Author: Stephanie Hills

  • Is Anger Necessary for Change?

    Some people say we should strive never to be angry. Others say that anger is what drives us to make things better. Who is right? First, it helps to understand that anger involves both feelings and thoughts. The feeling alerts us that something is not going the way we think it should. A good question […]

  • The Book of Overthinking

    The Book of Overthinking. How to Stop the Cycle of Worry                                                                   By Gwendoline Smith ‘Overthinking’ is the name given to the repetitive, anxiety-provoking thoughts that can keep you awake at night, or the nagging negativity that can spoil an otherwise good experience. It’s not really the quantity of thinking that gets out of hand, […]

  • A leg to stand on…

    A friend always seemed to lean slightly to the left. It bothered me, so I suggested that he see a doctor and have his legs checked out. For years, he refused, telling me I was crazy, but last week, he finally went. Sure enough, the doctor discovered his left leg was a centimetre shorter than […]

  • New Problem, New Approach

    Every day we have decisions to make.  Should I clear up these dishes now and risk being late for that appointment, or prioritise the appointment and deal with the dishes later? Or should I hurry and hope to do both? Normally we don’t think for long; we just default to our usual way of doing […]

  • What to do with an extra copy

    Sally* recently ordered a book online, but because the payment system was so quick and simple, she did not realise that she had ordered and paid for the book twice. When two copies of the book arrived, she was unsure what to do. Rather than send the second copy back and ask for a refund, […]

  • Not the foggiest idea

    The fog was so thick I could only see a few metres ahead. Luckily there was another car travelling slowly in front of me, so I followed it carefully, keeping my eyes trained on its tail-lights. We continued like this for what seemed like hours, when the car in front suddenly came to a complete […]

  • Paying it forward

    April 28th is Global Pay It Forward Day, which got me thinking about the first time I was urged to pay forward a favour instead of paying it back. A keen but poor student, I wanted to enrol in an extra-curricular weekend course. With a catered lunch, the training cost more than I could afford. […]

  • The Nature of Nature

    The Nature of Nature. The Metabolic Disorder of Climate Change by Vandana Shiva In this well-researched book, Vandana Shiva describes how modern human civilisation has contributed to the problem of climate change, not because humans are bad or greedy by nature, but because global corporations (the 1%) have become rich and powerful using methods that […]

  • The good old days

    Granddad was reminiscing about the good old days…    “When I was a lad, Mum would send me down to the dairy with a shilling, and I’d come back with five pounds of potatoes, two loaves of bread, three pints of milk, a pound of cheese, a packet of tea, and half a dozen eggs.” […]

  • Frozen Stress

    Recently I saw a talk by Thomas Hübl, a specialist in collective trauma. He asked an unusual question: How often do you think about your freezer? That section of your fridge can be forgotten about for weeks at a stretch, but all the time it’s working hard to keep your foods frozen. We don’t think […]