The Happiness Blog

Last week I lost my temper. I arrived into JFK airport after a long flight, and joined the queue for immigration. Because I’d already got an Esta, I could use the same process as the Americans, but despite this, all foreigners were ushered into a separate queue that...

As anyone who has read my blog before will know, I spend a lot of time pondering the ingredients of happiness. So much of it seems situational - I’ve been very happy working incredibly hard, and very unhappy working incredibly hard, depending on the job. I’ve had a...

One of the more recent steps I’ve taken to increase my happiness is to start going to a regular dance class. I sat down and wrote a list of things that made me happy, and then considered how I could do more of them. Climbing and dancing were right up there on the...

Happiness is hard work. This isn’t what anyone wants to hear, and you might not agree. We have all watched friends transform from miserable to happy as a result of a new relationship, a new job or some other change in life circumstances. And life circumstances clearly...

Are farmers happier than musicians? Do members of the clergy feel more satisfied with their lives than politicians? Are people happier in better paid jobs? The ONS has been collecting the data for the past three years, and What Works Wellbeing (a Government-funded...

So last week I wrote about how to cope with other people’s negative emotions. The following day, the Brexit result was announced. The result packed such a big emotional punch that even though I normally try to keep out of politics, I felt I had to write about it....