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3 Happiness Ingredients
Before we can talk about happiness ingredients, it’s important to acknowledge who is responsible for our own happiness. Spoiler: it’s not your mum, the government, your partner or the weather. Nobody can make you happy or unhappy. That’s all your responsibility. Sorry, not sorry. Because if being happy is only our responsibility, you are also…
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About Giving Advice
Some years ago, a friend told me that she wouldn’t give advice anymore because that makes people unhappy. She had participated in a course around spirituality and self-improvement. I love giving (usually unsolicited) advice. While I could understand her reasons, I totally disagreed and still do. I think advice is great, and we should give…
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Community and Local Places
Today, I decided to avoid world improvement rants. Since I also decided to let my local pub cook my dinner (steak night!), today’s blog was all set: community. Community is very important in the happiness field! Our locals There is something nice and comforting about our local places, isn’t there? It’s the sense of belonging…
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Parents and Happiness
My friend had her first baby a few weeks ago. She tells me that the baby cries a lot and that gas is probably the trouble. She’s exhausted (although the baby sleeps a lot at night) and worried. A good moment to write about parents and happiness. Not our job What I’m trying to tell…
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Travelling and Happiness Tank
This week was a bit chaotic because I’m travelling. I had several blog post drafts and a lot more ideas but I couldn’t get them finished. Interestingly, not because I didn’t have time. I did. But I couldn’t get myself to. Sounds like procrastination? Maybe. So, what was going on? Well, I’m writing to you…
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About Relationships
This post is about relationships. Since I reflected on how close relationships work, I’ll share some of my thoughts here. They are a bit sketchy – let’s see what you think. Connection as a Starter Let’s take a step back and look at what lies under relationships: connections. To have a relationship, we must connect.…
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Impressions from Mandurang
No reflection this week. I took the kids on a road trip to Victoria (a southern Australian state) where I got a booking for a free cancer retreat accommodation (thanks, Otis Foundation!). So, this week is on impressions from Mandurang. Happy Nostalgia After not driving for years and not owning a car (I rented one),…
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Religion
Oh, I will dare something today. I’ll reflect on religion. But I start somewhere else: free food. My ex, low-income earner like me, often goes to the free food distribution at the Anglican Church. He has regularly shared food with me and some of that was really good. I’m also getting better in cooking large…
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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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About Jumping and Danger
The kids are watching the movie Sahara while I’m writing this blog post about jumping and danger. (They have played extensively without screens and we were outside for a while, so let’s not discuss appropriate screen time today.) Sahara is an animated movie about snakes, not to be confused with the Matthew McConaughey and Penelope…
