Relating to others
The Importance of Trust
If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Trust is fundamental to life. If you cannot trust in anything, life becomes intolerable
You can’t have relationships without trust, let alone good ones. Intimacy depends on it. I suspect more marriages are wrecked by lack of trust than by [...]
Keeping Your Identity While Fitting In
How you can be yourself and a valued member of the group at the same time
When joining any organization, try not to let yourself become part of group mediocrity. Keep hold of the ability to think for yourself and keep a strong sense of walking your own path. Choosing wisely can mean you get [...]
A happy ship is an efficient ship
If people are contented, they are more likely to form friendships, be prepared to help each other out, and spend time working out how they can solve problems together.
Watching the movie “In Which We Serve” I was interested to see how Noel Coward, as the Captain of a destroyer, addressed his men. He called [...]
Everyday fiction: thoughts on the stories we tell ourselves
When it comes to telling others what happened, do you prefer dull truth or exciting fiction?
Do you like to hear other people’s views of what’s happening in the news — or would you prefer to find out for yourself? Do you want the ‘truth’; or do you want a good story? How much of what [...]
Dealing with incompatible filters
Your values act like filters for everything you see and hear.
You respond to the world through a different set of mental filters than everyone else. What’s important to you isn’t so compelling to others and vice versa. The trouble is, they don’t recognize it as a simple difference—and nor do you, most of the [...]
Why it matters to be grateful
Ignoring what you owe to others is a destructive habit
It’s worthwhile slowing down from time to time to consider the path you are driving through the lives of those around you. Every day, we all say and do things that impact others. Mostly, we are quite unaware of what we have done. It might even [...]
What trouble am I causing to others?
Sometimes, living a slower life means taking the time to cause fewer problems to others, as well as to yourself
We all spend time and attention—usually plenty of both—focused on the trouble and difficulties we think other people cause us. But how often do you stop to consider what trouble you cause to others? Maybe someone [...]
What’s the best basis for happiness?
What you need to leave space for in your busy life
Happiness is different things to different people. There’s almost certainly no one set of items that can guarantee to deliver happiness to everyone.
There are, however, a small number of desirables that seem to come up again and again in the many lists of “happiness providers” [...]
Is being right really worth it?
The urge to be right is a potent source of needless stress and unhappiness
Many of the quarrels and fights that mar people’s lives come down to one, simple cause: the urge to be right—and to prove it by forcing someone else to admit that they are wrong.
Is it truly worth it?
The problem isn’t whether [...]
What makes teenaged children happy?
It’s probably not what you imagine.
One of the greatest benefits of slower living is the chance to spend time with those people who are most important to you. If you’re always hurtling around, rushed off your feet, there will be no time for anything but the tasks ahead of you. What kind of life is [...]
