Money can’t buy health or happiness?
Are wealthier people happier or healthier? What actually makes people happy? Which countries are the best to live in? Check out some statistics.
Tag: Happiness
Ache, angst and aspiration
Do you ever find yourself waking up at night for no reason, and taking some time to finally fall asleep again? And if you do, what do you think about? Do you focus on emptying your mind so you can fall asleep again? Or maybe you go through your plans for the coming day? Or […]
Can life have meaning without God? Five views
Most of us want to be happy, and most of us want our lives to be meaningful. And psychologists confirm that we are happier when we feel our lives have meaning and purpose But what gives our lives meaning? It used to be that religion gave life meaning. Even if life was hard drudgery, or […]
Do we need God for life to have real meaning?
I’ve been reading a little about meaning in life. Psychologists tell us we need to have meaning and purpose in life for our psychological wellbeing. With a sense of meaning, we are more likely to be happy, have a positive sense of our own identity and be more resilient under stress But what gives our […]
When is it right to trust the experts?
Last post (I’m beginning to see a pattern here) I looked at a number of scientific and historical facts where a bunch of non-experts challenge the consensus of the real experts. These areas were: evolution vs creationism; whether Jesus was a historical person and Nazareth was where he lived; climate change; the medieval church vs […]
Hugh Mackay on why people stop going to church
I am currently reading Hugh Mackay’s book, Beyond Belief, which addresses the question of how people find meaning in life with or without religion. Hugh is probably Australia’s leading social researcher and commentator, regularly appearing on talk shows and in newspaper article. He is neither a christian nor an atheist, probably best described as having […]
Health, happiness and God
Most of us have experiences, both positive and negative, about religion and God. In each of our lives there have likely been religious people and institutions that have left a positive impression, and others that have hurt us. And if we look at the world around us, now and through history, we can easily form […]
Why your brain needs God
faith is the most important thing a person needs to maintain a neurologically healthy brain Neuroscientists Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman I couldn’t resist …. I am researching my next post on Choosing our religion, which is taking a bit of work, and I came across this quote by two neuroscientists. Here is the quote […]
Do religious believers have better health and wellbeing, like, really?
In my previous post I made the following comment: “Religious believers, overall and with many exceptions, have better health and wellbeing, are more prosocial and less antisocial than non-believers.” A reader questioned this statement, in two ways: “I see that despite my previous prompting about the silly “religion is good for your health” surveys. You […]
Finding true happiness & satisfaction
Previously I wrote about recent research on Ways we can try to find happiness, but in the end they don’t seem to work. So psychologists have found that pleasure seeking and materialism may provide short term pleasure but they don’t make for a happy or satisfied life. So what does?