Better Lives Blog Post 1
Better Lives Lecture that influenced my thinking
I attended Dr Jekaterina Rogaten’s lecture on well being in the second week of the Better Lives lectures. This lecture really intrigued me as looking at the psychology behind creativity in fashion is something that I hadn’t really explored in detail before. Through attending this lecture I gained a lot of new knowledge on how well-being affects everyone and how looking after yourself and others can have a positive effect on our everyday lives.
Dr Jekaterina Rogaten talks about how well-being is about striving to have “more pluses in your life rather than not having any minuses”. I found this quote very interesting as it points at aiming for a higher goal of emotional and physical state rather than being satisfied with just being okay. There are many elements of well-being and this lecture dug deep into breaking down different elements such as choice, flow state, achievements, rest and safety.
In the present day we make a lot more decisions on a daily basis than people did 50 years ago. Dr Jekaterina Rogaten explained that life is a matter of choice and the more choice and freedom we have the more unrealistic expectations we also have. We often find ourselves looking and striving for perfection but then realising that nothing is really good enough. Too much choice can have a negative effect as we can reach a decision paralysis which is when there is too much choice and making a decision becomes very hard.
Learning about flow was another very fascinating part of the lecture as 95% of us will experience it in our lives whereas 5% of the population will not. Flow state is when you lose awareness of yourself and become so fully engaged in an activity that you lose track of time. It’s a very productive state but people need to switch off and rest as being in flow state for a long period of time can be very exhausting and can have negative effects both physically and mentally. When in flow state, someone does not feel neither happy or sad as they are simply focusing and being at one with their activity.
I think that the main reason why I found this lecture so interesting is the fact that we were able to see creativity and people from the point of view of a psychologist who analyses behaviours from a scientific point of view. This lecture influenced my thinking as it made me a lot more aware of the great importance of well-being and how it can affect everyone in the world through everyday life. It has made me understand how sustainable fashion has a positive effect on people’s emotions and how employer’s working circumstances directly affect their employees’ mental well-being. In the fashion industry we have to keep in mind the consumer’s well-being as well as the employee and business well-being. This was one of my favourite lectures that I attended during my time at LCF, it was incredibly informative and interesting.