Author: Stephanie Hills

  • The Biology of Kindness

    The Biology of Kindness: Six Daily Choices for Health, Well-Being, and Longevity by Immaculata De Vivo and Daniel Lumera If you follow positive psychology, you’ll know that happiness is good for your health and leads to a longer life. You may also know that people who are compassionate and serve others tend to be happier […]

  • Lighthearted stories

    A man goes into a pet shop and asks, “Do you have any dogs going cheap?” The salesman says, “No, only our birds go cheep. Our dogs go WOOF!” * * * * I went to the cemetery yesterday and there were 4 pall bearers walking around with a coffin. An hour later they were […]

  • Be the Change or Take Action

    Paulo Coelho said, “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” Not surprising, since most of our opinions relate to what other people should do – people who are largely unaffected by what we think. Also, we’re usually far more comfortable expressing our opinions to people who agree with us, or people […]

  • Help not needed

    If we see a stranger in trouble, it’s good to stop and help – but sometimes we can get it wrong.  The other day as I pulled into my street, I saw a motorcycle on its side and its rider sprawled out on a grassy bank by the side of the road. Immediately I pulled […]

  • Upbeat, No Matter What

    Happiness is good for your health and your social life, but how do you stay cheerful when life gets difficult?  Luckily, there are ways of keeping yourself in good mental and emotional shape. This workshop covers practical ways to maintain wellbeing as well as ways of thinking about your challenges that can ensure you don’t […]

  • Thanks for your service

    An older gentleman works for a Bunnings store, helping direct customers at the entrance. He’s a great success with customers and staff. He has an easy way with people and everyone loves him. He has just one fault: he is late for work nearly every morning. When it’s time for the manager to call him […]

  • Keeping your head above water

    In tough times, it’s easy to lose equilibrium. Overwhelming feelings can take our rational mind offline, while our fight-or-flight responses take over. These responses come in many forms, such as panic, which destabilises us; anger, which can have us lashing out at whoever is closest; hopelessness, which renders us inactive; or numbness, which has us […]

  • Entangled Life

    Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures                                                                          by Merlin Sheldrake Written by a leading expert on fungi, this book stretches our usual understanding of life. There are slime moulds that can design efficient transport systems, fungi that render ants into zombies, others that enhance human understanding by […]

  • Car story 2

    Electric Car Owners Alert!  It was announced today that if you break down in an electric car, you can still use the AA. But if you break down in a small electric car, you have to use the AAA.

  • Car story 1

                  Fred was telling his friend how his uncle tried to make a new car for himself… “so he took wheels from a Cadillac, a radiator from a Ford, some tyres and fenders from a Plymouth…”               “Holy Cow,” interrupted his friend, “What did he end up with?”               Fred replied, “Two years.”