Being you

Creating your own travel journal kit means you can personalise it to the type and length of your trip and you save money by using items you already have and only buy the things you’re…

The wheel of life assessment is a simple exercise. You can use it to show whether your life is in balance or you can go deeper to discover areas you can improve. And actions you…

Loving yourself in style is a short book covering creativity, style, money and more. It combines the author’s experience of discovering herself with her tips on how we learn the same. A good book to…

The DIY Guide to building a family that lasts looks at different aspects of family life that people often want to improve. The book covers different negative aspects of family life and provides tools on…

At the start of lockdown in the UK I decided to share a positive picture of what I was experiencing each day. It has turned into a great record of pandemic life. This is a…

Over a 100 pandemic journal prompts to use a starting point for your writing or memory capture. Each day pick a prompt that appeals to you and don’t worry about about starting at the top…

We’re four weeks into lockdown in the UK, with at least another three weeks to come of the current restrictions. And we don’t know what reduced restrictions will mean. Will the schools reopen, will businesses…

Coronoa virus, Covid-19, social distancing, shielding, lockdown. You probably hadn’t heard of these words a few months ago, and now they’re impacting our lives in so many ways. And are likely to change our future…

I love our house and I find it hard to believe we’ve been here just 7 years. I still revel in the extra space we have inside and out compared to our previous house. And…

Just over a year ago I decided I wanted to get healthier, so last year was my year of health. Instead of new year resolutions I set a theme to get healthier and each week…

Have you been writing your journal for several years? Are you feeling bored with your journal writing? Do you think you could get more from journaling? I feel this way. I’ve written in my journal…

The Oxford Half Marathon Schools Challenge enables primary school children to run a mile from the official start line, and get a medal and goody bag when they finish. It is a great way to…

I’m stuck in a rut of not doing anything towards achieving what I want. This is not how I want to feel or live my life, so how do I change? How do I take…

I recommend the book Do It Scared; unless of course you never feel scared. However I suspect everyone who reads this will feels fear sometime. It has given me the words to talk about my…

I’m starting 2019 with the journal I was using at the end of 2018. It is a notebook from a supermarket and I love the combination of the colours and words on the cover. However,…

Belong by Radha Agrawal is about connecting with people by joining and building communities. The premise is that we all feel happier when we are connected to other people. In fact, Radha says “having weak…

As my birthday is between both my children’s birthdays and Christmas it is often a low key event. I wanted to make sure this wasn’t the case for my 40th birthday. I wanted to do…

Since February, we’ve been in our house for five years, and the last year has been a busy one with noticeable changes. Done The biggest change has been in the area where my husband (and…

It has only taken me a third of the year to start a journal in 2018. As I continued using the undated journal I’d started in August 2017 at the start of the year. My…

I have to be honest I feel a bit embarrassed sharing this extract. But it is part of recognising my past and who I was. Plus I was in my mid teens so I’m sure…

The 5 love languages of children * is a follow on book to 5 love languages. The point of the book is children need to know how much you love them, but if you don’t speak…

Happiness Hacks* brings together different research on happiness. The research is grouped with one theme per chapter e.g. friendship, health, love. It is summarized in short sections (for example one or two paragraphs) often followed…

Room lighting is more complicated than it used to be with different options including uplights, downlights, acsent lights and mood lights. We’re in the process of planning the lights throughout our house because we have…

In Bloom is a collection of stories from Kayla’s life from childhood through to motherhood about feelings of insecurities and inadequacies. The stories are grouped into themes such as rejection, fear and boys, and are…

This is the journal I’m using at the start of 2018 although it isn’t actually a 2018 journal. I started this journal on 30th August 2017 but as I use undated notebooks I’ve just continue last…

So 1992 did not immediately get better after I decided to start a new regime. Although perhaps recognising I’m a “moody cow” is part of self-acceptance process! Today wasn’t too bad but I’ve learnt I’m…

Mindfulness is choosing to be present in the moment, without judgement. It is about being aware of what you’re feeling and what you’re doing as you do it. If you’re anything like me you are too…

My 1992 journal continues to be full of angst. And it is uncomfortable to read as it brings back memories of how unhappy I was. However, this entry has some hope because I’ve decided to…

One of the changes I’m particularly looking forward to with our house renovation is our new study space. Our current study is a strange shape and not big enough for more than one person to…

The Miracle Morning is the process Hal Elrod developed to improve his life after being in a serious car crash which caused him permanent brain damage and resulted in him having to relearn how to…

Are you interested in journal writing, but don’t know where to start? I started writing my journal as a child in 1989, and have written it on and off since; that is over 25 years….

25 years ago I was not in a happy place. And as I mentioned in my previous journal extract I am not completely enjoying reading my 1992 diary. However, at least I can take comfort in the fact…

I’ve always classed myself as an extrovert so I read Quiet by Susan Cain* to learn more about my introverted husband and one of my children who I suspected was introverted. As a bonus, I…

Reading my diaries from 25 years ago has not been pleasant recently, due to a severe lack of self-confidence leading to problems with my friends because I was paranoid they didn’t actually like me. It was not…

Feeling more creative is something I’ve wanted for many years, so over 15 years ago I bought The Artist’s Way*, a 12 week course that helps you discover or reignite your creative self by making creativity…

Looking back on the last year in our house it has been another quiet one, but we have started knocking down the walls. Only non-structural ones, but it is a start. So here is a…

Most people start their journal on 1st January, but not me this year. I started my 2017 journal on 29th January, but not because I missed the 1st January. As I’m currently using undated notebooks…

The Road Less Travelled* is a book I’ve wanted to read for years, not for any reason other than I remember people talking about it when I was a child, meaning I didn’t actually know…

It is becoming increasingly common to hear it is good to feel more gratitude, because if you focus on feeling grateful for the little things you become more grateful throughout your life which leads to…

During the summer I reconsidered my digital life and that led to me asking myself if my life is balanced. Am I putting the correct amount of effort and time into the different parts of…

As we approach the end of December, it is time to think about journalling for the new years it time to start a journal or to start a new type of journal. Plus, there is the opportunity to…

What is a nice lie in for you? For me, 8 o’clock would be lovely, and I know I’m a lucky parent that I get that occasionally at the weekend. What about when you were…

As a child I really wanted curly hair and as I had heavy straight hair, that meant getting my hair permed (it was the 90s). I really wanted a perm and loved looking through hair…

Do you remember those days when you had nothing to do so the best thing to do was go to bed? I don’t remember the last time I had that feeling, but it was certainly…

Do you remember taking photographs and having to wait for them to be developed? On this day 25 years ago I dropped a film of holiday photographs off at a local shop. I didn’t write…

I’m frequently told it is important to have the right tool for the job because it makes the job easier and quicker. As we’re doing a full house renovation it means there is often a reason…

When is the last time you considered your handwriting? I suspect some time during late primary or early secondary school before it became a subconscious act. But writing suddenly stopped being subconsious for me as…

Running is considered an easy form of exercise you can do anywhere, anytime. But I’m not a fan, mainly because I find it boring; very boring (and hard). However, I’m about to test my dislike…

Are you creative? Can you define what creativity means? These are questions I’ve been asking myself as I prepare to attend Blogtacular, the blog event for “creatives”. For years, I’ve fought the idea that I’m creative,…

The pursuit of happiness and why it’s making us anxious* is the book Ruth Whippman was inspired to write after moving to USA with her husband’s job and researching how she could deal with her unhappiness….

This month I’m sharing posts I’ve enjoyed reading on personal development. Although this is a topic that I’m very interested in, I haven’t seen many posts I’ve enjoyed so tend to focus on personal development…

Every now and then I love a bath. A long relaxing bath with a Lush bath bomb and a book. Unfortunately, our bathroom is not appealing as a relaxing space. Our house was originally a…

Diaries and journals can be very personal documents so it can be hard to think about who to trust with them. I’ve seen several comments from people saying their diaries are boring or too personal…

You may wonder what we think is so dangerous about laundry baskets that we’ve kept them away from our children for seven years. Obviously, we don’t actually have anything against them, in fact we’ve had…

Looking back on the third year in our house it has been quieter than the second year, but we’ve continued to make progress in a number of areas. However, I’m hoping we’ll take bigger actions…

Watkins Publishing noticed my recent post that I want to read all the self development books I’ve collected over the years, and kindly sent me some of their recent releases to add to the list….

When I first started this blog in 2007 it was called Blog to discovery; Revelations along the way to a simpler, happier and more successful life and included reviews of self improvement books I read…

Did you start writing a diary this year? What book are you using? I struggled to choose my 2016 diary, because of two challenges; deciding the type of book I wanted to use and then finding…

Today has been our first day at home after almost a week away for Christmass and sorting through photographs has given me the opportunity to think about the fun we had. The first thing I…

Panasonic SmartHome is a wireless control system for your home managed on your mobile phone. The system is made up from a number of devices including window / door sensors, internal and external cameras and…

I think I can say that making our own wrapping paper for Christmas has now become a family tradition as we’ve now done it for three years. The first year the children were five and…

When you decide to start a journal or diary, there are two important questions to consider; the type of journal you want to keep, and the type of notebook to use. Of course, you can…

It’s over two years since I asked for your thoughts on what we should do with our dining room; should we create a lounge dining room or a kitchen dining room? And now I’m wondering…

I have a thing about landing windows; basically I think a landing should have a window. This is possibly because I grew up in a house with a large window that I loved sitting by…

Now we’re in November, it is time to start thinking about Christmas films. In the past we’ve struggled to get in to the Christmas feel until a few days before the big day, so we…

I enjoy sharing posts I’ve enjoyed reading, so here are some recent favourites on the theme of parenting. I hope you find something to enjoy: What makes a great packed lunch? No Excuses: Minimalism with…

I have to admit I was amused when Hillary’s Blinds asked for my opinion on the perfect bedroom environment because our bedroom is a long way from perfect. We have done very little to the…

Trees add interest to gardens by adding height, providing shade and encouraging birds into the garden, but they can also cause problems including blocking light, damage caused by the roots, leaves blocking gutters and branches…

I like simple. It is something I aspire to because things are easier with fewer decisions and it is quicker to clear up. I’ve made it very clear that I like simple by including it…

A list of posts I’ve enjoyed reading connected to memories; from writing a journal to preserving records including several posts about being a child in the 80s, 90s and 00s. 5 Ways to Develop a…

Being an old care home we know our house is a bit different to most family homes, but one of the differences we didn’t expect was being classed out-of-the-ordinary when it comes to house insurance….

During our second year in our house it felt like we didn’t make much progress, but looking back I’m surprised and pleased at how many things we’ve achieved. Done The biggest thing we’ve done is to change…

From children’s parties to sexist jobs here are some posts on different aspects of parenting I’ve enjoyed reading recently. The Snow Day. A Mothers Failings. Party invoice: Boy sent bill for birthday no-show Are we gambling with our…

I’m a planner. I like instructions or a checklist to follow to make sure I do things correctly and don’t do it wrong. Once I’ve repeated something a few times I may start to freestyle,…

From packed lunches to discipline and swimming to school admissions; here are my parenting goodreads. What’s on a Six Year Old’s Wish List? The dreaded nursery phone call What’s Wrong With Gendered Marketing to Children? This……

I love fairy lights as there is something about lots of small lights that make me think of magic. I’ve been collecting ideas on how I might use them in the house and it is great…

Feeling tired in the morning, something that hasn’t changed in 25 years; but now as a parent of two young children I find it amusing that I thought I was tired then. I’ve written about…

I love this simple statement that nothing much happened, and there was no other text in the entry. It is a bit similar to the BBC deciding there was nothing newsworthy in 1930. Now, even…

Today’s diary entry is a little embarrassing; I did not know I’d been wanting to type my diary entries up for 25 years. I started typing them up about ten years ago and have some…

I used to think it was awful being the youngest, and I had lots of experience as I was a younger sister and the youngest of all my cousins. It seems the biggest frustration was…

The first time I remember recognising that I felt better when I wrote a diary was about ten years ago when I’d restarted writing after a break of several months. However, it appears I first…

Not a surprise, I didn’t want to tidy my room even though I’d worked out the correct order to tidy a bedroom just a few days previously. And it is so easy to procrastinate. I’ve come…

Half way through October and I was already planning to search for Christmas presents. I’m struggling to remember whether this was a realistic activity or completely pointless so far in advance of Christmas. My first…

Most people probably have memories of being told to tidy up as a child, but I wonder how many of you thought of the best way to go about it? Well here are my suggestions…

I’m 11 days into my diary and not surprising, as I was young, it is all about me. I love this post for having a sheet stapled to the page with a list of what…

It is good to see that I experimented when I was younger, although most people probably didn’t need to test these flavours. But I obviously learnt something from the experiment as I haven’t mixed those…

I started my first diary 25 years ago on 28th September 1989. I used a lined hardback notebook that I decorated with stickers and pictures I cut out of magazines. How many of these pictures…

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m interested in reading parenting posts, so here is a list of posts I’ve enjoyed reading recently all connected to parenting. The One Where The Terrible Twos Arrive…

What is the best kitchen location in a house? Is it better to have it at the front or back of the house? Our kitchen is currently at the front of the house and having…

Adding an internal window can be a great way to ensure natural light reaches dark areas of a home. Our original plan to lighten our dark hallway was to add a skylight when we removed…

There was no reason for other people to take photographs of me last month, so I did something different and specifically asked my husband to take them of events I wanted captured. These are the…

A successful house renovation project needs a plan to ensure all tasks are completed and done in the correct order. The details of the plan will depend on the size of your renovation and your…

February started well with photographs taken of me as part of the Team Honk relay, so I did not have to take one myself. However that was it, there are no other photographs of me through…

If you are thinking of starting a journal you may find these posts interesting. Why should you keep a personal journal? 15 different types of journals to keep 7 different books to use for a…

In general you get more for your money if you are willing to do work on a property. It is certainly true for us. We bought a larger house than we were looking for because…

I’m the main memory recorder in our family, but although everything is captured from my perspective I tend to be missing from view, plus I think there is something different between reading someone’s thoughts and seeing…

Knowing we will be redecorating the whole house meant we could allow our children to do something we wouldn’t normally allow, painting on the walls. Our children’s birthdays are the same week and as painting…

This is our first Christmas in this house so we’ve had to rethink our Christmas decorations. I’ve developed a plan to implement over a few years as we get a feel for the house and…

I was surprised how easy it was to have a wood burning stove fitted. The hardest part was making the decision about which stove to buy, oh and convincing my husband to have a stove…

This week has been about keeping moving. I’m not sure why things have felt so difficult, but it has been a struggle to get the basics completed; maybe it is because I haven’t been having…

Decluttering doesn’t stop until you’ve done the whole house AND stopped bringing unwanted items into the house; otherwise the clutter spreads and returns into the areas you’ve already done so you have to start again….

During the last five weeks I’ve used a little and often approach to sort through the contents of this room; I’ve removed lots of items and put away the rest. The focus of declutterday is to remove…

The wonderful thing about planting seeds is it leads to things growing. Having planted flower seeds in June we’ve got lots of flowers growing; however we’ve also got things growing in places we didn’t plant…

With children in the house we have clothes that are either too small or too large and these have been stored in one pile in our big bedroom; until this week. I’ve sorted through the pile…

We’ve got the first plans from our architect to comment on. None of the layouts are right, but there are lots of ideas that have made us think about how we want to use the…

In our digital age, papers still manage to build up and in the past week I’ve made a start at reducing our paper clutter. I’ve marked the post we’ve received for the previous owners of…

Removing five items from the house every week sounds easy until you have a busy week and you’re mind is on other things. I have found and thrown away the items from the same room as…

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris One of the luxuries of having moved to a bigger house is it appears we…

I feel so annoyed I want to scream; so frustrated I want to cry and so demoralised I want a hug. I was planning on writing a post about our exciting visit to a steam…

September is fast approaching and I’m getting the impression many parents are looking forward to their children starting school. But I’m not. I know some of my issue is the unknown, but the key thing…

Within an hour of meeting Millie I knew she liked singing and gymnastics; see the video below. By bedtime I’d been told she liked horse riding and ice skating, and most strangely that most of…

Have you seen this worksheet for cleaning your house by Life on Paper? It really appeals to be me because it is both a process and a checklist; plus this should make the cleaning quicker…

We had a busy outdoor weekend, which is good because people keep telling me this nice weather is our summer!. Our new garden I’ve shared pictures of some of the interesting features in our new…

When I was growing up my Mum’s handbag had a reputation for being full and containing some strange items such as a metal key to tighten tennis nets. For many years I wasn’t a fan…

Blue jeans are the most beautiful things since the gondola. Diana Vreeland I’m not the best clothes shopper. I find shopping exhausting and depressing, because I find it difficult to see through the mass of clothes…

We’re stuck on the remodelling of our new house. We’ve agreed we don’t want a separate dining room, but can’t decide what to do with the space; make a kitchen dining room or a lounge dining room….

Spring has finally happened in the UK and the forecast for the long weekend was sunny and warm, so we were all off to Dorset with my in-laws. Unfortunately our plans dramatically changed with me…

I’ve been inspired by the BBC programme the Great British Sewing Bee, especially as it has combined with the rediscovery of my materials and patterns during our house move. They were packed up 4 years ago…

We’ve only been in our new house for just over two months, but we are already settling into a routine for Saturday mornings, and it is has something for the whole family to enjoy. We…

Eleven months after putting our house on the market we’ve moved in to our “family” house. We initially accepted an offer after 10 days and had already found a house we like so thought it…

I assumed in our own house we would have the power to decide what we did to it and to choose our own service providers. However this appears not to be the case with telecommunications….

We are in the process of selling our house and have done several thing to improve the appearance for buyers such as reducing our belongings. One of the major activities was painting the hall way,…

My mum recently died after fighting cancer for 10 months. It came as a shock to everyone in the family because the original diagnosis was very positive. I spoke at her funeral and evening prayers…

Title page of an illustrated manuscript of Bartholomew Sharpe’s diary, made by William Hacke, 1680s. Gift of H.P. Kraus, 1979. I suspect many journal writers want absolute privacy for their writing, but are secretly curious…

I am continuing with my resolution to read The Assassin’s Cloak every day and I love the extract from Evelyn Waugh’s diary so much I wanted to share it. I’d love to think my letters…

The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. I’ve read repeatedly to use positive thinking to help achieve my goals and it is something I’ve consciously tried to do for…

There is no reason why you can’t start a journal in the middle of the year. In fact, why wait? Here are some tips to get started including how to fill blanks pages if you’re…

Two weeks ago I gave birth to my son, almost exactly three years after my daughter; arriving the day before her birthday. It was a very different experience as he arrived within 3.5 hours of…

Why do you keep a task list? Have you really thought about why? At work it is fairly obvious, I’m expected to accomplish certain things as part of my job; therefore I need to be…

Journals started off as a private record, think of Samuel Pepys, one of the earliest known journals written in code so other people could not read it. With the establishment of mass communications came the…

Photograph by PatCastaldo A wheel of life aims to highlight the areas of your life that you need to give more attention (or areas where you need to give less) so you can work towards…

In a simplistic view, habits define your life. They are the little things that you do each day without thinking and enable you to focus on other things. Think how much less time you would…

I’ve been wanting to change my hosting company for some time and after a year or so, I eventually signed up with a new hosting company, 5quid host. However, I didn’t move my blog. The…

I have undertaken monthly reviews as well as wheel of life reviews for some time, however I felt I should be getting more out of these reviews to ensure I was working towards my goals….

Every year Cancer Rearch UK organise a series of women only 5km (3 mile) sponsored runs across the UK. Although they are called Race for Life everyone gets a medal as the aim is to…

I started drawing regular wheel of life diagrams in 2007, although it has been several months since my last one. I’ve been thinking about introducing them as a regular exercise again so I thought I…

Every project needs to come to an end, but what do you do if not all the parties agree on the completion? My biggest project this year has been my pregnancy and unfortunately my baby…

So in 3 months I should be a mother, and to date we have not done any preparation. It is starting to dawn on me that we need to do something soon, but I’m not…

You may have noticed my posting has been somewhat erratic over the last few months and its not because I’ve lost interest in writing on my blog, in fact its quite the opposite I’ve got…

Got up at about 8 to get read for squash coaching at school. I remembered (at the last minute) I needed a pack lunch. Got sandwiches and left overs of pix and mix + some…

Had maths + French. Missed Geog because of speech day practice … When we started Miss G was waving her arms all over the place and we couldn’t stop laughing … We did netball at…

.. Maths is worse I hate it. We used the machines in French I felt so embarrassed because Mrs Hyham might be listening to me. In PE we did real movement with twinkly music. Latin…

… D says I can’t get the stereo and that I can’t get any more equipment but when I have paid D for Nintendo I am go to save up. He can’t stop me. And…

I got up. Listened to dirty dancing (I’ve had) the time of my life and Love is strange on the way to bus … Art + Design was okay … Needlework is getting worse a…

Got up caught bus … Chemistry was good we saw what they use in fireworks. In English we talked about a talk we’re each going to give I decided to do the Niagara Falls (I’m…

Woke up at 7 when H’s alarm went off. Went back to sleep woke up at 9.30. H woke up at 9.50. Watched Walt Disney Club played mousetrap H won … Got dressed played park…

I got up about 7 had breakfast, packed my things and got my piano book. Mum was complaining I was going too slow, but in the end I was waiting for her. Piano lesson awful…

I woke up before 7 and I started getting worried because I thought my mum might forget to get me up. But she did remember … I left my books in my locker so after…

People who keep journals have life twice. Jessamyn West American writer (1902 – 1984) As I have started rereading my journals I am thinking about adding the post in to some software so I can…

Got up and got dressed got bus … Was early to school … Read up to page 46 in When Hitler stole pink rabbit … Sports hall was quite good. H beat me at squash…

I had heard Mum and Dad’s alarm go off so I thought they hadn’t heard it so I got up at ten past and got a wash … English was dead good we carried on…

Time really does go quickly when you’re busy and I can’t believe it has been a month since I last did this exercise. Unfortunately, because I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to put…

Dad woke me up at quarter past 7. Got dressed. Got bus … Was nearly late … History was even more boring than yesterday. Mrs V is getting worse ideas but the material’s nice. Went…

I woke up at 7 o’clock when alarm went off, went back to sleep until 7.15 when dad came to wake me. Got dressed had breakfast and went to catch bus … I got to…

I woke up at ten to eight. My bedside light wasn’t working so I had to get out of bed to turn my main light on. I started reading Tricolore (the French book) and I…

I didn’t get out of bed for ages but I was bored. I went to see Mum and looked at her magazines … Got dressed in green tracksuit. Had to go outside and through the…

Do you know how you would react if a fight happened in front of you? It is not something that I’ve ever thought about because I’ve never even seen a fight. However I was unfortunate…

When things start getting difficult you know things do not progress as you would like,  so subconsciously you stop measuring them. I can not believe that the last wheel of life review I did was…

Why is it I always seem to get my books upside down? I didn’t know whether I should start this when I started school. I saw K’s old one and decided to one even if…

What do you do with journal entries after  writing them, is something I’ve wondered a few times recently. The only time I have looked back over posts is when I have typed them up in…

If you’re thinking about how to start a journal, it is important to know the only correct way is the way that works for you. Key things to consider or whether you want to write…

UPDATE: here is my wheel of life review and my tips for using wheel of life Hmm, has anything changed since this time in September? I think if I haven’t made progress then I have…

This is a question I’ve been asking myself recently. I’ve kept a diary on and off since I was eleven and feel that my life is more productive when I keep one. In recent years…

Tomorrow is the final of the Rugby World Cup when England will play South Africa, defending the title they won in 2003. Four years ago the English team went to the world cup number one…

After bumping into Priscilla Palmer at the Personal Development Partners forum she has kindly added this blog to her list of personal development sites. It is likely that you have already seen a version of…

I think organising bookshelves can be either very exciting or very dull depending on your mind set going in to the task. I like to think of it as an adventure to rediscover the treasure…

Its nice to know you are individual. I was lucky through school because it was rare that I was in a class with another Kate. This meant I was unique and I didn’t need to…

Okay, I admit it, that title is fabricated a little bit, it should really say I used to be a cyclist. I used to go on holiday where we cycled to all the locations we…

I’ve never really understood how to clean, having never done it as a child so I’d try and do everything in one go and then get fed up. When I first read this book I…

Links to this book on Amazon I have to admit this book irritated me from the start. There is so much unused space on each page I got the impression the publishers were trying to…

Our choice of words, our choice of language, is vital for achieving brilliance How to be brilliant I am continuing to work through How to Be Brilliant and have just finished the section on positive…

While looking for a book to take on a business trip, I noticed I had previously bought another book on goals, How to Be Brilliant by Michael Heppell and as I’d never read it I…

I have been procrastinating on writing this post because I haven’t wanted to think about how I would benefit from more exercise. In my post What is happiness? I listed exercise as one component that…

Things didn’t go as I expected over the past week. My new role involves an increased amount of time out of the office, but I thought with my new organisation system that I could easily…

The second component of happiness I’m going to consider is attractiveness. I know there is little I can do about my features (without taking drastic action) but I know I can do more with what…

I’ve chosen to consider how sleep affects my happiness first because I think it has the most obvious effect. You know when you’re tired everything will be just that little bit harder, things will irritate…

For many years, whenever I’ve been asked what my goal in life is I’ve said happiness. However, I’ve never really thought through what that means. I think I always thought that happiness was something that…

Patrick Holford puts forward simple suggestion on how to beat stress and fatigue. However all of them are long term solutions and not ‘quick’ fixes. He explains that stress and fatigue are both symptoms of…

I did a really good job of losing weight and toning up for my wedding. However in the year and a half since I’ve put on over a stone and I hate to admit it,…

Thanks to a bookcrossing ring started by urbanspaceman I had the opportunity to read Making Happy People: The Nature of Happiness and Its Origins in Childhood by Paul Martin. The book starts at the logical…