Seven Connecting Habits
In a previous column I spoke about seven habits which are damaging and destructive to any relationship. No matter how strong and healthy the relationship is at the beginning, if the people in the relationship start using the disconnecting habits of criticising, threatening, punishing, blaming, complaining, nagging or rewarding to control, eventually that relationship will […]
Seven Disconnecting Habits
All of us have learned many habits of behaviour from the day we were born. Some of those habits will get us closer to those we care about whilst others will drive us further apart. How well we meet our needs in life and how deeply content and happy we are is directly related to […]
Dopamine Detox
There is an emerging problem in our society, and it is evident in our schools and preschools. Children are so used to having every moment of their lives filled with stimulating activity that they find it near impossible to sit down and participate in normal everyday activities. This behaviour can look very much like ADHD […]
Toxic or Tonic masculinity, it’s a choice!
In modern society many men are at a loss as to how to behave, they are ambivalent about their identity and roles in society and are overly influenced by the simple models they find on social media. An example of this is to be found in the comments of Andrew Tate amongst others, who promote […]
Olympic joy is fleeting
With the Olympic Games in its second week it is an opportune time to discuss why so many people are interested, perhaps even totally absorbed by them. For some it can seem hard to understand how and why so many people become so fascinated with sports and people they pay little or no attention to […]
Keep your brain young
At first keeping our brain young might seem like a strange and impossible idea but huge advances in our understanding of the brain from the field of neuroscience is yielding fascinating results. It is obvious that our brain is biologically the same age as our body, but what if we could improve its function so […]
Own your anger
Anger is as relevant a feeling as any of the positive feelings we experience. It exists for a reason and is an important part of the fight flight response to perceived threat. When presented with a threat our primitive brain makes a quick assessment. If we think we can win, or are cornered and believe […]
Kids need unstructured play
Parents today often feel immense pressure to sign their children up to activities like sport , music, dance, art, gymnastics and many others. Those parents then spend huge amounts of time and money running around making sure their children experience these structured and timetabled experiences. To be sure there are many benefits to be had […]
DIY for mental wellbeing
Well, who would have thought that DIY could be a genuine promoter of mental health and wellbeing? Given the frustrations that can occur with DIY it may seem odd to talk about the mental health benefits, but they are real and varied. It doesn’t matter whether the DIY project is for an entire house makeover […]
Soul mates are made, not found
Romantic novels and movies are filled with the idea that there is a soul mate out there for each and every one of us, and if we just wait long enough we will stumble upon them and live happily ever after. While I enjoy a good rom/com as much as the next person, I am […]