The power of self-compassion
A good friend phones to tell you they have lost their job. Would you say: “Of course you did. You’re lazy, stupid and not good enough”? Certainly not. You would probably say something like: “I’m sorry, that’s awful. But you weren’t happy there and now you’re free to find something you like. And you have some amazing skills, you’ll find something suitable soon.”
Can showing gratitude make you happier?
When things are going badly, the furthest thing on your mind might be finding things to be grateful for. It can be difficult to look beyond your troubles and say ‘thanks’ for something. But did you know that if you can learn to do that, it actually helps lift your...
Want to be compassionate, kind and grateful? Want to be happier? Here is how to start!
The Happier app offers a range of personalised, practical strategies to support your aims and put happiness within reach. Research shows that we tend to repeat up to 40% of our behaviour almost daily. This means if we change our habits, we can change our lives—starting today.
Coping with the cost-of-living crisis
Have you noticed how that R500 you’ve just spent now seems to put so much less in your shopping basket?
And if you are filling your tank with petrol, like others, will you be anxiously watching the gauge ticking away – especially since 93 octane can be almost R22/litre.
Worryingly it’s forecast that the petrol price could even jump a further 15% percent, – we might well see petrol at over R25/litre.
Parenting lessons from the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on family life. Social isolation, the increase in screen time, upended routines, distance learning and remote working all changed life as we knew it. But as time went on, the world adapted, and we developed new coping and parenting strategies.
Eventually, positive things emerged. “Families spent more time together, perfectionists learnt to let go, and many discovered a resilience they never knew they had,” says Gen Clarke, a counsellor from Johannesburg.
Help your teen be smart about social media
Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler has made many of us aware of just how cunning tricksters can be and how they use online and social media platforms, from Facebook to WhatsApp, to set their traps. If adults are so easily deceived, just imagine the risks teens are facing online.
Valuable tips on teens and social media
Watch this beautiful young Kenyan woman offering guidance on teens and social media. Her wisdom shows how they can use media to build their inner strength and take their meaningful place in the world.
What’s in your water?
Water is essential for survival, without it, life as we know it, simply wouldn’t exist. But as much as we need water to live, water also has the potential to harm. Whether it’s the floods in KwaZulu Natal, or the serious drought in the Eastern Cape, worries about water abound.
South Africa is one of the few countries in the world where tap water is still regarded as relatively safe to drink…
A Light In The Darkness
Over the last two years, our lives and thoughts have been inundated with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in South Africa especially, we cannot forget another dreadful pandemic that has been raging for decades – HIV /AIDS.
As with COVID-19, the HIV/AIDS pandemic hit us out of nowhere, completely changing our understanding of the world and shattering lives globally. The world stood by in shock as fear, misinformation and panic spread.
E-CIGARETTES AND VAPING – is it the solution to quit smoking?
Despite wanting to quit, many people who smoke find it difficult to stick with it in the long term. Almost half who try to quit without support will not manage to stop for longer than a week, and fewer than 5% are able to keep it up for one year. Several products and services have become available to assist smokers in finally kicking the habit. The ‘quit smoking’ movement has become a growing industry.
Grow Green
If you, and maybe your children, need some motivation to get excited about eating your veggies, have some fun growing from kitchen scraps. Yes, you read it correctly, from vegetable cut-off scraps.
Preparing for the double whammy: Flu season+COVID-19
If there were any positives to come out of the past 2 years living through a pandemic, it was that the annual flu season seemed to be non-existent. While for some, flu means a few days off work, a headache and a tight chest, for vulnerable groups it can be deadly. Every year influenza kills about 10,000 people of five years and older in South Africa, and annually causes millions of cases of severe illness globally resulting hundreds of thousands of deaths.
