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Humour as a Re-visioning Strategy
One of the ways that people make us laugh is through observations that highlight the absurdity of a situation. Example: I want to be unique and different, just like everybody else. Humour approaches a subject from an unexpected angle; it’s a form of lateral thinking. As such, I’ve found that it can be a powerful […]
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Can you have too much happiness?
George Bernard Shaw wrote: “a lifetime of happiness! No man could bear it: it would be hell on earth.” In contrast, the Dalai Lama said the purpose of life is to be happy. Who is right? I believe both are correct, but they are talking about different kinds of happiness. The simplest kind of happiness is […]
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Is Happiness a Choice?
Decades ago, researchers discovered that individuals appear to have a ‘set point’ of happiness. For example, if someone scores 6 out of 10 for happiness, that score may slightly increase or decrease according to life’s ups and downs, but they’re likely to keep returning to a 6 over their lifetime. A year after a big […]
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Fear of change creates a comfort trap
Studies have shown that people who become paraplegics after an accident are only slightly less happy a year later than they were before the accident. By the same token, big lotto winners are back to their previous happiness level within a year. When something big happens, good or bad, people soon become accustomed to it. […]