Author: Michele Connolly

Choose to be happier – and you will be.

How NOT to be Happy Tip 8: Be neurotic

This is the eighth of 10 tips for unwavering woe. To weed happiness out of your life, there’s a herbicide you can trust – neuroticism. Nurturing your inner neurotic requires: an overwrought pre-occupation with the minutiae of your life an unflinching determination to exaggerate every miniscule worry a resolute dedication to wax miserable to anyone who will listen –… Continue reading How NOT to be Happy Tip 8: Be neurotic

Someone’s watching you

I was cycling at the gym the other day when the guy on the next bike started chatting. (The etiquette of working out is a whole other topic on which I’d love to rant but, at least for now, won’t.) I removed an earbud, and he asked what I was listening to. ‘An audiobook’, I puffed. ‘You and… Continue reading Someone’s watching you

Compliment karma

I’m rather loose when it comes to compliments. I sprinkle those babies like chocolate on my triple-shot cappuccino. It’s almost embarrassing how often I catch myself telling a complete stranger she looks hot in her boots or mentioning to a service person that his knowledge is a huge help. I love how a sincere compliment… Continue reading Compliment karma

Maybe you can’t think yourself out, but don’t think yourself in

An article in yesterday’s SMH reported a new study showing that “people with clinical depression may be unable to ‘snap out of it’ because of faulty wiring in the brain”. Here’s what the study did. Depressed and non-depressed people were shown unpleasant images such as car accidents in order to induce negative feelings. They were then… Continue reading Maybe you can’t think yourself out, but don’t think yourself in

Compass Program on Happiness & Its Causes 2007 – Sunday 19 August

This program is to be broadcast in Australia on Sunday night. I understand it will include highlights of a panel discussion during the conference I attended in Sydney in June. The Dalai Lama’s characteristic wisdom, humour and humility shone trough (how many people are so willing to say ‘I don’t know’?). In terms of the other… Continue reading Compass Program on Happiness & Its Causes 2007 – Sunday 19 August

I think, therefore you are: Self-fulfilling prophecies and the laws of physics

Buddha said, ‘With our thoughts, we make our world’. This hit home for me the other day when I met up with an old gym buddy I hadn’t seen in years. She’s not a positive person, but she’s had some awful stuff happen in her life, so I’ve always thought her crappy outlook was understandable.… Continue reading I think, therefore you are: Self-fulfilling prophecies and the laws of physics