Improving Well-Being with LEGO
Happy LEGO Build Day!
On this day, LEGO encourages people across the world—young and old—to gather their spare LEGO bricks and just build whatever they want.
LEGO started in Denmark in 1940 and is now the world’s largest and most profitable toymaker. But it wasn’t always the case.
The toy maker fell out of favor with children in the 1990s as video games and toy fads like, Tickle Me Elmo, Beanie Babies, and the Tamagotchi digital pet grew in popularity. Competition caused LEGO to post its first-ever loss in 1998.
But then LEGO pivoted a year later. Instead of focusing on open-ended play where children relied on their imagination to build whatever they wanted, the company started to enter into licensing deals and marketed more branded kits. Its first licensing agreement was with Star Wars in 1999. LEGO now posts annual profits of more than $1 billion with themed sets from other parts of Disney, Harry Potter, DC, Jurassic World, and Minecraft, to name just a few.
LEGO also zoned in on a growing demographic: stressed-out adults.
A recent survey by LEGO found that 87 percent of adults said playing with the building blocks made them feel more relaxed. The survey also found that 78 percent of adults claimed LEGO play helped with their own well-being, while 76 percent said it was fundamental to their happiness. To this end, LEGO has published a self-help book entitled Build Yourself Happy, which contains more than 50 mindful LEGO building activities and tips.
I prefer building the themed sets rather than just digging into an old box of random bricks. For me, building LEGO sets and following detailed instructions have become a kind of mindfulness exercise that results in a tangible reward at the end—like the New York skyline, Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon, or Dunder Mifflin’s office.
What are the benefits of mindfulness exercises?
Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Most people connect mindfulness activities with breathing exercises. But your focus doesn’t have to be on the breath. That focus can be replaced by any repetitive but relaxing activity, like using pencils to color, putting together jigsaw puzzles, or—you guessed it—building LEGO sets.
Mindfulness exercises can be helpful as you’re preparing for the bar exam. Studying for the bar exam can be physically and emotionally draining. It can also make you more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression. Practicing mindfulness exercises can help you direct your attention away from this kind of negative thinking and self-doubt and help you engage with the world around you. Other benefits include increasing attention, decreasing burnout, and improving sleep.
So, practice mindfulness today by celebrating LEGO Build Day.
Don’t have any LEGO bricks? There are several free and low-cost premium mindfulness and meditation apps.
Some top-rated premium apps, all with some period of free trials, include Headspace, Calm, Peloton, and Ten Percent Happier.
