Most of us have realised the degree to which negative thinking undermines our success and creates unhappiness. Continue Reading →
Archive | Life columns & features 14-15
Pleasure & eudemonia
22/11/2014 Artwork by Sturt Krygsman.
In most religions the pursuit of pleasure is frowned on. Interestingly, the Dalai Lama preaches what may be considered the opposite, that our happiness and joy are nothing short of the very meaning of life. Continue Reading →
Less religion, more spirituality
Shaman Festivals, Suhuri temple
I HAVE apparently offended people unknowingly with my recent video and interview series on the inner lives of our business leaders: Total Success, which can still be found online. Continue Reading →
No time like the present
Illustration: Sturt Krygsman
IT’S that time of year again when we make resolutions, and each year I make the same one: to stop my chronic procrastination. An estimated 20 per cent of people do it constantly. And it’s been proven to have an adverse effect on health and certainly the hip pocket. Continue Reading →
Driven over the edge
Breakdowns echoes the self-destruction of many business, celebrity and political elite in recent times, including sporting greats Lance Armstrong and Oscar Pistorius. Continue Reading →
Parenting via social media
As a mother I’m very blessed. I have a daughter who shares with me all her most intimate secrets: from where she goes at night; what she wears; her taste in music and favourite pubs; and what she really feels. It’s a profound relationship. Except that it happens on Facebook. The blessing is that I’ve been “friended” and, along with thousands other people, can get to know and understand my daughter’s life. Continue Reading →
Hypocrisy on parade
I ONCE got to know someone who was a philanthropist and humanist. He spent a lot of time overseas helping children in war-torn countries. His focus was on landmines and the kids who were being maimed as they played. He didn’t just give money; he gave his time. Continue Reading →
Simplicity is the secret
Recently, while surfing online, I came across a story that really inspired me. It was about a concept called Voluntary Simplicity, where middle-class people decide to downsize and get off the treadmill, which we all know keeps turning until someone dies or decides to jump off. Continue Reading →
Swerve to avoid nanny state
One of the most frightening experiences of my life was in Delhi during a trip to India when our taxi driver began driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, which not only included fast cars and trucks but also, unbelievably, a herd of buffalo walking along the curb towards us. Continue Reading →
Different shades of darkness
IN the wake of the death of Robin Williams, I want to go back and revisit depression and the mythology around a condition which will be the second most disabling illness in the world by 2020 behind heart disease. Continue Reading →