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Being right or being connected?
This week, I’m reflecting on being right. Let me start with connections. I think I’ve established that connections are important for happiness. Long-term connections like relationships provide us with good loads of the love (and happy) hormone Oxytocin. As a refresher, Oxytocin helps us to form bonds by developing trust. Humans are not specifically strong…
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Reflection on Parenthood
It’s school holidays – the time when kids are not occupied with school but hang out at home (unless it’s travel time or they are booked in vacation care). Time for a reflection on parenthood! My kids are now 6 and 8 and I still cannot believe how fast time went. Just yesterday, I squeezed…
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Outlander Lessons in Love
In between my last uni assignment marking and being sick, I rewatched (again) Outlander. Yes, the successful Starz series also running on Netflix. And yes, based on the very successful books. Claire and Jamie’s love and family story embedded in detailed-described historic events (a lot of battles and a lot of blood and killing) and…
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Competition
The European soccer championships offer a good starting point to explore competition. While the championships are entertaining, competition causes so much unhappiness. So, why do we keep comparing ourselves to others? Why competition? According to Loretta Graziano’s book Habits of a Happy Brain, herd animals (humans belong to that group) constantly measure all others around…
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How to deal with shocking incidents and fear
This email is about exploring happiness, and, as a reminder my definition of happiness is embracing life with all its challenges, making as many positive moments as possible without ignoring the negative ones. We cannot avoid shocking incidents and fear, so this is a reflection about how to deal with this. So, happiness is not…
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Episode 34 – Jealousy
Ah, jealousy! The infamous green-eyed monster that rears its head when we perceive someone else to possess something we desire (that’s actually envy but it doesn’t matter much). While it may seem like an unwelcome emotion, jealousy actually serves a purpose in our lives. It acts as a powerful indicator, highlighting our deepest desires and…
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Episode 32 – Parenthood
What about parenthood and happiness? Some parents swear that children make them happy. Others swear that their children have made their hair grey. Parenthood and happiness There is a lot of happiness in all that oxytocin released by young children needing lots of hugs and touch. Being together, having meaningful love relationships and also working…
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Episode 22 – Connections
This episode is part of the Exploring Happiness Framework series. Connections is pillar number 3. For us humans, it is super important to connect. We feel safer in numbers. Connecting with others releases Oxytocin which makes us happy. It helps us to trust others and bond with them. There are two types of connections –…
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Episode 6 – Prosocial Behaviour
In episode 6 of the Exploring Happiness podcast, I talk about engaging in prosocial behaviour as an intentional activity to make us happier. I like the term prosocial behaviour but I probably should rather say connecting with others, turning towards people (and not away from them). I outline the two important connection types which I…
