Many research studies have shown that our social connections have an impact on both our physical and psychological wellbeing (see this blog). People with strong social ties live healthier and longer lives than people with poor social connections, and, one…
Become more optimistic. Work on strengthening your “sunny brain”!
Are you an optimist, looking on the bright side of things, or are you more pessimistic, always expecting that things will go wrong. Dr. Elaine Fox is a psychologist at Oxford University, who studies why different people have such a…
Feeling down? Know that better times are ahead!
Welcome to 2019, a year, I predict, that will be a mixture of highs and lows, peaks and valleys, wins and losses, just like every year that has come before it. And I predict that, when you find yourself joyfully…
Savouring the positive – where are you shining your flashlight?
Our lives are filled with many, many different experiences. At any given time, there can be many wonderful things going on in your life, at the same time as you are dealing with some “not-so-wonderful” things. What do you focus…
Very happy people
Psychologists have conducted a lot of research on unhappy people, but, until fairly recently, not much attention has been paid to the study of happy people. Since we know that the vast majority of people think that happiness is extremely…
An exercise to increase happiness
Everybody would like to be happy. Research has shown that, in nation after nation, university students rate being happy as extremely important and valuable (6.39 on a 7 point scale). Dr. Tal Ben Shahar, a very popular Harvard psychologist, has…