Author: Stephanie Hills

  • Social benefits of laughter

    In the last newsletter I wrote about the health benefits of laughter; today I’ll talk about the social benefits. After studying 1,200 people laughing spontaneously, Robert Provine concluded that the main purpose of laughter is to bind people together. It’s an instinctive language that we all speak. We laugh when others are laughing, we laugh […]

  • Craft Fair

    A young woman I know was reading an advertisement for the recent Craft Fair held in Hamilton. It occurred to her that her friend’s mother was an avid craft fan and would undoubtedly love to go along, but probably couldn’t afford it. This was sad, since this friend’s mother was always doing things for other […]

  • Laughter is the Best Medicine

    Remember the old saying: Laughter is the best medicine? Well, it’s true. Gelotology – the physiological study of laughter – has shown that laughter reduces the levels of harmful stress hormones and increases the levels of Gamma-interferon, T-cells, B-cells, and other natural killer cells that fight tumours and viruses. Immunoglobulin A, which is found in […]

  • Happiness and altruism go hand in hand

    It was good to see people getting together in the spirit of giving, during the Telethon this weekend. There’s no doubt that doing something nice for somebody else makes you feel good. In fact, the pleasure seems to last even longer than doing something nice for yourself. Research has shown time and again that happiness […]

  • A peaceful home – a recipe for happiness

    This week I’ve been reminded of the importance of a happy home, especially in times of stress. We can transcend virtually any difficulty if we can temporarily get away from the stress to reflect on our situation. Home can be the best place for this. However, sometimes instead we take out our frustrations on those […]

  • Can we afford the luxury of happiness in a recession?

    Times are hard. Can we really afford to focus on happiness during a recession? Shouldn’t we be knuckling down and tightening our belts, putting on a brave face until things get better? To think this way is to equate happiness with comfort and prosperity, a common mistake in our capitalist culture. For decades advertisements have […]

  • Tips to cheer yourself up

    Today I’m going to share 15 tips for cheering yourself up when you’re feeling down. But first, a word of caution. They can only work if you truly want to be cheered up, and believe you deserve it. Often we harbour secret beliefs that prevent us from allowing happiness into our lives. Beliefs like: I […]

  • Ventriloquist offends blonde

    A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and one night, with his dummy on his knee, he starts going through his usual dumb blonde jokes when a blonde woman in the 4th row stands on her chair and starts shouting:- ‘I’ve heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype […]

  • Group Influence

    Welcome to the first Happy Nation newsletter! Happy Nation aims to promote individual and social happiness. This means recognising that none of us is an island and that our happiness is deeply affected by the society we live in. Ever noticed that some people, or groups of people, make you feel good, while others bring […]

  • Generosity of Friends

    The following comes from Jo Robertson: Recently my second son was graduating from university in Dunedin. I wanted to attend with my three other children to celebrate with him. However, I live in Hamilton and was concerned about the expense of travelling there and accommodation costs for us all. Wonderfully, the trip was made possible […]