Justin's HappyMap

Check out my new blog www.happymap.com/blog

2013-11-17T19:51:00.001+00:00

Where have you been?

I've missed you and would love you to subscribe to my new blog.

I've written lots of new blogs which you might like. For example:

What's the ONE thing making you unhappy?

It would really make my day if you'll became a regular visitor again.

Regards

Justin

Goodbye Blogger, my new blog is here...

2013-09-01T10:47:00.000+01:00

If you've ever read any of my posts here and have liked any of them (even if you haven't and you're reading this by some quirk of fate) I would love you to follow me on my brand new shiny blog, which is HERE

If you want the address its:

www.HappyMap.com/blog

Thank you very much for supporting me on here or and by the way, there's something special on my new blog, that may be of interest to you ;-)

I've stopped blogging......

2013-08-05T10:59:00.001+01:00

....for now, on this platform.

Thank you if you've read some of my posts here, I really apprecaite it.

I'm about to launch my new blog and I'd be delighted if you could follow that one instead.

I'll be updating details here soon.

The Royal baby, why the fuss?

2013-07-23T10:06:00.000+01:00

I'm not a royalist and the cynic in me says, "Why all the fuss?"

There's 370,000 babies born everyday in the world and everyone of them is amazing in their uniqueness. Why should Will and Kate's baby be given an preferential treatment?

If there is one thing we can point too that is wrong with this world, its inequality.

At the very same time that we push ourselves away from our dinner tables, due to us being too full to eat another mouthful, there are people in the world dying of starvation.

As we are filling up our paddling pools for our children to play in, there is a child some where in the world, walking miles just to get some clean water for them to survive on and who have probably known family members die from contaminated water.

The royal family, generations back, only came to rule because they were the best at warring and stealing land, not qualities that should necessarily be applauded but due to this unpleasantness being way back in history, people are happy to forget.

Which makes me ask the question: would any atrocity be forgiven by the general public, no matter how evil the character that committed it was, as long as it was buried sufficiently in the distant past?

As I watched, on TV, the throng of expectant people waiting outside St Mary's hospital in London, before the royal announcement, I questioned why they didn't question their own reasons, for doing exactly what they were doing.

Then it dawned on me.

The people who are happy about the royal announcement, are just that... happy. So this is a happy news story and in my mind there's not enough good news stories out there.

It's seems the agenda for most news networks these days is, "If it doesn't bleed it doesn't lead".

So even though I'm not a royalist, as far as I can make out, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge giving birth is good news and therefore welcome.

Ps - I wrote this before the announcement of a name but I have a funny feeling they will be going with Vince. Hey come on, who wouldn't want a son known as Prince Vince?

2013-07-22T21:51:00.005+01:00

Two years ago we moved to the South Coast of England, from South Wales and were lucky to find a lovely little house, in which we've settled. It's situated close enough to work for me to cycle in and it's in a cul-de-sac with lots of other young children, who Fred has enthusiastically befriended.

Every other day Fred can either be found in a neighbours garden playing with his friends, or they will be in ours.

One of his best friends is Marley, although Fred calls him Barley. Every day either Marley is shouting, "Fwed do you wanna come in my garden?", through the little gaps in our wooden slat fence, or Fred is shouting, "Barley do you wanna come in my garden?"

Our refusal to let them play together invariably ends in tears and long conversations between them, through the fence, which sees them passing each toys and talking until its time for their dinner / bed. They are like lovesick teenagers.

Meagan has also become friends with the parents of Fred's friends so it feels like home, until today. We've been served by the letting agent, who manages the house for the landlord, two months notice to move out.

Meagan got very upset and I completely understand why.

Yes we do have a lovely set up here and never again will Fred have two next door neighbours (and one directly opposite) who will be the same age as him but it doesn't mean they won't still be is friends when we move.

Fred will make new friends and still have these friends, so he will end up having more friends as a result of the move.

We are now looking at slightly bigger houses with larger gardens where friends, of Fred's, new and old will love to play.

Life is about change, everything is in a state of change. So it's going to happen whether we like it or not. It's how we deal with change is the key.

The creatures that have survived evolution the most successfully are not the strongest ones but the ones that have adapted to change the best.

We can choose to look on this move as an eviction or an opportunity. Which will have the better effect?

If you don't laugh...

2013-07-21T22:33:00.003+01:00

At the moment we're having a little holiday at Center Parcs in Longleat forest. It's a lovely place and the weather is superb.

Unfortunately due to my control obsession I often find the change in routine, brought about by a holiday, more stressful than a normal working week. During a normal week, I know exactly what I should be doing at what time and where.

It gives me a sense of purpose, a belonging.

Whilst holidaying in a new environment, I've no idea where I am, what I should be doing or when.

The only way I can deal with this is to constantly tell myself to, "Let go, nothing really matters".

I have to tell myself this, as I only seem to have two settings, on or off. I don't have a halfway or moderate setting. This is why, when confronted by a situation that I find stressful I have to remind myself to laugh because the opposite reaction is bad for my health and surprisingly most situations can be laughed at.

My aim is to end up walking through life as a wide-eyed crazed, laughing loony, which is infinitely more desirable than being a burnt out empty shell, eroded by stress.

I'm not a control "freak"...

2013-07-20T23:41:00.000+01:00

Hello I'm Justin and I'm a control obsessive.

I'm not a control freak because the word freak suggests I'm unusual and I'm not. I've often heard people, proudly announce, "I'm a control freak", about themselves. They're not freaks, they like me and a lot of other people, who are control obsessives. We are more likely to be control obsessives than not. There is nothing good about being a control obsessive. It seriously impacts on happiness.

Over the last few days, a few things haven't gone my way and it's affected me. To the point where I've been in a dark place questioning the very purpose of everything.

This only comes about because I'm a control obsessive.

The need to to want to control my environment is a by product of my insecurity. If I was truly secure I'd be all accepting and easy going but I'm not.

My obsession with control is a weakness not a strength.

I was at a BBQ recently and someone asked me, "So what made you do the positive thinking thing?"

"Because for a long time I was quite negative and realised it doesn't help", I replied.

It's precisely because I'm prone to bouts of darkness that I pursue happiness so fervently.

A while back I realised there's only one of two paths you can take in life. You can try to be happy or just be miserable. And you do have to try because sometimes it can be very hard to be happy.

I often find it takes more effort to be happy than it does to be miserable but it's worth fighting for and ultimately it's better than the alternative.

Get embarrassed, it will make you interesting...

2013-07-19T23:08:00.002+01:00

The other day a colleague of mine, Hayley, described how her car wouldn't start.

Pancking because she was already late for work she called her husband in work, who asked his brother if he was available to give his wife a lift.

Luckily he was.

He took some time to arrive but none-the-less Hayley was thankful when he finally pulled up next to her. She quickly threw a couple of bags into his car then jumped in, blurting a flustered, "Thanks for doing this".

Fiddling with her seat belt, Hayley soon realised her brother in law wasn't sharing her urgency to get going, so she turned to him to see why they weren't moving and got the shock of her life.

The person sitting next to her was a stunned looking stranger.

She'd got in the wrong car.

"Oh I'm so sorry, my brother in law has a silver car too!" she explained slowly bundling up her bags and retreating out of the car with a red face.

Hayley told this story on air (we work at a radio station) and we all laughed but at the time she said she wanted the earth to open up and swallow her whole.

The story even made it onto our daily promo.

As a teenager there was no fear greater than that of embarrassment and I know a few people who are still terrified of embarrassing themselves.

Nobody should ever be afraid of owning a red face, on the contrary, we should welcome it.

It makes for a life full of interesting anecdotes.

You will get recognised..

2013-07-18T15:34:00.007+01:00

...if you're good.

I honestly believe this.

If you're the best in your field or work hard to be the best in your field, it doesn't matter what you do, you will get noticed.

Yes there's plenty of people in high falutin careers who stand out because they're captains of their industry so they get plenty of recognition but I'm talking about everyday jobs, that are sometimes regarded as mundane.

It's more difficult to get recognised in these fields because its alot harder to find inspiration, within the daily routine that can sometimes become a grind but its there.

In fact I only wrote this blog because I was inspired by this candy floss seller in China.

What he does, I think, is truly wonderful.

If you can't see this video click here

Riding towards a Good Life...

2013-07-17T21:10:00.007+01:00

One of the things that make my bike ride into work more enjoyable is listening to inspirational podcasts.

One podcast I've just discovered that I really like is called, "Good Life Project" by Jonathan Fields.

Its, "About" section on it's website, describes the projects intention:

"It’s about becoming a creator, a leader, a mentor, a giver, a doer. It's about telling a story with your life that you'd want to read and share".

Every week Jonathan interviews people with remarkable stories.

This week I listened to Dr Lissa Rankin, who described her life leading up to her current book, "Mind Over Medicine" which I'm now going to buy.

The interesting bit for me was her description of the placebo effects, in case studies and how effective they were. In particular was the amazing story of a surgeon named J. Bruce Moseley.

This is an extract from The New York Times:

"Moseley had 10 patients scheduled for an operation intended to relieve the arthritis pain in their knees. The patients were men and all 10 would be wheeled into an operating room, draped, examined and anesthetized. All 10 would be dispatched to the recovery room and sent home from the hospital by the next morning equipped with crutches and a painkiller.

But there the similarities ended.

For while two of the men would undergo the standard arthroscopic surgery for their condition, three would have the rinsing alone, five would have no recognized surgical procedure at all. Their surgery would be a placebo, an exercise in just pretend.

The placebo worked.

Six months after surgery, the 10 patients still didn't know whether they had been faked out or not. But all of them reported much less pain. None were unhappy with the outcome of the operation".

The conclusion Lissa Rankin came to was that it's not only positive thinking on behalf of the individual patient that helps the placebo become effective but that fact that patients were introduced into nurturing, caring environment where qualified people provided the patient with hope and a positive outlook.

This environment turns off the, "stress" response and turns on the "relaxation" response, which allows the nervous system to perform rather than be paralysed with worry.

If you want this explained more eloquently than I have then you'd do a lot worse than to spend an hour and 4 minutes watching the interview on YouTube.

If you can't see the above video click here.

It's the lesser of two hates...

2013-07-16T19:44:00.000+01:00

I hate shaving but like being cleanly shaved.

A beard doesn't sit well on me.

It's doesn't look bad but it feels like I have a face full of hungry ants, whose favourite meal is my face meat.

So, since my early twenties, I've had a choice, to scrape the most sensitive skin on my body with unforgiving metal, once every few days, or have a face full of ants on it.

I choose to scrape.

Then a few years back, tempted by the ease at which male models on TV got rid of their face fuzz, using electric shavers, I decided I'd be happy to receive one as a present for Christmas.

These guys would actually be smiling, as they gracefully glided their buzzing equipment all over their, ridiculously chiseled, features.

For the first time in my life, I was actually looking forward to a shave. No more throwing cold water randomly over my head, lathering up and and ruthlessly scraping hair out of my pores.

I even decided not to shave a few days before Christmas, in anticipation of my new pleasurable morning routine.

On receiving the shaver, Christmas morning, I nearly ran to the bathroom, plugged it in and complete with smile, started cooly moving the vibrating device over my visage.

Ow! That hurts!

I looked at the silver mesh of the razor, thinking maybe I'd left some kind of packaging on it. Nope. I tried again - ahhhh! That's is not nice. My head was being plucked to death.

I ploughed on, even though the discomfort didn't disappear. What was happening? This is not how it looked on TV.

Not only did it hurt more than conventional shaving but it took a lot more time. I'd vigorously go over a patch of bristles only to reveal about 10% cuttage. So I'd have to go over them again and again. I was slowly moving my skin around my face. Anymore of this and my nose would end up where my right ear was.

Come boxing day and I was all done with my new gadget.

This experience only comes to mind because I ran out of traditional blades yesterday and had to resort back to my discarded Christmas present.

It was as bad as I remember it to be. At one point I'm sure one follicle, positioned just below my right nostril, was teasing me. I tried over 20 times to cut that little blighter but everytime I pulled the shaver away, it stood there defiantly, almost laughing at me.

There's a couple of things I've learned from this experience.

1. Life isn't always easy.

It's often, not about picking the option you enjoy but the one that gives you less pain, then learning to put up with it.

For example I'm not a huge fan of exercise but I do it, pretty much everyday, because it's less painful for me, in the long run both physically and mentally, than being unfit and overweight.

2. Male models, who smile on TV whilst they shave, are already clean shaven.

You've no idea what you're capable of...

2013-07-15T21:27:00.000+01:00

I watched an amazing TV nature documentary last night called, "Earthflight'.

It was partially filmed from the birds eye view of some of the most impressive winged creatures across six continents.

Last night they featured the Condor, the biggest bird in the world.

The bit that stuck with me, was the first flight of a baby Condor.

The main obstacle the youngsters encounter is a mental one.

Their nest is around 200 feet above the ground and they have to throw themselves out of it, even though they're not 100% confident they can fly.

Ok they see their parents do it and they are Condors but they've never done it themselves and lets be honest, if they get it wrong they won't live to regret it.

In the end, on the bit of film I saw, its not them who were prepared to take that leap of faith. The had to be subtly coerced into doing by their parents, who basically pushed them off the bit of rock they were standing on.

The baby Condor instantly took to it, like a duck to water... or like a Condor to air. Of course they're naturals at, they're Condors, to soar through the air effortlessly is second nature but they didn't believe it until they tried.

It's the same with us humans. Most of us are capable of achieving a lot more than we do or have achieved.

Look around you, right now in the room you're in, at the things humans have invented or created. It's nothing short of phenomenal and this doesn't include anything in the wider world.

Can you achieve something remarkable? Can a baby Condor fly?

You're a human being, you are genetically predisposed to create something awesome.

Here's the video clip of the baby condor flying for the first time.

If you can't see the video above click here

You will be rich if you can do this...

2013-07-14T21:46:00.001+01:00

We went to a charity fun day today.

It was being held in one of Meagan's friends mother's, back garden (still with me?)

Anyway the house and garden was absolutely fabulous.

It's the kind of garden that would take you a good couple of hours to mow, on a sit down mower. If you didn't have one, it would be a full time job, which ironically wouldn't pay enough money to own it. It would take even longer to mow if a very sizeable swimming pool hadn't been installed in the grounds.

(Not the actual house but similar)

As I first walked into the garden, I stopped for a second, looked around the grounds, took it all in and thought to myself, "I want to live in a house like this. This is my dream house. How could you not be happy here?"

It's the kind of place that suggest the owners, have made it (in life that is, not in terms of construction).

A few hours later, after stuffing my face with a burger, an ice cream, the remainder of Fred's ice cream and a cake, I got chatting to Meagan's friend (the one whose parents own the house).

I was curious as to how her parents were able to afford such a place. So I asked, "What do your parents do Gemma?"

This is when she dropped the bombshell.

"Unfortunately my father died of cancer three years ago so my mother lives her on her own". As she said it, a sad sympathetic wince appeared on her face.

Later, at home, I said to Meagan, "As soon as I saw that house today I thought, Gemma's parents must be very happy, they've got everything. Then Gemma told me about her father. I bet her mother would easily give up that house today, just to have him back"

"Yes and apparently it really affected her when he died".

We assume money is the answer to everything but sometimes we're given harsh reminders that it has very limited powers, especially where health and happiness is concerned.

A search for the true source of happiness always seems to come back to the same attitude, appreciation.

You can't buy this.

We should always take time to appreciate what we have, if we can do that, we are all rich.

What's your ROL?

2013-07-13T22:22:00.001+01:00

I like to watch the stock market. It’s a hobby of mine.

In fact it’s more than a hobby as I’m invested in several different companies. I used to be obsessed with it and I’d spend several hours a day analysing different companies plugging all their financial details into a, formula laden, spreadsheet I’d created.

After I’d filled out 15 columns of data, for each company, my spreadsheet would give me a score, out of a maximum of 35 upon which I’d base my decision to invest.

People often regard obsessions as unhealthy but in respects to learning this focused unswerving attention to detail is hard to beat. There’s a lot of financial jargon out there but one of the more well known abbreviations is ROI. It stands for return on investment and is basically a measure of how efficient, in money, an investment is.

This week I came across a different take on this concept called ROL, standing for return on life.

I read an article really worth reading by John Greathouse, who interviewed Tige Young, Founder and CEO of Tui Tai Expeditions.

Tige decided to give up his well paid job in silicon valley and start his expedition company motivated by what he calls ROL.

He says, “You have one life, one chance to do things. And as you get older and look back, what are the things you’re gonna remember that were like, ‘Boy, that was a great decision, I’m really glad I did that.”

It’s a great way to look at life and when you think of it, probably the only way to look at life because, hopefully, we will all get to a ripe old age and wouldn’t it be nice to look back and know we had a massive ROL.

A great quote Tige recalled a local said to him once was, “May your memories live up to your dreams”.

We are related...

2013-07-12T21:52:00.002+01:00

We went to the beach this week.

I have a theory why we do this and by, “we”, I don’t just mean my family but why the beach was full of similar minded people all of differing shapes and sizes.

Ok you could point to that big ball of fire in the sky and say, “That’s why the beach is full” but I have another theory and a story that broke this week backs up that theory.

The story is about a lady called, Sarah Litchfield and her property entitled, Number 305 Mudeford Spit. It’s a beach hut near Christchurch in Dorset which is on the market for £200,000.

This works out at £1,000 per sq ft, one of the most expensive pieces of property you can buy outside Mayfair.

Recently an estate agent compared the value of a waterside property with the value of the same property five miles inland. In the south of England it’s 66% more expensive.

There was also another recent study that found people who lived near the coast are happier and healthier than their inland counterparts.

Why as humans are we mysteriously drawn to the sea? Why on a nice day is the promenade full of people, of a certain age, staring zombie like, almost longingly, at the watery horizon? Why do great bodies of water have a calming effect on us?

I believe it’s the same reason Salmon risk life and limb (or gill) swimming 1000’s miles to return to their place of home to breed.

We’re related.

We all came from the sea and we also spent the first nine months of our lives in liquid. So staring at it, wanting to be near it or in it is almost as natural for us as it is for fish.

Whilst at the beach, I felt so at one with my coastal environment, I decided it only appropriate to stuff my face with a bag of fish and chips (ok maybe the potato isn’t natural sea dweller but you get my drift or tide).

Talking about Salmon, I was idiotic enough not to wear any sunblock on my day out at the beach. So by the evening I was doing a very good impression of a Salmon, in colour that is not smell.

We must never forget...

2013-07-11T21:12:00.001+01:00

...to be grateful for what we have.

Tonight I watched a TV show called, "Great British Budget Menu", where three of Britain's leading chefs met families living in food poverty.

You can see a clip of it HERE

The scary thing is, is that the people involved looked like really decent people who through no fault of their own are in truly awful situations. They were trying to buy food for themselves and their families for as little as £1 a day.

I eat well and I never ever think that anyone in the UK could be suffering from food poverty but apparently 5 million people are! We are supposed to be a developed country, it's shocking.

On the link above there are also budget menu recipes but more importantly HERE is a website that encourages people to give to existing, or set up food banks in their area to help people out of food poverty.

The best things in life...

2013-07-10T20:43:00.000+01:00

We had a nice surprise today.

My mother and father drove the two and a half hours from south Wales to visit us.

Fred was so chuffed when his Nanny and Bampi picked him up early from pre-school to tell him, "We're going to the beach!"

The weather was gorgeous, as was the location and due to it being a work day the beach wasn't especially busy.

Apart from the surprise visit itself, today was especially nice for several reasons.

It was Monty's first time at the beach.

It was also so lovely to see Fred buddying up with his grandad, relishing his new role as chief sand castle foreman, instructing, "Bampi" exactly what and where to build.

It also comes just before an important bit of news.

Tomorrow we will find out if Dad's lung cancer treatment was successful.

The beach we went to was Sandbanks in Poole. A golden oasis in in the middle of real estate gold. You'd struggle to buy a four bedroom detached house there for less than £3 million.

It struck me, as we drove away from the beach past houses that belonged to millionaires, that everything we enjoyed today had nothing to do with money.

No amount of money on earth can buy quality time spent in good health with loved ones but unfortunately because it's free we sometimes don't appreciate it's true value and worth.

You may smile at one of these....

2013-07-09T23:26:00.001+01:00

These made me smile so I've added them to my HappyMap

At last a tax we can all enjoy.

Get a six pack for the summer.

Cat's love it (apparently).

Nothing really matters....

2013-07-08T22:50:00.001+01:00

It's so easy to get stressed about things that have no real bearing on our lives.

A phrase that sticks with me is what a friend once said to me when I was getting particularly passionate about a decision at work, that wasn't going my way. She said, "Will it matter in five years time? If it does then by all means get wound up by it but if not then let it go".

I often say this to myself when I find myself telling my son not to do something for 100th time in one day.

Does it really matter?

In the words of the late great Freddie Mercury, "Nothing really matters".

If you can't see this video click here.

Would you swap and Iron Man glove for a Power Ranger's belt?

2013-07-07T22:31:00.000+01:00

The weather has been gorgeous recently, which means Fred has spent a lot of time in the garden with his friends.

We are so fortunate, where we live, in that Fred's friends live next door, next door but one and just over the road.

At their age they go from laughing to crying within a minute, so you have to keep a keen eye on them at all times.

Apart from falling down, I would say, without doubt, the tears are invariably a result of some toy that one of the boys refuses to share with the other.

Everyday I hear myself saying to the boys, "Come on let's share".

Or them saying to me, "He's not sharing!"

It doesn't matter how often I explain the concept of sharing it seems to be counter intuitive to them.

There was an issue recently with Fred's Iron Man glove and his next door neighbours Power Rangers belt.

Holding on tightly to his Iron Man glove Fred shouted, "Marley isn't letting me play with his Power Ranger's belt!"

I looked at Marley who had his eyes on Fred's Iron Man glove, whilst equally refusing to release his grip on his belt, "Fred won't share his Iron Man glove".

An impasse.

"Fred, if you want to play with Marley's Power Ranger's belt you have to let Marley play with your Iron Man glove"

"But I want to play with my Iron Man glove!"

"You can but not at the same time as you're playing with the belt. How about you give the Iron Man glove to Marley for one minute and while he's playing with that you can play with the Power Rangers belt, then you swap? That way you can play with both toys"

He thought about it, conceded a nod of approval and cautiously handed over his Iron Man glove in return for Marley's Power Rangers belt.

They were both enjoying their new toys so much I didn't enforce the one minute swap rule, in fact that night the both agreed to lend their toys to the other until the next day.

As he went to bed that night I tried to underline the advantages of sharing, hoping they'd sink in.

"Sharing is good Fred isn't it?"

"Why?"

"Because you get to play with two toys rather than just one and you make a friend by sharing because you trust them enough to share with them and they trust you enough to share with you. But you both have to trust each other for it to work. If one person isn't trusting then nobody will share".

"I'm going to share more things"

I gave him a kiss, "Good boy. Good night".

"That way I can get more toys!"

As I walked downstairs I knew I'd be asking either Fred or one of his friends to share tomorrow.

They can't be blamed though, let's be honest if so called mature adults don't get the concept of sharing how can we expect 3 year olds to get it?

There is more than enough food in the world to feed everyone but (according to Oxfam) close to a billion people go to bed at night hungry. If everyone in the developed world gave 5% of their income to charity, nobody would die of hunger.

If you can't see Fred Enjoying his borrowed Power Ranger's belt click here.

Text Fail Smiles

2013-07-06T22:31:00.000+01:00

Here are some text fails I came across this week that made me smile. So I've added them to my HappyMap.

Would God be proud of us?

2013-07-05T23:04:00.001+01:00

By, "us", I mean humans as a race. I only ask this because it's a thought I had the other day.

Do you think our creator looks down upon all the creatures they've created and thinks, "Those humans are doing well".

I mean in terms of self-improvement if you look at where we've come from compared to other animals.

Apparently, we used to live in caves, hunt daily for our food and travelled on bare feet. We weren't that different from the average monkey who lived in a tree and ate bananas.

Now we live in computer aided temperature controlled houses of all shapes and sizes designed with functionality and aestheticism in mind. The multitude of rooms have views, are decorated to personal taste and connected to hot and cold running water on demand.

We're entertained by light emitting devices powered by invisible currents whilst simultaneously eating food produced by industries created to not only breed it, but to prepare it and deliver it too.

Now when we travel its an exception if its by foot, which will invariably be clad in a state of the art, ergonomically stylistic material and yet the monkeys are still eating bananas in the trees.

We have transformed places on this planet from dirt, dust and desert into architectural megalopolitans interconnected by super fast fibrous information highways. Our engineering and technological innovation is undersold when described as phenomenal.

Surely our creator is proud of us. We've come so far.

Or have we?

Yes our exponential high-tech development has been put to good use but the very genius that created the machines, that have enabled us to preserve and extend life, has also been utilised to develop weapons increasingly efficient at maiming and killing.

What type of creature is as determined to cure as it is to kill?

Regardless of whether you believe in God or not, it's irrelevant, as humans, what of all our achievements are we most proud of?

The willingness to help or the desire to hurt?

Sometimes when I switch on the news and see people warring around the world, I think, "What are we doing?! We're all human beings. We're of the same species, why are we doing this to each other?"

We may have come along way in certain respects but considering we're the most intelligent creature on the planet we still do a lot of very stupid things.

This is not a sloppy hippy thing to say but surely everyone prefers love to hate. Hate is divisive, selfish and exclusive, whereas as love is unifying, selfless and inclusive. Nothing good comes from hating and only good comes from love.

So the answer to the question above is obvious.

Would God be proud of us?

It depends on the motivation for our achievement. If the motivation was hate then no but if its love then yes.

I work in McDonald's at the moment...

2013-07-04T20:54:00.000+01:00

Today I spoke on the phone with a lady and happened to ask her what she did for a living. This is how she replied.

"I work at McDonald's at the moment".

The bit that stuck in my head was the, "at the moment".

I know exactly what it's like to say that about a job.

By the time I'd turned 25, I'd had 25 different jobs (including dish washing in France and melon picking in Israel) none of which I particularly enjoyed.

A lot of the jobs I had, I was ashamed to admit to doing. They were low paid, mundane and uninspiring. I knew I wasn't achieving my true potential. I was under performing, my abilities weren't being utilised and I would dread going to work everyday.

Every morning I would hit the snooze button hoping some fairy Godfather would appear in my bedroom and say, "Ok no need to go into work today, I've found you your ideal job".

I sat and thought about it and realised if I was going to enjoy life, I couldn't just flit from one joyless job to another.

I figured that life could be broken down into three areas:

Sleep
Work
Spare time

Who doesn't enjoy sleep?

So I took sleep out of the equation and realised that 50% of my conscious life would be taken up with work. Therefore if I didn't find a job I enjoyed, I'd spend half of my life unhappy.

So I started to think about what I'd really wanted to do with my life. What did I enjoy? And that's where radio came in. I remember when I first discovered radio or radio first discovered me.

I was 15 and listening to Steve Wright in the afternoon on BBC Radio 1. Here was a group of people, whose job seemed to be having a laugh. It couldn't get any better could it?

So I applied to a load of radio stations, up and down the country. I got about a 5% reply rate, 100% of those said they had no positions for someone with no experience.

How do you get experience if no one will give you a chance to get experience?

So I managed to get a slot on hospital radio, then got kicked off for making, "tasteless gags" but luckily before my sacking, I got enough material together to send off a stack load of demos to any radio station with an address.

Again, I didn't get a huge response but the replies I did get were a lot more encouraging. They agreed to keep my details on file, should any vacancies arise. I assumed that vacancies must be very few and far between because I never heard back from any of them, ever.

When I finally got into radio, after years of trying, it was worth it. At least I found a job I really enjoyed doing, in fact, it isn't a job, it's a joy.

I also understand what's its like, to wake up to go to a job you don't want to go to. It's soul destroying.

So if you're doing a job you don't enjoy but know what you'd like to do, you've got to go for it.

You may be financially stable in your current occupation but can you really afford to spend half your life doing something you don't enjoy?

I figured out why this is my favourite part...

2013-07-03T22:25:00.001+01:00

On my I cycle into work, I have a particular favourite part.

It's a long straight, gently sloping gradient, down a tree lined avenue, in fact it's called, "The Avenue".

I've ridden this stretch of road so many times but only today did it strike me, not only why I like it but it's symbolism.

Apart from it's scenic appeal, the reason I like this part of the road is because it's the first downhill gradient on my ride in. So it's all a bit of a struggle until this stretch.

BUT it's precisely because of this struggle that I appreciate it.

If the entire duration of my ride was an easy coast, I wouldn't notice it.

As I thought about this, on the way in this morning, I pictured the wave like undulations of the road and realised it's very much like everything in nature.

Everything vibrates at certain frequencies. These frequencies can by plotted as waves. So everything, like a road, has ups and downs.

Just as the tide will relentlessly come in and out, in life, we will experience ups and downs but we need the downs to appreciate the ups.

15 reasons the sun is good for you...

2013-07-02T21:57:00.000+01:00

In the U.K. we recently experienced the coldest April for fifty years and there's no denying the fact that the weather has a massive impact on our moods.

But I'm a great believer in the pendulum effect. What I mean by this is that, in nature, conditions often veer from one extreme to another but in between these polar opposites are periods of equilibrium.

This is why I said to Meagan, "I bet we'll have a hot summer".

This week weather forecasters at the Met Office have predicted a warmer July than average.

Having said that, forecasters predicting nice weather is often a guarantee of a downpour so I won't hold my breath (which I very rarely do anyway, as its not beneficial to my health).

Over the last 10 years it seems that the sun has received more negative press than positive but I love the sun. It's the most natural mood lifter there is.

With this in mind I've decided to do a bit of positive PR for that big ball of fire in the sky.

A quick Google search revealed the below article from The Daily Mirror. Frankly, I can believe its rival red top, The Sun, missed out on this information, let's be honest its right on brand for them.

15 Reasons Why The Sun (not the newspaper) is Good For You:

1 It cheers 1 you up

SUNSHINE boosts levels of serotonin - the body's natural happy hormone. That's why we tend to feel happier and more energetic when the sun shines. Regular sun can stave off moderate depression, particularly if combined with exercise, such as a walk in the park. It's also been shown that exercising outdoors creates more endorphins in the body than exercising indoors.

2 Reduces heart disease

A STUDY in the British Medical Journal showed that people in the UK are more likely to die of heart disease in winter than in summer, which is believed to be because of low levels of vitamin D. Where you live in the UK also matters. Blackpool has 27 per cent more hours of sunshine a year than Burnley - and 9 per cent fewer deaths from coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol levels also rise in winter, according to reports in medical magazine The Lancet, and this is because our vitamin D levels fall.

And Dr Holick found that exposing people with high blood pressure to UVB rays in a tanning salon lowers blood pressure by similar amounts as prescribed drugs.

3 Prevents diabetes

VITAMIN D may help to prevent the onset of diabetes. "A study in Finland found children given a vitamin D supplement for several years had an 80 per cent reduced risk of developing Type I diabetes as young adults," says Dr Holick.

A deficiency in vitamin D is also thought to contribute to Type II diabetes, according to a recent study by Dr Barbara Boucher at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospitals.

4 Beats SAD

SEASONAL Affective Disorder (SAD) - or the winter blues - is a depression specifically caused by lack of sunlight. Lightboxes can be used to treat it, although increased exposure to natural sunlight is more beneficial. Get out for an hour's walk in the morning during autumn and winter months, and sit outside for 15 minutes a day in summer.

5 Helps prevent MS

MULTIPLE sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system, leading to tremors and even paralysis. The cause is not known but scientists have noted that exposure to sunlight in childhood appears to dramatically reduce the risk of developing this disease in later life. Scientists have also noted that the incidence of MS is lower in sunnier countries.

6 Prevents cavities

THE sun could even help to keep your teeth strong. A dental study found the prevalence of cavities was greater in children from Scotland, the North-West, Wales and Merseyside - areas with less than average sunshine. The proportion of 12-year-olds with untreated cavities was three times greater in Scotland than in the South West Thames region.

7 Relieves aches and pains

Being out in the sun helps to warm the body's muscles and eases stiffness, reducing the pain caused by inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

8 Reduces risk of cancers

ALTHOUGH over exposure to the sun increases your risk of skin cancer, vitamin D provided by sunlight can actually help to significantly reduce your risk of other types of cancer.

A study carried out by the US National Cancer Institute found that people exposed to high levels of sunlight were significantly less likely to die from breast and colon cancer. A similar effect was seen in bladder, womb, oesophagus and stomach cancer.

9 Boosts fertility

THE sun reduces levels of the hormone melatonin which suppresses fertility, so it is more likely you'll conceive in summer.

And sunlight not only makes you more fertile, it increases the length of your fertility. A study in Turkey discovered that women who get less than an hour of sunlight a week reach menopause seven to nine years earlier.

Sunlight also boosts testosterone levels in men, which makes summer the perfect time for baby-making.

10 Gives you more energy

MELATONIN also regulates sleep, so having lower levels of this hormone in your body gives you more get up and go. This is why you need less sleep in summer but still feel livelier. Plus, being woken by natural light rather than an alarm clock helps you feel more positive.

11 Eases IBD

PEOPLE with Crohn's disease or other inflammatory bowel disorders (IBD) generally have low levels of vitamin D in their bodies, according to several studies. Sunlight is the best way to boost vitamin D in these cases.

Although it is available in some foods (including meat, eggs, oily fish and some breakfast cereals), levels are low and poor absorption of fat - a common complication of inflammatory bowel disease - may make it difficult for sufferers to absorb vitamin D from their diet.

12 Beats period problems

ABOUT one in five women of childbearing age suffer from polycystic ovary disease which causes abnormal periods, unwanted body hair and infertility.

Half of 14 women treated with vitamin D and calcium by Dr Susan Thys-Jacobs at St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University in New York, recovered normal periods and two became pregnant. Dr Thys-Jacobs also found that women with premenstrual syndrome are likely to be deficient in vitamin D.

13 Helps skin conditions

EXPOSURE to the sun can help to heal such skin conditions as psoriasis, acne and eczema. Regular controlled sun exposure is often prescribed for sufferers. For serious cases, contact your GP. For minor cases, try exposing affected areas of skin to the sun for up to 30 minutes before covering up or slapping on the sunscreen - but make sure you never burn.

14 Boosts your immune system

SUNLIGHT encourages the production of white blood cells, which help to boost your immune system and fight infection.

15 Helps you lose weight

HIGHER levels of serotonin in our bodies not only makes you feel happy but it also suppresses the appetite, so you'll eat less in warmer weather.

Go out in the sun at least three times a week to boost levels of vitamin D