ‘bright siding’* me.
It’s not asking me to forget my struggles or to pretend everything is great, it’s just reminding me to look for something good to help make my day a little easier.
I can get behind that.
And I hope you can, too.
Good luck with Joyful June!
*I don’t remember if Barbara Ehrenreich actually uses the term bright siding the way I have here but I am referring to the kind of ‘reckless optimism’ and toxic positivity she writes about in her 2009 book Bright Sided: How the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America Meanwhile, I read the book a long time ago so I may have stitched her ideas into a quilt with other ideas about the irritating nature of many ‘just be positive!’ messages by this point.
I may not have my own goals for this month quite figured out yet but I’m definitely going to be borrowing some ideas from this month’s Action for Happiness calendar.
Meaningful May!
Finding meaning in our tasks, actions, and plans is good for our brains and for our hearts.
Image description: a quote from William James that reads ‘Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.’ The text is in pale yellow against a light orange background. On the right hand side is a cartoon drawing of a person marching while holding a sign with a heart drawn on it. The words ‘Action for Happiness’ are on the bottom on a small banner extending from the left side.
Here’s this month’s calendar:
Image description: a calendar of daily tips for Meaningful May. Individual calendar blocks are either red, pink, light blue or dark blue and the edges of the calendar are decorated with cartoon drawings of someone drawing, two cups of tea or coffee, a tree, a sunrise, etc.
Here’s a video about Meaningful May from Vanessa King, Head of Psychology at Action for Happiness.
Obviously, you don’t have to take on another daily practice if you don’t want to.
However, it could be fun to pick a few things from the calendar to try this month.
I wrote about it last month and I did have a very mindful March, even though I didn’t do every activity on the calendar. I’m always happy to add more focused moments in my day so every activity I did was bonus.
If you didn’t hear about Mindful March until now, you can do the last two activities today and tomorrow. Today’s activity is “Mentally scan your body and see how it is feeling” and tomorrow, March 31, is “Discover the joy in the simple things in life.” That last one is a tall order for a single day but perhaps you can think of one simple thing you really enjoy and take a moment to do that.
For example, I really love when my tea mug is the perfect temperature for me to hold it in both hands and enjoy the warmth radiating from it. I’m going to take an extra moment or two to enjoy that feeling in the next couple of days.
Okay, so this isn’t a photo of me holding my mug in both hands but this image gives me the same kind of feeling. I love to sit on my front step in the sunshine and slowly drink a cup of tea – even looking at this photo feels good to me. This particular photo is from May 2019 and this is one of my favourite mugs. Image description: a photo of a small light brown mug with ‘Speak Your Kind’ in gold text on the front. My right fingers are wrapped around the white handle of the mug and my thumb is resting on the top. The mug and my fingers are in focus but in the background is a leafless tree, part of my lawn and driveway, and part of my street.
And, of course, you can always do the Mindful March activities at any time. It’s a good list of small ways to take a breather in your day.
And, of course, the daily tips from Action for Happiness switch up every month so, as Mindful March ends, we move right into Active April. If you click on the link in the previous sentence and scroll down to the bottom of the calendar, you have the option of downloading an ics file of the April calendar or viewing it on Google calendar – you can even add their calendar to your calendar list so you see the daily tips in your own calendar.
Here’s a copy of April’s calendar in case you want to do a little planning before Active April starts.
Image description: A calendar for April 2023 from the Action for Happiness website that shows a different active tip for each day in April. The calendar squares are different shades of blue and green and around the edges of the calendar there are black and white cartoon drawings of people exercising and there is one drawing of a bunch of smiling fruits and vegetables.
I know, I know, everyone and their dog is tell you to be mindful these days.
For the record, Khalee is very mindful but she’s not going to boss you around about it. She trusts you to do what’s best for you. Image description: Khalee, a light-haired dog in a green sweatshirt on a bright yellow leash is standing on some hard-packed snow and looking to the left of the camera.
Mindfulness is touted as a cure-all, the answer to everything and that can definitely get annoying.
It’s especially annoying when people get pushy and holier-than-thou about mindfulness, acting as if the only key to true living is to follow in their saintly footsteps.
And, of course, they either have no actual advice for how to be more mindful OR they have an extremely expensive program to sell you.
However, despite those jerks, finding ways to be more mindful in your day to day can actually be good for you.
It’s not a cure-all, it’s just helpful, and for most people it will provide a little well-being boost.
Note: I say ‘most people’ because I’m sure that I have read somewhere that meditation/mindfulness can be detrimental for people suffering from some mental health issues. So, I don’t want to be one of those pushy jerks and declare that everyone needs more mindfulness. Just be kind to yourself, whatever that looks like for you.
If you feel like mindfulness would boost your well-being, this month’s calendar from Action for Happiness is a good place to start. It’s not pushy and it’s not selling you anything.
And it’s definitely not holier-than-thou.
Their ‘Mindful March’ tips are all just small things to try each day to add a little mindful moment or two to your routine. Totally doable, at least most days!
Sound inviting?
Check out their calendar below.
A Mindful March calendar from Action for Happiness with each block coloured either dark green, light green, orange, or yellow, with the tip for that day in a complementary colour. The edges of the calendar are decorated with cartoon drawings of people doing mindful activities like watering flowers or chatting with a friend. You can download your own copy at the Action for Happiness website.
