It was good to see that Well-being Zone was featured in the latest issue of the quarterly journal of the Royal Society for the Arts. The more people who know about what the community has to offer, the better it will be for everyone. However, it was a pity that the news item appeared under the heading of 'Pursuit of Happiness'. Of course, happiness is part of well-being but to equate the two is to oversimplify some very complex issues. But, this fits in with what this community is about, to explore the complexities of well-being and to support one another in taking forward efforts to make well-being in all its forms a reality above and beyond the rhetoric we hear so often these days about well-being.

Catherine Bennett writing in The Observer is critical of simplistic approaches to well-being, claiming that you cannot measure happiness. Of course, it is a significant mistake to equate well-being with happiness - the relationship between the two is very complex - but she is right to have doubts about the value of simplistic, uncritical notions of well-being. So, well-being as a concept is not a problem; it is the tendency to oversimplify it that is the real cause of concern. But, that is the case with a wide range of important concepts (equality / empowerment / dignity) which are also often oversimplified. I very much hope that Well-being Zone can be an important focal point for developing our understanding of these important issues.

At this time of year many people will be looking forward to a break from work, but of course there are also additional pressures to contend with for so many, both at work and at home, pressures that can be really testing, especially in terms of work-life balance. So, it will not be  a Merry Christmas for everyone who celebrates Christmas. For example, many people with mental health problems feel decidedly worse at this time of year. We should therefore be careful not to assume that this is a happy time all round. We still have to be vigilant about well-being issues.