Wellbeing | How To Hang Out

Hanging out is the new meeting up - and it’s good for your wellbeing, too. Here’s how to embrace an easier, unfussier way to connect.

Meeting with friends doesn’t need to require a committee meeting, weeks of planning and great expense. Rather than co-ordinated gatherings, try simply ‘hanging out’. Here are our favourite ideas for ways to hang out without making it a big deal.

1. Takeaway (or homemade) pizzas in the park. Everyone brings their own.

2. Coffee at your kitchen table while you unpack the weekly shop. 

3. A chat over the Sunday papers and a pot of tea.

4. Sharing a bag of chips on the beach.

5. A joint dog walk. 

6. A cuppa over the fence with a neighbour. 

7. Phone a friend while you cook dinner.

8. Invite someone over for a ‘leftovers’ supper.

9. Saturday morning video chat with someone long-distance. 

10. Watch your favourite TV programme with a mate. 

11. Get together to help someone declutter their wardrobe. 

12. Enjoy the sun in a friend’s garden. 

Our ways to hang out are inspired by our feature The Joy of Hanging Out by Frances Ambler in our May issue. You can find it on page 14.

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How to | Connect with a Friend

The last couple of years have really made us think about what our friends mean to us. But when you haven’t seen someone special for a while, or regular meet-ups fall by the wayside it can be hard to reach out. Here are our favourite ten ideas for ways to reconnect with a friend, or simply to remind someone why they are valued and loved. 

1. Send a postcard. You don’t have to be on holiday - a picture postcard from a museum or gallery or simply of the town you live in will make a friend smile. You can even make postcards of your own photos on card-sending websites like Thortful.com and send it online with your own message. 

2. Lend a book. Finished a book you loved? Pop it through your friend’s door and then pencil in a very exclusive book club meet to discuss it. 

3. Organise a road trip. It worked for Thelma and Lousie… until it didn’t. It doesn’t have to be terribly exciting but being told to keep a morning free and then whisked off for a picnic, a coffee and a gallery or just a drive to somewhere beautiful and a long chinwag on the way there is the stuff memories are made of. 

4. Bond over a box set. Are you both Pottery Throwdown nuts or Sewing Bee superfans? If you can’t watch from the same sofa, make an appointment for a phone call from your respective sofas so you can dissect each moment as it happens. 

5. Jog a memory. Dig out an old photo of you both and email it to her, or send her a DVD of a film you watched together a long time ago. 

6. Take up a hobby together. Going to Nordic Walking together or meeting each week before a drawing class means you’re both more likely to show up. And when there’s inevitably someone slightly irritating in the class, you can laugh about it after over a glass of wine. 

7. Make plans. Every journey starts with a single step, and even if it’s a long way off, planning a holiday, a big celebration or simply a special day out is a lovely way to spend a few hours with someone you love. And a good friend will never laugh when you get out your moodboards. 

8. Use the element of surprise. Whether it’s a bunch of flowers, a ticket to an online lecture, or a fancy meal kit, receiving a little treat for no reason at all feels just lovely, and is an excellent way to show someone that they are in your thoughts and that you value their friendship. 

9. Make a mix tape (or a Spotify playlist if you aren’t in the 1980s). It was how we showed our love when we were 13 and we all know there is no friendship as intense as that between two 13 year olds who love the same bands. Include songs you know she likes as well as songs that mean something to both of you. 

10. Grow your own. We all like receiving homegrown fruit or veg. Go one better and take her a jar of jam or chutney made from your produce and then later in the year, a few seeds from your plants so she can grow something from something you grew yourself! Aw!

We were inspired to think more about our friends this month having read our feature on why we need friends, by theschooloflife.com. You can read all about it in our July issue, on sale now. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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Wellbeing | Start a Women's Circle

For well over a thousand years, women’s circles have offered a safe space for women to talk, listen and take part in mindful activities. Here’s how to start your own circle of sisterhood

• Decide on a purpose for the circle It might be a general one of connection or manifestation. A circle can also honour a particular passage of life. A mother blessing, for example, is a beautiful alternative to a commercial baby shower. In circle, women could share words of encouragement or remind the mother-to-be of her gifts and strengths.

• Create a comfortable space You can make the circle as beautiful as you like, using natural materials, rugs and flowers. But the most important thing is to create a space where women feel safe, warm and relaxed.

• Try journalling prompts It can help to have a specific question to focus on, such as ‘How am I feeling in this moment?’ or ‘What has triggered me this week?’ These could be connected to a theme. For instance, a new moon circle might be about setting intentions for the month ahead. l Include simple ritual A ritual is just an everyday act done with intention. You could light a candle or use a sage smudge stick to cleanse the space around participants.

If you’re intrigued by the idea of women’s circles and would like to know more, do buy a copy of our June issue, in which Victoria Maw looks at the ancient wisdom of women’s circles and how they can benefit us in a modern world, too. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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