Fellow pseuds tend to conceive expansiveness as the deepening and widening of debate or philosophical headspace, or at the very least something becoming bigger and better.

Since 2020 has primarily consisted of narrowing of news, cerebral constriction (posh for the pandemic doing one's noggin in) and the only thing getting bigger being the red numbers on the nation's (globe's) balance sheet, for this final pre-Christmas Philosopher-In-Residence edition I've decided to offer some seasonal suggestions for fostering smaller and happier, if you can’t quite manage bigger, better or burgeoning right now.

Make Me A Plan's 12 Days of Christmas

1. Write at least one Christmas card to a loved one for every online meeting you say yes to attending.

2. Schedule 15 minutes of fresh air as a minimum each day (wandering from shop to shop getting presents counts!)

3. Phone a friend. At least once a week. Don’t let the scram to get things done bump this down the priority list.

4. Eat green veg daily. At least once. Your festive fatigue will be reduced if you do this, I promise.

5. Floss. (With thanks to Baz Luhrmann for that one).

6. Wear sunscreen (only joking, we're still not going anywhere).

7. Take five to listen to your favourite song on a busy day.

8. Choose a day where you finish work an hour earlier than usual and make sure you stick to this.

9. Say no to at least one thing that you don't want to do, that you would normally say yes to.

10. If you can afford it, choose a charity and donate some time or money to it. Christmas is not a fun time for everyone.

11. Spend at least 10 minutes a day chilling out and doing absolutely nothing.

12. Make yourself a plan for 2021 (and you know where we are if you need a hand).

I'll be back after the Christmas break and wish you the warmest seasons greetings between now and then. Next time, I’ll be musing On Flourishing. Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this topic you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning