We know that, if adults in homes and schools are happy, then the children around them are more likely to be happy too. Similarly, when children are happy, it rubs off on us grown-ups. Well, it does usually. I am writing this at 7am on Sunday morning, having come away for a leisurely weekend to a beautiful village in deepest, darkest...
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Recent News
You might think it's a bit odd that a happiness expert is writing about being unhappy? However the obsession the media and government seem to have with happiness has lead me to want to set the record straight. It’s OK to be unhappy - even on International Day of Happiness. Let me start by saying I am a firm believer in...
At ten years old and in Year 6, my youngest of three is perched on the edge of childhood. Any parent with a child of the same age will recognise the time, where you start see the first indications of a transition. It is an inevitable rite of passage when a little girl or boy begins to leave a few of...
As we charge headfirst into February, hands up if a) you made a New Year’s Resolution a month or so ago, and b) you are still on track to achieve it. Mmmmm, I thought not! If you want to know the percentage of people who fail to keep their New Year’s Resolutions, there are various statistics at the push of an internet search...
“The world economy no longer pays you for what you know; Google knows everything. The world economy pays you for what you can do with what you know.” – Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills for the OECD. We are, it appears living in a world of unprecedented change, which is giving rise to a severe skills gap. According to inaugural...
The world of work is changing at a head-spinning rate and opportunity for positive change comes in many forms. Smart organisations are embracing factors such as Brexit, changes in traditional patterns of employment, technological advances and shifts in customer behaviour to create robust, future-fit cultures. The future is arriving faster than many suspected or planned for but with the right knowledge...
If you choose to get swept along with ‘Blue Monday’ theory today - the pseudoscience designed to persuade you that unhappiness is inevitable - you may as well go back to bed now, only making the effort to click online for the purchase that will surely fix you. The Blue Monday myth was originally used as a marketing ploy by a...
With shocking news recently that a quarter of girls and 1 in 10 boys are showing signs of depression at the age of 14 it is imperative that young people understand about cognitive function and emotions (I was 25 when I started to find out). Understanding how the brain works allows us to re-set, re-frame, re-think and reflect when it is...
No one likes to be told they are biased. Most progressive, modern people in business would like to think they are open-minded, gender neutral and non-discriminatory. The stats, however, tell a different story. Barely 3% of Britain’s most powerful and influential people are from black and minority ethnic groups, according to analysis that highlights inequality, despite decades of legislation to address discrimination....
Has Health and Safety gone mad? That was certainly the message from Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, in a recent article about the safety culture in schools. Ms Spielman said that, in her opinion, some of the measures that school staff go to, to keep children safe, are ‘simply barmy.’ From the examples she gave, we have to agree. It does...
