Busy lives? It hardly needs saying… Most of us live very busy and active lives – there just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to fit in everything we need to do. So the idea of sitting for say, 15 minutes just doing nothing seems completely foreign to us. So here’s the […]
Modern living
Men and loneliness
Here are two recent statistics that give pause for thought: 1. Britain is now the loneliness capital of Europe Its people are less likely to know their neighbours or have strong relationships than anywhere in Europe. 2. Every two hours a man kills himself in the UK Suicide is the single biggest cause of death […]
I want a framework, not just a formula
How many times have you read articles on “Happiness” that give you five (or eight, or ten…) tips to a happier life? They seem to be in almost every magazine and blog! Some of them are really helpful and are based on good research. Others – well maybe not so good! What they have in […]
‘Can I become happier?’ part 5 (Choices)
This is the final post in the series exploring what determines our happiness As we’ve seen, genetics plays an important role at 50%, perhaps more than we would guess. Life circumstances (where we live, our social or economic status, etc) come in at just 10%, which again is not necessarily what many of us would think! […]
‘Can I become happier?’ part 4 (Circumstances)
Over recent posts, we’ve been looking at the factors that determine our happiness Last time we considered genetics, which contrary to many people’s views, accounts for as much as 50%! This time, we’ll think about life circumstances where we live, our health, marital status, income, material possessions, social standing, etc. Researchers have shown that these […]
We moderns can control many things, but we’re vulnerable too
As moderns we have contrived to surround ourselves with conveniences, shelters, technology… All of which act to keep the storms of natural life at bay. Once upon a time, this had to do with literal physical storms (survival); in a later time, the threats came from diseases and other material hazards (security). More recently, our […]
