I keep a daily gratitude journal and have done so for a couple of years, using a simple website called Happy Rambles. They send me an email every day, I reply to it listing my gratitudes, then they store it for me in an online journal that I can view and search. I find it really has changed the way my brain works. From the moment I wake up in the morning, my brain is scanning for … [Read more...] about Things I’ve learned while being separated from my gratitude journal
Storytelling
Why I never celebrate Valentine’s Day
During my many years of dysfunctional independence, my single friends and I would often try to go out for a meal on February 14, forgetting it was Valentine’s Day. When we eventually found a restaurant that didn’t have a mandatory “romantic” set menu at vastly inflated prices, we would huff and puff about all the miserable-looking couples who had been forced to sit opposite each other … [Read more...] about Why I never celebrate Valentine’s Day
Is Adele the first star of the Age of Authenticity?
Last night, a 23-year-old girl from north London swept the board at the Grammys - winning all six of the categories in which she was nominated. She has achieved extraordinary success at a time when the music industry seems to be dying on its feet . In fact, she has sold three times as many records as the far more image-savvy Lady Gaga. She may not have 47 million followers on Twitter or … [Read more...] about Is Adele the first star of the Age of Authenticity?
Don’t edit your truth
“I pray for the courage to speak my unedited truth because I believe that otherwise I cannot be of true value to anyone else.” So speaks happiness expert Robert Holden in his book Success Intelligence. This is what he does before giving a talk - which he does about 100 times a year - when his mind is telling him stories about looking good and gaining acceptance from his audience. … [Read more...] about Don’t edit your truth
Do we really need a World Happy Day?
If you didn’t know, today is World Happy Day. It is the brainchild of documentary filmmaker Roko Belic, who wanted to co-ordinate screenings of his new film Happy - a look at the scientific and spiritual underpinnings of that most elusive emotion - all over the world. It is being supported by many worthwhile organisations, including Action for Happiness, of which I am a member, and you … [Read more...] about Do we really need a World Happy Day?
My love is like a green, green ivy leaf…
This morning, the Telegraph website published a lovely gallery of photos of naturally occurring heart shapes (link below), which demonstrates that there really are hearts everywhere if you look for them. It got me thinking about the heart icon, how our brains scan for it and pattern-match it all the time, and what were the origins of a symbol that has come to mean everything from eternal love … [Read more...] about My love is like a green, green ivy leaf…