Director’s cut
Life is often a blur as we move fast through activities, hardly noticing where we’ve been. Hurry sickness leads to stress, depression or feeling dislocated from life because of all the ‘busyness’. Even moving at speed, make the effort to connect with the world. See...
Choose your sensations
Wherever you are, make choices. Don’t waste happiness on trivial irritations. So, you have to wait in a queue? Why get yourself worked up? What a great opportunity to escape to a desert island (in your head at least). Imagine the waves lapping, the birds singing and...
Count your blessing
At the end of every day, as you go home from work or put your head on the pillow, your thoughts are likely to be full of what you didn’t do or haven’t achieved. Scientists call this the Zeigarnick Effect. It may have evolutionary value, making sure you complete...
Pay it forward
Benjamin Franklin talked about this idea, books have been written about it and the film with this name stars Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. The concept is easy to describe. Help three people. Do something for them that they cannot do for themselves....
Carry out random kindness
In our busy lives it is easy to become detached from people – except those we know already. Competitiveness and isolation can make the world an unkind place. Rediscover your capacity for kindness. Commit random acts of kindness every day. People might think you...
Find joy
As children we can be naturally joyous, taking delight in simple sensations, sliding on ice, splashing in puddles, being reunited with loved ones. Even children, sadly, lose some of their capacity for joy as they become aware of what a serious business life can be....
Transcend the ordinary
We can be so wrapped up in ourselves most of the time. Rise above all the petty noise of the ordinary and set your sights on something higher and greater than yourself. Whatever your religious affiliation or spiritual beliefs, allow yourself to be lifted above the...
Learn to play
Life is serious and we work hard. Sometimes we lack the energy to be silly. An advert used to say, “Act your shoe size not your age”. Just for once don’t do the sensible thing. Run through the fountains, get wet, splash someone (maybe not a stranger). Watch small...
Be curious
Curiosity killed the cat? In one story! For the rest of us, it keeps us alive. As an adult with increasing responsibilities, it’s easy to get stale, to slip into routine, to stop seeing the world afresh and start thinking you have seen it all. Don’t limit yourself....
Celebrations
Find reasons to celebrate life on a regular basis. It’s a Tuesday! Your friend was promoted! They met someone new! Be generous and creative in the way that you celebrate your friends’ and family’s good fortune and major life events. You don’t always need to throw a...