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Archive for the ‘what i’m reading’ Category

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François Lelord on happiness

In happiness, what i'm reading on April 20, 2010 at 11:34 am

French psychaitrist François Lelord’s book Hector and the Search for Happiness has sold over 2.5 million copies. I remember reading about it when it first came out and was struck by what he’d achieved. His novel is different to my happiness research project in that it’s a story, but the aim is quite similar – to try and unpick what happiness means to us today.

Lelord’s starting point of a modern context is similar to mine. Hector — a psychiatrist like Lelord — sets off around the world to discover the ingredients for happiness because he can’t bear to see his patients so sad. The first person he meets is a banker: wealth, it seems, is one of the great stumbling blocks to happiness. It’s almost like the story of the Buddha, who wanders from person to person, taking advice and contributing to his own thought processes as he goes.

But perhaps the conclusions of this book are rather different to mine. In an interview in The Times today he says:

“I felt rather embarrassed at first as a Frenchman writing about happiness because I always think we are so grumpy at work. Waiters and taxi drivers can be rude. But we often top happiness polls. Happiness is a good glass of wine, the perfect cheese and conversation.

“The British don’t benefit from these things in the same way. In France we think of drink as making us happy because we don’t get drunk, it is a social activity; food is to be savoured rather than an obesity problem, and friendships and family are valued.”

Sex is another problem for the British. “In France we are open about the fact that sex can make you happy — it’s part of French folklore. In Britain you are more obsessed with shopping but that is a passive happiness. Your children love computer games that give them a high but they don’t provide the same contentment as climbing a tree. On the other hand, weather in Britain can make you very happy — you appreciate a sunny day.”

Read the full article on The Times website.

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Museopunk is shutting down

In Museums, what i'm reading on April 19, 2010 at 11:19 am

I just had an email from the enigmatic blogger newcurator, who I follow from time to time. Whoever he is, he’s got a good eye for a story and a witty turn of phrase and I always enjoy reading his provocative posts. I’ve also been enjoying following his forum, Museopunk, where people from the museum sector share ideas about museum futures.

It turns out that Ning.com (the service that runs Museopunk) will be closing its free service. Boo!

But, Pete says: “I’m not done with forums. I hope to get a new one set up soon.
I suggest going here and signing up to the newsletter. Big plans afoot so that’s the best place to find out.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed here. I hope the discussions can continue on the new format.”
I wonder what his big plans are?! If you’re into museums and fun ideas being shared on the Internet, then sign up to his list and see what happens!

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What’s all the skype about?

In what i'm reading on April 9, 2010 at 12:15 pm

So, after a long time with my head in the sand, I’ve registered as a skype user.

I like to think of myself as fairly well-versed when it comes to the online world, but I do now have to admit to feeling a bit like a grandparent.

How do I make a call? Who would I call if I wanted to? How will they know I want to talk to them? Do we have to arrange a time to be online?

There are a few blogs out there my pro-skypers, so I might start taking a look. Or can anyone recommend one to me, perhaps?

It’s all been prompted by my best friend moving to Australia. After numerous leaving parties and fare-thee-wells he and his partner have finally moved overseas – they both have jobs in Sydney. So I guess I’d better get talking to him then.

And if anyone else wants to say hi, my username, id, whatever it’s called is steve-slack.

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Happiness formula?

In happiness, what i'm reading on March 21, 2010 at 12:04 pm

A few years ago the BBC ran a series of programmes and web articles about happiness, and the potential ‘formulas’ to which one might subscribe in order to try and achieve it.

I remember at the time that this was a rather interesting prospect and have, since then, began working on a book about happiness. The idea is to unpack how we think about happiness in a modern context, by looking back at what’s been written in the past and by talking to people today about how they relate to the subject.

I use this website almost as a repository for my ideas and research into the subject of happiness and what it means to us today, so while  I am here directing any readers of this blog toward the BBC’s archive of the programmes,  I’m also jotting it down for myself as an aide memoire.

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What does Susan Sarandon think about happiness?

In happiness, what i'm reading on March 10, 2010 at 4:59 pm

I’ve been following what some celebrities have been saying about happiness of late, just to get an idea of what it means to them – or at least what they say it means through their media people.

The latest to come out with her thoughts on happiness is Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon, who claims that happiness keeps her young.

The 63-year-old she also takes care of her appearance by avoiding cigarettes.
“Don’t smoke,” she said. “It’s just so bad for your complexion. And I guess be as happy as possible. That really helps.”

Sarandon also revealed that she has a good relationship with her children, adding: “It’s nice to have something in common with your kids… All my kids really are curious and energetic and interested in things.” She concluded: “I hate to sound like the old hippy I am, but I think that even the bad stuff can turn into good stuff. Every day is a miracle, right?”

So nothing really new there, but an interesting perspective. And her attitude towards happiness fits into some of my major family of ideas about what happiness means to us today: Don’t smoke (investing in health), good skin (investing in appearance), energetic (physical stimulation), interesting things (mental stimulation), every day is a miracle (positivity).

Thanks to Digital Spy for the lead.

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Rachel Weisz and happiness

In happiness, what i'm reading on February 20, 2010 at 4:18 pm

You might think that health is important part of happiness, but actress Rachel Weisz has declared quite the reverse, stating that “happiness is the secret to health”. She also said that a happy home life is the key to looking good.

In an interview recently she told a reporter: “I’m pretty healthy but I don’t have any fad diets or anything. I eat meat and drink alcohol, but everything in moderation,” she said. “I think happiness is the secret to health.”

Last week Weisz won Best Actress at the What’s On Stage theatre awards for her role in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse. That’s probably going to make her pretty happy as well!

So do you need to be happy to be healthy? I suppose general well-being does reduce stress in one’s life and being less up tight or axious is going to be good for our bodies. But is it essential, I wonder?

Do you need to be healthy to be happy then? Well yes, I think so, because an unhealthy body does lead to an unhealthy mind.

Perhaps we’ll just say for now that the two are definitely linked. I’ll ponder how linked they are though as I continue my research into the subject as part of my research project into the nature of happiness in modern society.

I found the story about Rachel Weisz and the quotes on Digital Spy.

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Thought for the Day – Anne Atkins

In happiness, what i'm reading on December 9, 2009 at 10:55 am

Anne Atkins’ Thought for the Day yesterday morning reflected on the Young Foundation’s report into the psychological needs of people in Britain today – Sinking and Swimming: understanding Britain’s unmet needs, which dwells on the nature of depression.

We know a great deal more about depression than we used to. It’s an illness – some people get it and some people don’t. In many cases it’s treatable and there are tremendous success stories in how, as a society, we are dealing with it. Still, it’s now reckoned that 1 in 4 of us will experience depression of some sort during our lives. I find that a rather shocking statistic, and a very sobering one when I’m presently dwelling on what makes us happy, not what makes us unhappy.

Through my research into the nature of happiness and from talking to lots of people about what makes them tick it has become clear to me that, for many, the only way to truly understand what makes us happy is to to understand what makes us unhappy.

Anne Atkins thinks she knows where the root of this unhappiness lies in the very nature of society itself. She says:
“Depression is linked to two objective factors: relationships, and material well-being. As society becomes more fractured so we become more wretched. And the greater the disparity grows between rich and poor, the more dejected we become. The way to happiness would seem clear, if not easy. Better relationships and a fairer world.”While acknowledging that the theraputic treatments available for those who are depressed are valid, she seems to suggest that people just need to man up and get over their depression. That tears are good for us sometimes and, as I suggest here, the happier moments in life have to go hand in hand with the unhappier ones.  But I think she’s confusing unhappiness (a state of mind for many) with depression (an illness). She’s surely getting confused when she suggests that to get over depression, all you need do is find happiness. I’m no expert on the subject, but I’m pretty sure it’s more complicated that than.

She quotes Oscar Wilde: “Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground.” Depression is much more than sorrow, more than feeling down or simply being unhappy. It’s a chemical inbalance that affects an entire person. Unhappiness and depression are different beasts.

Of course, Thought for the Day is a moment of religious contemplation and yesterday’s speaker seems to suggest that looking forward to a time when there will no longer be any sorrow (I assume she means the end of time for Judeo-Christians) we will have something positive to focus on.

I really don’t agree with her conclusions.  You can read the full transcript of what she said on the BBC website.

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Jurassic motivations

In Museums, what i'm reading on September 30, 2009 at 10:21 am

We had a great meeting of the King’s College London museums reading group yesterday. It’s a forum where academics working in social aspects of museums studies – and educational theory – get together with professionals from the museum sector and discuss the latest papers relating to our work and research. We take a different topic each time – this latest gathering was devoted to four studies of motivations amongst museum visitors.

We read:
The effect of visitors’ agenda on museum learning (Falk, Moussouri, Coulson, 1998) – still one of the most quoted papers on motivational theory. Breaks down the idea that education and entertainment are not indeed opposite ends of the visiting spectrum, but are actually continua which run in parallel.

Motivational factors and the visitor experience: a comparison of three sites (Packer, Ballantyne, 2002) – an Australian study which moves on to the next step and calls for ‘a common theoretical foundation for interpretation in museum other informal learning settings’.

Personality and motivation in visitor satisfaction (Yalowitzm 2002) – a PhD summary comparing cognitive and sensory needs and experiences in three Coloardo visitor attractions.

Accessing and incorporating visitors’ entrance narratives enchances guided museum tours (Tsybluskaya, Dodick, Camhi, 2009) – a great piece of research looking at getting museums visitors talking about a subject before they encounter it, in order that a guided tour might dwell on their expectations.

We talked around these and other pieces of research and ended up looking at examples of museum practice which take us out of our comfort zone – which challenge not only our motivations, but also our expectations of a visit. I’m so pleased we got to discuss the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, a long time favourite of mine where the very notion of  a museum is broken down. I’ve flicked through the guide book again this morning and I still don’t really understand what it’s all about. It’s just brilliant.

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Happy Monday all

In happiness, what i'm reading on August 24, 2009 at 9:45 am

It turns out that Mondays aren’t that bad after all. In fact, they’re the second happiest day of the week.

This piece in The Guardian reports a really interesting piece of research – a long-term study of the content of blogs and their relation to collective happiness. They trawled through a load of content and analysed how ‘happy’ people were by what they were writing. Words like joy, happiness and fun got put in one bracket, while words like sad, boring and loss went in another. And then they looked at not only who was happiest, but when we are happiest. 

There are countless ways of measuring happiness, all of which have their flaws, but this seems like a clever way of indicating happiness on a global scale.

According to this methodology, Obama’s first day in office was the happiest for the world in a while. Interesting stuff. It’s all reported in full in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

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101 ways to feel happy

In happiness, what i'm reading on July 30, 2009 at 8:16 am

There are plenty of these lists of things that make us happy bouncing around the Internet, but I was quite taken with this one, which I discovered today. It’s reasonably self-explanatory:

101 ways to feel happy by motivational writer Annabel Candy.

Also, do take a look at her seven reasons to go for a good walk. I quite agree.

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