Author: Stephanie Hills

  • Relationships are key to happiness

    The Harvard Adult Development Study began in 1938 and still runs to this day. It started by looking at the lifestyle, habits and health of 724 men, both working class and Harvard students, with the aim of following the subjects over a long period, to see what factors early in life might predict good health […]

  • Authors explain their PhDs in words we can understand

    Does music express emotions or just elicit them? Read the next 200 pages to not find out.                                                                                      ~ Welldogmycats Nanoparticles are weird and I accidentally made a bomb and electrocuted myself.                                                                                           ~ M33 Sand washes away, don’t build important stuff on it.     ~ Zoidy You can make antimatter move in […]

  • We Can’t Change Someone Else

    I was once asked to help a family who constantly bickered with each other. The two adults and three children sniped at one another from breakfast till bedtime and they were all sick of it. Each person said they just wanted to live in peace. The problem was that each one wanted the other four […]

  • Your Difference is Your Strength

    Your Difference is Your Strength: A Guide to Accepting Yourself – for Anyone Who Has Ever Felt Out of Place                         by Kris Ferraro This book is aimed at people who feel, or once felt, that they didn’t fit in. Kris Ferraro assures us that being different doesn’t make you wrong or ‘less than’ others; […]

  • Got it covered?

    Someone set fire to Mary and John’s shed, so Mary rings the insurance agent.“It was insured for fifteen grand,” she says. “Please send a cheque.”“Whoa .. hold on just a minute,” says the agent, “… insurance doesn’t work like that. We have to send round an independent adjuster who will assess your loss and get […]

  • Universal attitude

    “The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or a hostile universe.” These words are from Albert Einstein, a man known for rational intelligence and scientific curiosity. Einstein studied the physical universe, which we tend to think of as neutral. We don’t often stop to wonder about its […]

  • School of hard knocks?

    It was Monday morning, and Mum was having a tough time preparing a rebellious son for another week at school. “Nobody likes me,” he groaned. “The teachers don’t like me. The kids don’t like me. I just don’t want to go any more.” “Pull yourself together,” said his mother. “School can be tough, but at […]

  • Trust is earned, not owed

    Banks warn us: don’t share your PINs or passwords. Don’t click on unknown links. Be wary of offers that sound too good to be true. It’s sensible to assume that strangers are not to be trusted until they prove otherwise. Yet when it comes to people close to us, we can be pressured to offer […]

  • Aroha: Māori wisdom for a contented life lived in harmony with our planet

    Aroha: Māori wisdom for a contented life lived in harmony with our planet.                                                                        By Dr Hinemoa Elder Divided into 52 sections, each expanding on a Māori saying, this is a book to be dipped into rather than read from front to back. Some of the proverbs are traditional whakataukī; others are whakatauākī, (which are sayings […]

  • That’s life today…

    At the bank, I told the cashier, “I’d like to open a joint account please.”“OK, with whom?”“Someone with lots of money.” * * * * Last night I got so drunk, I walked across the dance floor to get another drink and won the dance contest. * * * * When I drink alcohol, everyone […]