Author: Stephanie Hills

  • Happiness and singing

    You might’ve noticed that you’re more likely to sing in the shower when you’re happy, but did you know that regular singing actually makes you happier? Research conducted in Australia, Germany and the UK in 2008 showed that members of choirs tend to be far more satisfied with their lives than the average person. The […]

  • Cleaning up the community

    A group of enthusiastic young girls approached me in Jansen Park recently. They were picking up rubbish, in the hope of encouraging others to “pay it forward” by doing something similar. I was happy to take home the recyclable items they’d collected and put them in my bin. Well done girls – great community spirit.

  • A trouble shared is a trouble halved

    Being happy means spending more time focussing on the good things than the bad, and we spread ripples of happiness when we do this in conversation with others. Complaining about how bad your life is only brings other people down as well as yourself. However, if something is weighing you down despite your efforts to […]

  • A good Samaritan

    Murray, one of the stage managers at the Parachute Festival, was heading home at 1.30am after the first long day, when he saw a woman standing by a car outside the gates. Clearly she was waiting for someone who hadn’t turned up. Although extremely tired, Murray stopped to help. He took the woman onto the […]

  • Job satisfaction

    Isn’t it nice to receive good service? A while ago I bought a vacuum cleaner, but had to return it because of a faulty part. I half expected to have to argue my case, but was delighted to find the shop assistants both pleasant and helpful. Rather than return the whole vacuum cleaner to the […]

  • New Year’s Resolutions

    Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? Broken them yet? If so, I’m sure you’re not alone. Most resolutions are practically set up to fail, because they’re not made in the spirit of self-love and acceptance. Instead, they come from the perspective that we are inherently bad and need to impose control on ourselves. I’ll […]

  • Don’t give up

    A reader wanted to share this story: Some time after Frank got home from busking at the farmer’s market, he noticed that his glasses had fallen out of his pocket. He searched everywhere at home, without success. With prompting from his wife he decided to go back and look where he’d been busking. Sure enough, […]

  • Sharing good fortune

    This week I heard about a man who was lucky enough to win a trolley full of groceries. Rather than keep them for himself, he kindly shared out his winnings with friends and colleagues. One woman, thrilled to receive two boxes of goodies from this thoughtful man, immediately decided to pass on some of them […]

  • Compassion makes me happy

    “I am happy when in spite of the ills of the planet and of those close to me I still have the capacity to feel compassion for others. To live without compassion is a one way journey to a lonely place.” ~ Beryl Fletcher Congratulations to Beryl Fletcher, whose response to the question: “What makes […]

  • Stepping in

    Recently I heard a man tell of the difference it made when he and his wife performed an act of kindness in their neighbourhood. For some months they had been hearing the woman across the road yelling at her kids. The yelling had got worse since her husband had gone to prison. One evening the […]