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?
Storytelling
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…
Happy thoughts, happy brain – is it that easy?
I’ve just been reading an article on the Psychology Today website which says if you want to be happy, make sure you keep your brain happy. Because being happy means more to your brain than you might imagine. It seems that the brain is primed to respond to pleasure in a way that reinforces pleasure, therefore it rewards happy thoughts. Every thought you have releases brain chemicals, so … [Read more...] about Happy thoughts, happy brain – is it that easy?
Things I know about internet dating
Internet dating has been in the news this week. The Guardian asks, “Is it destroying love?”; Time Magazine wonders: “Does it make it harder to find The One?” I can speak with some authority on the subject because I met my husband through a dating website. Our story was deemed remarkable enough for a leading newspaper and monthly magazine to print articles about how we met - … [Read more...] about Things I know about internet dating