By Stephen Russell-Lacy Marital happiness can be hard to sustain. Living with someone can be a lot tougher than living on your own. In a relationship, you must figure out the day-to-day stuff together—money, kids, all of it. That means making decisions as a team and learning to compromise, which isn’t always easy. Couples often have … Continue reading Marital happiness – What matters?
By Stephen Russell-Lacy. Difficult people include those who think they are right all the time and always want to have the last word. Others are nosey and are quick to gossip or invade our privacy leaving us feeling uncomfortable. There are some who want to provoke an emotional reaction in us and so wind us up … Continue reading Difficult people – How to get on
By Stephen Russell-Lacy. At the time of writing, normal politics in the UK is on hold. At least nothing much is happening until the issue of Brexit is resolved – if it is to be resolved. The country is divided sometimes bitterly so. Add to this social division the normal conflict between conservative, liberal and socialist … Continue reading Social division – How to reduce it?
By Stephen Russell-Lacy Watching the matches in the FIFA world cup, I notice that the national line-ups apparently vary as to team spirit. You might wonder why this matters. Why is team spirit important? What brings it about? And what hinders it? Sweden’s team spirit After eliminating very good teams, Holland and Italy … Continue reading Team spirit – What causes it?
If you have heard of the personal benefits of the spiritual practice of prayer, you may be curious about how to start to pray in private. Most major religions involve prayer. We can pray out loud or silently. One way is to follow material already written. We can read or remember it. I use the … Continue reading Pray – How to start?
Do you ever take some one for granted? They will do what you want – so no worries. You may feel okay about this but there may be signs of discontent from the other person – whether this is your spouse or child at home or colleague or subordinate at work. You suspect they may … Continue reading Manipulate – Do you unwittingly do this?
I suppose it is natural for us to feel resentful when others demean us, frustrate us or do us harm. I feel resentful about how Sharon spoke to me. Not what she said, but how she said it – shouting and slamming the phone down. It’s not as if this were a one-off: there have … Continue reading Resentful – How can I stop this feeling?
Do you trust senior members of your organisation to get it right or to be a credible source of information? Do you trust the constant stream of commercial messages and political spin to which you are exposed. What can be done to help to build trust? Benefits of trust within an organisation and community Organisational … Continue reading Build trust — How to help my organisation.
In the fairy tale The Adventures of Pinocchio, the title character is the opposite of cynical. He is a gullible puppet who is repeatedly duped by other characters. Part of his transformation, into a human being, is learning to avoid becoming too trusting, while still exercising empathy. A popular test of gullibility is to tell … Continue reading Cynical or too trusting? Where is a happy medium?
You want to experience the Christmas spirit but you feel uneasy. You will be with the relatives and in-laws, whom perhaps you don’t often see, and you want it to go well without too much family drama. But you know you will be spending a lot of time with perhaps a person or two you … Continue reading Christmas spirit – How do I foster it?