I took a life

I took a life. I watched the energy drain from a living thing until it stopped moving, stopped being and was gone. I am not proud. I don't want to do it again. Before I did it I cried and suggested that we set the creature free, but my boyfriend told me that he was not made of lobster money and that we had to get over our desire to introduce to the wild the lobster that he had chosen from a tank at our local asian market, put him in a pot and steam him for 30 minutes with ginger and baby spring onions.

A chef had suggested that we put the crawling, clawing bottom dweller into a steamer and wait, but we wanted to get it over with quickly, to minimise the pain the creature would feel. The difficulty was that, as we watched our little clawed friend try to lift the stopper on our kitchen sink, I was sorely tempted to give him a name - such a feisty little creature should surely have a name. Only, if you name you dinner, it can be very hard to consume it later. So we decided not to deepen our bond with our crustacean and instead, debated who would put him in the pot.

I must admit that I felt my eyes well up as we discussed how we would cook the lobster, who was then lifting himself up on his claws and scratching around the sink. Eventually, I agreed to be the one to lift our little friend into his last resting place, but when it came to it I couldn't do it and instead held the lid of the pot open, and then closed as the lobster shook in shock when he came in contact with the bubbling water. I had imagined that he would die quickly, but it was a lengthy process. It was awful. Our lobster shook and rattled in the heat and I desperately wanted to free him, only by then it would have been too late, he had already turned the colour of deepest sunburn.

I must admit that our dinner was delicious. Once the lobster was cooked, I had no problems with eating his meat. However, even as we were falling asleep last night, my boyfriend and I expressed our horror at the cruelty of the process.

It is one thing to eat a piece of fish or chicken that is already dead, but the emotional impact of watching it slow and then freeze once the body has been emptied of all life energy is powerful. I'm not sure that I will ever eat lobster again. It's too traumatic to cook a creature that you are tempted to christen and release to the sea.

Sun worship

We have been sun worshippers since we got here. The Egyptians worshipped the sun and thought that it sailed across the sky on a huge solar barge. Hinduism is choc-packed full of solar dieties. In Chinese mythology, there were originally ten suns in the sky, who were brothers. When they played together in the sky the earth became too hot and so, a hero came and shot down nine of them, leaving just the one sun that we know today. Buddhists recognise a boddhisattva of the sun, who is called Ri Gong Ri Guang. The Aztecs considered the sun god Tonatiuh to be the leader of heaven. They believed that this god represented the fifth cosmic era and that the previous four suns had represented four cosmic eras that had ended. In Indonesia, the sun is sometimes considered to be the 'father' or 'founder' of the tribe. The sun plays an important part in many Indonesian initiation rites.

It is no wonder that we have been so long infatuated by the most dominant star in our skies. The sun's energy is the principal driver of our weather systems and it effects both living and non-living things, in that it feeds the living things and its energies are often stored in non-living things such as peat and coal, to be released later.

Until recently, western society worshipped the sun as a fountain of beauty. Today, many people fear the sun's rays and think of it as a harmful and damaging force. Like almost all things, balance should be the governing force in our relationship with sunshine - too much will not only make us look old and haggard, it might actually make us very sick or even kill us. Likewise, too little sun can result in vitamin D deficiency, which is associated with rickets, auto-immune problems and depression.

From my own point of view I can report that feeling the sun play on my skin improves my mood no end and looking upon a clear skied day never fails to lift my mood. I've traveled across the globe chasing summer from country to country, at considerable cost - every penny of which was worth the expense.

I might scoff at the belief systems of ancient Egyptians and label these to be irrational and ill informed, but the reality is that when it comes to sun worship, I am up there with the best of them. We're creatures of sunlight and we thrive best when dosed liberally and regularly in its kindest rays. Our obsession with the sun is more than an irrational belief system, it's a matter of survival and for that reason, I believe that our relationship with the sun can only become more complex and important as time goes on, rather than less so.

Redirecting my energies

It's time that I turned my energies to energy, that life effusing driver of existence. Our presence here, although fascinating from a philosophical and moral point of view, is based on fuel. We each operate like furnaces, calling for fuel, burning this up and using the raw energy created to pump our bodies and achieve work.

I used a calorie calculator to find out how many calories I should consume every day. Apparently, I require 1990 calories to fuel my body. I burn this up by walking, talking, thinking and even while I sleep. If I don't eat I feel hungry and eventually I will feel weak. In addition to food, I crave other kinds of energy, including external warmth and sunlight.

One of man's greatest discoveries was the ability to make fire on cue. Still today, many of us feel ourselves drawn towards flickering flames and few homes feel complete without the focus of a warm hearth (rather than a television).

I suspect that we search for meaning only after we have successfully found the energy sources that we require to survive. It is only when we have been well fed and warmed that we can turn inwards and focus on our own personal energies.

We give off energy as well as consuming it. If you touch a person's skin it usually feels warm. If you stand next to someone when they are angry you can feel their 'vibrations'. Likewise, being around someone who is very grounded and calm can be calming in itself. And when we have used up all our energies, we go cold and cannot communicate with others, we literally have nothing more to give.

What follows over the next week, or few weeks (depending on what other random thoughts pique my interest) will be a series of blogs that discuss energy in its many forms. You will have to excuse me if things get a little hippified - I recently returned to yoga classes (another to-do successfully underway) and I'm definitely feeling the chilled out energies of practising this exercise for mind, body and soul.

So onwards, into the realm of fuel for life: food, warmth and social sustenance.

Will we ever be happy enough?

I've had a very lovely life, I've been very lucky. I've been happier more often I've been unhappy and I've experienced greater joy than misery. But will this bank of happiness see me through? Will I ever get to a point when I have experienced sufficient joy that no matter what happens, my overall life satisfaction will be unaltered?

Personally, I look forward. I think always of the future and I like to plan my future joy, but expect it to come spontaneously when it finally arrives. Much of my happiness is based on my expectation of the future. So, although I can remind myself of plenty of happy times and do not carry around with me a bundle of worries built high by past events, I suspect that I will never be satisfied. It seems that it's not what I've had, but what I might experience in the future that keeps me smiling (or scares me).

Perhaps when I am very old and believe myself to have reached the final stage of the race, a point at which there is no further piece of the puzzle to fit together, maybe then I will turn my mind backwards and all the happy days that I've enjoyed to date will start to stand to me.

For now, I simply try to remember to be grateful and to recognise that I've had an easy ride, which is rare in this fragmented age.

I have been lucky enough to discover some of the things that do make me happy. If you never experience joy, how do you know what fills you with that bubbly, smiling feeling?

Now, if only I could create some co-herant plan to ensure future happiness, I wouldn't have to worry about what's coming and could enjoy the days that's here right now. How fickle we are, even the people who acknowledge that they've been lucky (me), fear that their luck will run out.

Puppy power

Tomorrow is my boyfriend's birthday. He's hoping for a puppy. He is hoping for a puppy in the way that a six year old hopes and yearns and pleads for a puppy. He believes that owning and caring for this pet will complete him.

Research suggests that few events actually change our level of happiness. A systematic study of 22 people who had won the lottery, found that they returned to their baseline levels of happiness over time and wound up experiencing the same level of happiness as 22 ordinary Joes who had never had their numbers called up.

So, money does not buy happiness? It would seem that neither do unfortunate events necessarily lead to unhappiness. A study quoted in the same book as that which discussed our unmoved millionaires, found that within a few years, paraplegics are only just a little less happy than their able-bodies peers.

Will a puppy make my boyfriend any happier? Despite the findings of the studies cited above, I suspect that it might.

In May of this year Coca-Cola announced the results of their global happiness barometer. In this age of Facebook and Twitter, text messages and blogging, Coca-Cola found that the one thing that could be definitively linked to greater happiness was human contact. Let's face it, we're meant for each other. We're suckers for a good hug.

I agree that human contact and animal contact are not quite the same, but the spirit is similar. I suspect that my boyfriend would take joy from the relationship that one man has with his dog. He wants to walk along the strand with his dog, silent but together as they enjoy the fresh air and exercise. He wants to play and jump around with his dog. Most of all, he wants to come home from work to see in the face of his furry friend, the pure, animal excitement that his arrival has induced.

Personal relationships, even when with animals, make us feel valued and valuable. It's great to be valued but it's even better to be valuable.

Several years ago, a British study attempted to increase the happiness quotient of one English town. A key recommendations made by the leaders of the study was that we should all keep plants. Apparently, feeling necessary is one of the key elements in the maintainence of a positive outlook. The logic is that if someone or something needs you (even if this something is a small and dropping fern), your life will be invested with the special shred of meaning that is necessary to warm the heart.

So, if I gave my boyfriend a puppy he might develop a bond with the animal and also, feel that that animal needs him, his care and his love. This would probably make him feel even more satisfied with his lot in life than he currently does.

Sadly, we live in a one-bedroom apartment and I suspect that the puppy's happiness would dive very quickly after realising that the entire area around which he could roam would fit into most people's front hall. Until we have space and time to look after this little creature, I would not feel right risking its wellbeing by keeping it in our cramped home. Next year looks more likely for pet ownership, but tomorrow I'm going to have to deal with a very disappointed man-child.

Thankfully, research suggests that he will quickly get over this and his happiness will soon return to normal levels.

Where does happiness come from?

Happiness is a complicated beast. The range of this emotion stretches from satisfaction, through pleasure and joy to the outer reaches of maddest euphoria.

The complicated nature of the emotion that makes us smile means that it is difficult to measure and to explain. Despite having enjoyed a lifetime during which I have been happier more often than not, I have more questions than answers about the nature of or source of happiness.

For a start, where does it come from and then, how does our brain distinguish between positive and negative situations - how do we know when to feel happy?

According to the people who know about this kind of thing, serotonin is the chemical that helps to maintain a happy feeling. This chemical helps us to sleep, it calms anxiety and it relieves depression. However, dopamine makes us seem happy because its presence in our brain makes us talkative and excitable.

Have you ever noticed that everyone seems to be in better form during summer time? We feel better during summer months because sun and bright light trigger a response in the brain to a hormone known as melatonin. Research suggests that two hours of morning light is an effective treatment for depression, so get out there and enjoy the early hours.

There is no denying the fact that some people are happier than others. The researcher, David T Lykken, studied the wellbeing of twins and found that happiness depends in a large part, upon one's genes. Only 10-15% of our happiness is determined by life circumstances variables such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health and sex. Researchers believe that the remaining 40% is influenced by a combination of factors and results of actions that a person takes in order to become happier.

This is fantastic news and means that we can determine our own happiness. Knowing how to go about doing this is not an easy task...

Consistently, human relationships comes out as the top factor in human happiness. A 2009 study that was published in the British Medical Journal reported that happiness can actually spread through social networks from person to person. Generally, happiness spreads fastest and best through friends, siblings, spouses and next-door neighbours and it spreads more effectively than unhappiness, which means that if enough of us spread our happiness, we could effect some sort of emotional revolution...

One to do done

I can finally cross one 'to do' off my 'to do list'. My balcony is awash with colour. My wonderful mother took a trip to the garden centre and came back with pot loads of summer flowers, which she gave to me and that I have planted in window boxes and ceramic posts. As I look outside, through the summer rain, I am made infinitely happy by the sight of my begonias, butterfly lavender and daisies bouncing in the breeze.

Some people don't 'do' gardening and don't see the point. The arrangement of plants together in pretty groups doesn't 'do' anything particular that should make our lives any better, and yet, in my case, I find that it does make my life a happier one. It is not what the plants do, so much as what they are that makes me happy. My plants don't provide me with any sustenance, they won't make me any wealthier and I have sufficient fresh air that their ability to exchange gases is of little concern to me, yet by being pretty and by conjuring images of summer meadows, lazy afternoons and sunshine, they make my life that little brighter. Plus, they need me and it is always satisfying to be required.

In my experience, happiness is not always logical, but illogical joy is often perfectly sensible and a good indication of sanity.

I like to think that what separates us from the animals is our ability to appreciate beauty, but this is probably a romantic notion with little basis in truth. Who am I to say that a gorilla does not appreciate the sight of the morning mist rising from the foothills of a Rwandan mountain?

Whether it is a human characteristic or not, it seems that it is in our nature to take satisfaction from beautiful paintings, well designed buildings and sweeping views across long valleys, amongst other eye-pleasers.

Functionality is all very well, calculated reasoning is vital, but a splash of colour from a bursting window box can warm the heart, and life with a cold heart offers little to live for. It is immensely satisfying to work out a difficult problem and to perform a job that I feel means something, but sometimes all I want to do is sit on a chair on my balcony, surrounded by purple flowers, swatting the bees away with my Sunday paper.

Measuring happiness

What really makes us happy? The results of the annual Harris Poll Happiness Index, released last week, indicate that 80% of (American) respondents are satisfied with their lot. This despite the fact that 72% of them feel that their views were not heard at the seat of power and that 66% report that they frequently worry about their financial situation.

Interesting data from the Poll includes the findings that women are generally more happy than men (and married women are happier than their singleton friends), people seem to become increasingly happy as they age and the lucky individuals who earn over $75,000 are significantly happier than those who earn under $35,000. Maybe money can buy a certain amount of happiness - or peace of mind - after all.

Comparison of this year's Poll Index with that of the past two years indicates that White Americans are less happy than they were three years ago, while Hispanics and African-Americans have become happier, and the happiness levels of both of these ethnic groups have surged to surpass the contentment levels of White Americans.

In what might seem to some to be a surprising result, disabled people polled as being marginally more happy than those who do not have a disability.

One finding that I find particularly interesting is that, serious talkers, who talk frequently about topics such as politics, education and the economy are much happier than those who talk about 'light topics' frequently. Generally, talking seems either to indicate happiness, or to keep us smiling; the silent types clocked up far less happiness than their chatty counterparts and the index of their happiness came in far lower down the scale than that of the average adult.

So, if you truly want to experience happiness your best bet is to be a well-paid, married, black female in the autumn of your life, who enjoys a regular debate about health care reform, or the state of the nation.

And what about the rest of us?

You can't do much about your age, gender or ethnicity. You can't necessarily alter how much money you make. You can become more engaged in your society and you can get involved in serious discussion about the larger issues.

So, get out there, get informed and get talking!

Happiness at the click of a mouse

Access to technology can be linked with positive emotions, according to a recent study by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. We might like to reminisce about just how happy we felt when we first cradled in our hands our new iPhone, or how devastated we were when our computer crashed while we were performing an important operation, but overall, do we feel happier or more stressed by the gadgets, gizmos and metatags that have become a part of our daily lives? Not one to make idle speculation, before coming to its own conclusions regarding technology and satisfaction, BCS took into account the views of 35,000 people around the world.

It found that women in developing nations and people of both sexes who had low levels of education or low incomes were particularly influenced by their access to technology.

Certainly, technology helps up to connect with friends and family who have spread themselves across great distances and this may be the reason why women, the cogs at the centre of most families, particularly value access to technology.

However, many researchers disagree that technology makes us any happier, including Yair Amichai-Hamburger, director for Internet Psychology at the Sammy Ofer School of Communications in Israel, who argued in an article in New Scientist (December 2009) that technology often acts as a barrier to real-world friendships and blurs the important distinctions between work and leisure time.

Like many things in life, balance appears to be the key to enjoying technology. A little is fantastic, but overindulgence (often manifest in addiction to the Internet) can mean that other areas of our lives suffer.

So is the iPad the answer to eternal happiness? I can't help but think that there is no one universal recipe for happiness, but perhaps a recipe for 'happiness in our times', that many of us could use as a base, upon which to build our own happiness soup.

It seems that as humans, we need to feel connected to one another. We require friendships, personal contact and love to grow in a positive manner. In recent times, western society has become fragmented and technology has stepped into the space created to fill the void with Facebook friends, text messages and blogs. These interactions are better than none at all and the nature of friendships that are supported by technology is such that those friendships can form and grow across great distances and time zones. This means that your Facebook friend might not be able to reach out and give you a hug, but you and they may share interests and ideas, that no one in your local area shares with you.

The argument as to whether technology is friend or foe to our collective happiness must take into account our human desire to be included in our society. Western society is a society that relies upon and revels in its technology and should one not have access to it, exclusion would certainly feel like a loss, if not a social disability. I can't comment on the situation in other cultures, but I would imagine that as technology becomes more pervasive, exclusion from its use becomes a greater issue.

The BCS study suggests that one of the reasons why technology makes people happy is the status that it affords them. Since Adam and Eve first enjoyed a wickedly delicious taste of indulgence, people have derived a certain degree of pride and contentment from displaying status symbols . Whether that status comes from owning the largest herd of cattle; driving the streets in a brand new sports car; or whipping out our brand new gadget to show salivating friends, our enjoyment comes from proving to friends that we are somebody, that we're in the know and that our personal capital is valuable.

All of this said, I don't believe that having access to technology alone will make a life meaningful. Technology is an instrument that allows us to perform certain tasks. What we do with technology and how we do it must be the source of any real meaning.

Learn to be happy and you'll be healthy

I've been dancing around it for a long time but today I'm going to come out and say it: most of us, when we search for the meaning of life, are really searching for the secret to happiness. I've tried not to fall into this trap and, although I think that an unhappy life is not necessarily a life that is devoid of meaning, my inclination when I research philosophy, history, contemporary news stories and when I make observations about my own life, is to presume that happiness is indicative of successful living.

I'm sure that many immoral and cruel individuals experience a certain degree of happiness and I would hate to suggest that their brand of living is a successful model that the rest of us should follow. This said, in the case of most not-totally-insane individuals, personal happiness is usually a sign of a life well lived and a rosey outlook.

Happiness seems to be the secret to successful living, not only for its own ends, but due to the health benefits that accrue when one feels happy. Quite simple, happiness helps us to thrive, both mentally and physically.

Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses upon the origin and impact of positive emotions. Some positive psychologists argue that happiness is an emotion that leads to better learning and it has been linked, in numerous studies, with reduced incidence of stress and heart disease. Researcher Barbara Fredrickson, in an article called 'The undoing effect of positive emotions' hypothesises that positive emotions help a person to return to their normal physiological levels after a period of intense stress.

In the general sense, positive emotions seem to have numerous benefits for human health. People who believe that they can positively influence situations experience lower stress levels, improved immune systems, reduced pain and are in a better position to overcome addiction and dependency than are those who believe that their suffering is outside of their control.

Based on their research, positive psychologists have developed techniques to improve the life experiences of those with perfect mental health, as well as people suffering with depression and other mental illnesses. Such is the evidence to support positive psychology and optimism that these techniques are used by life coaches, HR professionals, psychologists, therapists and counsellors to help people to thrive.

The eminent psychologist, Martin Seligman teaches what he calls 'learned optimism' and finds that those who have been taught to deal with situations in such a way as to reduce negative emotions, experience less stress and are generally more successful in study and work situations.

Seligman's method of teaching optimism is simple. He asks 'students' to understand how and why they react in certain ways to adversity, to analyse the basis for their assumption and then to dispute it in their own minds. In this manner people learn to react differently when faced with challenges and research has shown that after having learnt optimism, individuals experience less anxiety and less stress.

Given the evidence to support happiness, I've chosen this lovely subject as the focus of the next few of my blogs. I can't think of a single reason why happiness might not be the meaning of life and I challenge anyone to suggest why learning to be happy and tending one's mental health and attitudes might not be as vital as is looking after one's general health.

War torn

Last night, I watched a movie called Black Hawk Down, with which I am sure that many of you are familiar. It is a harrowing tale of horrors and terrors the like of which I hope that I will never witness and is based on events that occurred in Mogadishu, Somalia when US soldiers found themselves surrounded by militia forces and badly equipped to defend themselves.

I am finding it more and more difficult to watch graphic war movies, I don't know why. Before I could separate what I saw on screen from the reality that soldiers today experience, but these days, when Hollywood takes me on a trip into the battlefields, I can't seem to stop thinking about those men and women who are far flung and daily in danger. When others might cheer the explosions on screen, I find myself on the verge of tears.

Throughout history we have battered and butchered each other in our battles over land, money, women and ultimately, power. Small men with large egos have commanded the weaker and worthier to march into blood baths on a whim. Others have fought for freedom and for the pursuit of their ideals. Whether the ends were petty or vital, the violence and the horror were the same. There is no getting away from it, we are cruel beasts when we get going.

World War II was the deadliest conflict of all time (to date). Over 60 million people were killed during this truly global conflict.

World War I was essentially a European war. Children as young as 14 entered the trenches and fought as men. Initially, many thought of this war in a romantic sense, believing that they would be tested and have the opportunity to show their valour. They died in their thousands, moan down by gunfire, gassed and starved and frozen.

The Vietnam war has been the dominant conflict in the American consciousness for over 40 years. It was a horrific waste of human life that rocked East Asia even more than it did the United States. The number of military deaths between 1959 and 1975 is widely debated and the final figure depends on how the count is made, for example some figures include the South Vietnames forces killed in the final campaign, others do not. In 1995, the Vietnamese government reported that its military forces, inluding NLF, suffered 1.1 million military deaths and 2 million civilian casualties.

Icasualties.org reports the tally of deaths from 2003-2010 amongst the Iraq coalition (US, UK and other) at 4715. For Afghanistan, icasualties.com totals the number of dead at 1759.

Closer to home, between 1969 and 2001, 3,526 people were killed as a result of the Northern Irish troubles, according to the Sutton Index of Deaths.

These are just numbers and these numbers apply only to those who were killed; many more were injured or suffered mental breakdowns in the aftermath of their experiences.

War is everything counter to life's meaning. It destroys life quite literally and by quashing the spirit of otherwise perfectly good men and women.

It frustrates me when I see the leaders of our cruelest conflicts portrayed on screen as being inhuman monsters. Cruelty is part of our make up, it is all we can do to keep it at bay. In terrible circumstances we would probably all surprise ourselves by what we are capable of. Some people are capable of extremes even when they do not need to rely on such methods for survival.

If there is one very simple lesson that we should learn, but don't seem capable of listening to, it must be this: be peaceful.

Love is the drug

There are many different kinds of love and love is very difficult to define - most of us know it when we feel it, but ask anyone to break love down into its constituent parts and they will likely falter. Romantic love is one of the most exciting manifestations of the love effect.

The anthropologist Helen Fisher and her assistants studied 49 men and women's physical reaction to love and loss. They put each individual into a brain scanner and showed that love is the product of a chemical reaction in the brain. Fisher found that love 'lights up' an area of the brain that is similarly affected when people take cocaine. Certainly, love is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful emotion that people feel.

In her book, 'Why we love' Fisher discusses the results of her studies of the brains of 17 people who had just fallen in love, 15 people who had just been rejected and 17 people who were still in love after 20 years of marriage. She traces the origin of love and the evolution of love, from the first love poem, which dates from Sumeria over 4,000 years ago, to the present day. Her theory is that romantic love is a primal emotion that exists in order to promote procreation and the survival of the human race.

However, other researchers contend that while sexual relationships have (obviously) happened since complex life existed, romance is a new fangled idea that only came into being in recent centuries. These researchers claim that for a long period, humans did not experience any form of romantic love. Clearly, these researchers have not yet delved into the poetry of ancient Sumeria.

The term 'romance' is certainly not as old as romantic love itself. The term originated from the medieval ideal of chivalry, which was described in romance literature. This literature was based largely upon tales of the adventures of the elite classes and love had little to do with this 'romance' until the late 17th century.

So, today, what do we mean when we seek romance? Candle-light dinners can be lovely, but why does a heart drawn in the sand bring a smile to someone's face? I believe that most of us seek reassurance that our feelings of strong emotion for someone are returned. Grand gestures and thoughtful touches demonstrate clearly that someone cares about us and when we know that someone shares our feelings, we are more confident in demonstrating our own love.

One of the greatest challenges is that of keeping romance alive after the first flutter of sexual attraction has passed. I doubt that there is any full-proof way to keep the embers of romantic love burning, but from what I have observed, I note that the couples who seem happiest after many years together are those who laugh together and work towards common goals, while maintaining a certain independence through their own particular hobbies or interests. My theory is that romance doesn't always come naturally and that you've got to help it along from time to time. Thankfully, the odd weekend away, candlelit dinner and thoughtful gift seem to go a long way towards rekindling the fires. And sometimes the most romantic moments are those that only you and your partner understand, when you share something that means a lot to both of you, but which no one else might appreciate.

Finally, a word of advice from the not particularly wise to those whose fire has almost burnt out: if in doubt, bring flowers (unless your beloved suffers with hay fever that is, in which case arm yourself with anti-hystemines before suggesting any romantic picnics, or long walks in the country. On second thoughts, stick to chocolates and the sea-side and save your loved-one from sneezes and streaming eyes; there's nothing romantic about feeling like a snivelling wreck!).

Down with stress

Quite some time ago, while discussing philosophy and the meaning of life I wrote that this search would not involve mathematics. There is something else that I would like to exclude from this compendium of all things meaningful and that is stress.

Yesterday, I met with a woman who exuded stress the way some people exude confidence. It coloured her every word and movement to the degree that I began to sniff the air for the stench of it.

Stress is one of the most poisonous by-products of modern existence. With all our labour saving devices and life-extending medical treatments, rarely have so many suffered from such a degree of tension since hunting and gathering times.

We obsess about the consumption of carcinogenic foods and have banished smokers from sight in order to diminish our risk of contracting cancer but we accept without question a degree of stress that causes high blood pressure, cancer, skin disorders, ruined relationships and countless disturbed nights of sleep, or lack thereof.

Here are the things that I do to reduce stress:

- jogging is my number one stress busting activity, a good run along the beach near my house seems to melt away tension and make the world seem like a much more pleasant place than it was when I first put trainer to ground.

- sitting in the sun is another wonderful way to relieve stress. It is amazing how the warm rays of the sun cause my shoulders to drop, my face to relax and my mood to lift considerably.

- cooking tomato sauce has always helped me to blend away the day. Maybe this is a cure that is particular to me, but I have always found it enormously therapeutic to stand over a hot pot of sauce, stirring and watching, with little worry that I will ruin the dinner if I drift off into thought for several minutes while I cook.

- there's nothing quite like the talking cure and women are great at this. We talk ourselves into circles and then out of them again.

- sleeping for 10 hours on the trot has an unbelievable (literally, I did not believe that sleep alone would have the effect that it did - try it, it's wonderful) de-stressing effect. I never feel quite so calm, collected and in control as I do when I sleep for 10 hours. Of course, having the time to sleep for half the day is quite a luxury and one of the reasons why, although being unemployed can be enormously stressful, I felt energised throughout much of the time that I was free of the 9-5.

And now that my lunch break is drawing to a close, I must dash outside to take a few gasps of fresh air before I plough on, full speed ahead towards 5.30 and the light at the end of the stress tunnel.

Ash Friday

Seemingly pre-historic events have invaded our post-post-modern airspace. Ice chunks tumbled from a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FHAH'-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) glacier on Thursday, as hot gases melted the ice. The ash cloud that formed subsequently has grounded flights across Europe.

We are at the whim of the flow and flux of molten metals and sheets of rock. How strange it seems that in this advanced, technological age our high flying plans can be curtailed by something so basic and unpreventable as the lumbering movements of mother earth's belly.

How easy it is to forget that no matter how many life-enhancing super drugs or super computers we invent, our lives here are unstable at best. We may be the most advanced lifeforms on the planet, but the simple truth is that we're no match for that planet, when it flexes its muscles we crumble and bow down before its might.

Why ever we thought that we could become masters of the universe I cannot understand. Why we abused this planet for so long and celebrated our ability to do so, I cannot even begin to fathom. Human life on earth may eventually be brought to an end by the eruption of a super-volcano, or by a meteor that smashes into the surface of the earth, alternatively we may overheat our planet or starve to death due to man-made environmental degradation. It is humbling to know that there are forces more powerful than armies, nuclear bombs and withering looks. I think that it is also useful to be reminded from time to time that the planet is powerful, the planet will out live us by a long way, we're just passengers here and we should respect this position.

That sunshine feeling

The sun has certainly had its hat on for the past few days and Dublin has been infused with an atmosphere of celebration. We enjoy so few sunny days in Ireland that when the clouds break for a day or two, most people make a dash into the outdoors in order to soak up all the sunshine that they can.

There's something wonderful about the play of sunshine on the skin and the feeling of light in one's eyes that brings a smile to one's face. This weekend, it felt as if the recession had loosened its grip on the country and people were thrilled to sit in the parks, play on the beaches and exercise outdoors.

I've been thinking about sunshine this morning. This is partly due to the continuing good weather but also due to the fact that I've spent most of my morning writing an article about Vanuatu. Several years ago Vanuatu topped the polls to be named the happiest place on earth. The collective contentment of its citizens is attributed to a variety of characteristics of life on Vanuatu. For one, many people who live on this archipelago of volcanic islands are self sufficient and no-one goes hungry thanks to the fertile soil and abundance of fruit and vegetables. Secondly, life on Vanuatu is about as far removed from a consumer society as one can imagine. The spoils of economic life are not favoured as much stability, family and relaxation. This is not to say that people are lazy, but rather that they take more joy from spending time with family and friends than they do from buying the latest gadget or purchasing expensive clothes or accommodation.

And then there's the sunshine factor...

Vanuatu is located in a sub-tropical region of the south pacific. The sun shines for nine glorious months of every year and no one lives more than a few minutes from a beach.

There can be no denying it, sunshine makes us happy. Maybe it's the vitamin D, possibly it's the fact that sunlight makes the world look clearer and more beautiful but, whatever causes it, when the sun smiles upon us and we enjoy it in small doses, we usually end up smiling too.

This morning I've begun my article by suggesting that Vanuatu is a location where someone could find happiness. I certainly enjoyed my visit there last year but today, in usually grey Dublin, when the skies are blue and the air warm, this seems like as perfect a location as almost any.

If the meaning of life is to find happiness, a good blast of sunshine is likely to bring us closer to finding that meaning. Sometimes the answers are more simple than the questions and in this case it seems to be the case. Looking for the meaning of life? Just step outdoors.

The rules of attraction

After yesterday's posting about the power of fleeting glances and lingering looks, my mind has turned today to the power of attraction.

What is it that leads us to choose a given mate? Why do we find certain body shapes attractive? Why is it that the girls with the big booties and tiny waists get all the guys? And how is it that the men with symmetrical faces and wide shoulders win the favour of the fairest ladies?

The answer is simple - within just moments of meeting a member of the opposite sex, our subconscious minds make a decisive decision as to whether this individual can provide suitable genetic material for our future children. What our subconscious doesn't seem to realise is that we're not always lining up members of the opposite sex for this purpose. In fact, our subconscious uses the same check list when sizing up a potential one night stand that it does when met with someone who we might actually want to start a family with. And that subconscious check list remains even when we're past the days of baby-making and enjoying a later blooming.

So what are the visual signals that we seek in partners? Surprisingly, the answer is not big boobs and a tight ass.

Symmetry appears to play a significant role. This is explained by the fact that we are formed through a splitting of cells. If this process continues from conception in a successful manner, we will be born with symmetrical faces and bodies. Few individuals are born and continue through life as symmetrical beings. Those whose bodies could theoretically be folded over onto themselves to make a perfect match are often visually arresting, just by virtue of the mirror match effect of their features.

Hip to waist ratio is another attraction factor. Women with waists that are significantly narrower than their hips seem to be most attractive to men. Such a ratio is a visual clue that speaks directly to a man's subconscious and tells him that a woman is strong enough to carry his child. Try explaining that to a guy who chases big bootied women for short lived flings!

Men with straight hips and waist appear to be most attractive to women, but strong shoulders for working hard and bearing weight seem to be more important when it comes to getting the girl.

Face structure plays a factor in attraction. Fine-boned women with prominent eyes are often deemed to be the most attractive, while a man's strong jaw is sure to turn the heads of the ladies. Again, this attraction is due to a subconscious awareness that the narrow jaws of women suggest good reproductive health, while the wider jaws of men indicate a high level of testosterone.

And what about those brother-sister couples, who appear to look weirdly alike? Some put this phenomenon down to vanity on the part of both partners however, there is another explanation. Once again, it all comes down to baby making. For the sake of our children's health and well being, we often seek out mates who have similar but not identical genetic material to our own.

Much is written about pheromones and the power of these secret-super-scents to drive us wild. While one can be drawn to the smell of another person's skin, some researchers argue that humans do not absorb the scent of pheromones, either because pheromones are usually found floating somewhere near our feet, or because we have become genetically predisposed to favour visual signs of attraction, rather than olfactory signals.

Whatever it is that causes us to find someone physically attractive, attraction alone does not appear capable of sustaining long term relationships. Communication, caring and shared interests seem to be the ingredients for lasting success, however a good dose of attraction certainly helps things along in the beginning, even if our subconscious keeps us in the dark as to why it causes us to look twice at the dark eyed beauty we spot across a room.

The eyes have it

This afternoon I'm going to see an eye specialist for a routine check up. In my typical scatter-gun approach to blogging, this visit prompted me to think about eye-contact.

In my opinion, eye-contact is fascinating. I often feel that we communicate more with a brief look into someone else's eyes than we could by means of a lengthy conversation. When we communicate with our eyes we communicate in a pure sense. It is for this reason that Socrates referred to the eyes as the window to the soul.

Furthermore, when we make eye-contact with someone from a distance away and even across a crowded space, we recognise immediately that they have noticed us and they they are aware that we have noted them. The mutual aspect of eye-contact is truly amazing.

Surprisingly, the term 'eye-contact' was coined in the early to mid 1960s. I had presumed that this term was as old as the recognition that we can communicate without words.

In western society eye-contact is usually understood to be a sign of confidence and a means to communicate socially. However, is some cultures in Asia, prolonged eye-contact is read as a sign of aggression, particularly when a subordinate retains eye-contact with a superior.

While we in the West often assume that if someone cannot make eye-contact with us they are shy, weak or in some way lacking belief in themselves, some researchers suggest that we would be best to refrain from making eye-contact when people ask us demanding questions. These researchers found that maintaining eye-contact is so very mentally challenging that those who look away when they answer a question are more likely to respond correctly.

However, when it comes to close friends and particularly lovers, if someone does not meet your eye when you offer it, it can be disconcerting. How do we know whether someone loves us if we cannot see into the window to their soul?

The will to live

Often, a collective belief arises in something that we can't see or prove the existence of. Sometimes, we defend our belief on the basis that we have no other adequate explanation for a specific phenomenon, or based on our own observations.

Many of us believe in the will to live. We have no proof that we can will ourselves to heal after illness, or to continue to live when science suggests that we should have given up the ghost. Yet we believe, partly because it seems to make sense that if we really, really want to stay alive, we will do, to a certain point. Perhaps this makes sense to us because we are aware that even when we are very tired, we are capable of forcing ourselves to remain awake for long periods of time - and so life's tiniest challenges convince us to believe in the power of our minds (maybe even our souls) to control aspects of the physical.

Psychologists and philosophers have addressed the phenomenon of the will to live and they concluded with varying opinions as to its nature. Freud understood our most powerful driver to be a will to pleasure; Alfred Adler created an individual psychology based on the will to power; Viktor Frankl, whose work I discussed in a previous post, developed the branch of psychotherapy called logotherapy, which centres upon the will to meaning. 19th century philosopher, Schopenhauer understood man's will as a powerful but negative force. His analysis of man's will led him to believe that emotional, physical and sexual desires led only to pain and suffering. He favoured a lifestyle free of human desires, similar to that promoted by the Stoics, Buddhism and Vedanta.

This morning I read a report by a Massachusetts USA based oncologist. He writes that although the will to live can not be measured accurately, nor understood in a scientific sense, from his surgery he notes that a strong will to live can improve quality of life and may even prolong life. His goes on to say that patients who have a positive attitude are better able to cope with the challenges presented by illness and may respond better to therapy.

He quotes from Coping with Cancer, which says that the most important ingredient in the will to live is hope. Much like in the writing of Viktor Frankl, hope is described as the element that people live on when logic tells them that they have little chance for a happy future, or indeed a future of any kind.

Another study that I found at Psychiatry Online noted that the will to live is often influenced by existential variables such as hopelessness, the feeling of being a burden to others and a loss of dignity.

Essentially, it appears that by believing that we are worthy of happiness and that we have the potential to be happy we may boost our will to live and in so doing, actually improve our chances of a healthy, happy and long life.

So, my message today is think positive - blind hope may save your life one day.

The little big bang and the 'God particle"

Yesterday, physicists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) achieved high-power collisions of sub-atomic particles. This is the first part of a two year experiment that aims to recreate and study the conditions present when the Big Bang occurred. And the great news is that we are all still here!

Long touted as the experiment that would end the world by creating a black hole somewhere near Geneva, the experiment has succeeded in its initial aim and (bonus!) it has added to the sum of human knowledge without the total obliteration of life on earth.

“It’s a great day to be a particle physicist,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “A lot of people have waited a long time for this moment, but their patience and dedication is starting to pay dividends.”

“With these record-shattering collision energies, the [Large Hadren Collider] LHC experiments are propelled into a vast region to explore, and the hunt begins for dark matter, new forces, new dimensions and the Higgs boson,” said ATLAS collaboration spokesperson, Fabiola Gianotti.

Ah yes, the infamous Higgs Boson, or as it is commonly known, the God Particle... I am sure that you will not be surprised to know that my little blogging brain has been enchanted by the notion of a God particle and indeed, by the thought that there is a place for a God anything within the scientific world.

This particle has never been observed experimentally and its existence is purely hypothetical at this point. The theory is that the interaction of the Higgs Boson with other particles ensures that the universe contains matter, rather than just energy alone. It is for this reason that the Higgs Boson is known as the God particle. Essentially, if this experiment detects the elusive (and currently only imagined) Higgs Boson, it will help to explain the origin of mass in the universe.

The popular interest in the God particle is one of the reasons why CERN now has over 120,000 followers on Twitter. Another big draw is the fear factor that surrounds the experiment. There has been (and probably still is) a small risk that this experiment will lead to the creation of a black hole that will end life on earth. Not doing much to allay fears that physicists consider the total annihilation of the human race to be collateral damage, last month, CERN issued a paper including the following statement: there is little doubt that black hole production at the [Large Hadron Collider] would be an unacceptable and irresponsible risk."

While this statement does appear to indicate that CERN is NOT in favour of the end of the world, the language is not quite strong enough to help me sleep easy. 'Black hole production' - as if this is an every day occurrence? 'an unacceptable and irresponsible risk' - yeheh and then some.

However, there is a serious side to this experiment (which is far too complicated for my feeble grey matter to understand). As Heuer explains: The LHC has a real chance over the next two years of discovering supersymmetric particles and possibly giving insights into the composition of about a quarter of the universe."

Although yesterday's success is certainly cause for celebration, it marks the very beginning of this experiment. Up to two years of experiments will happen in the LHC at current levels and computer calculations will continue for even longer, despite the fact that these calculations will be undertaken using 'the Grid', a vast network of computers that will process 15m gigabytes of data a year.

Follow developments directly with CERN or on Twitter.

Life on television

I never thought of myself as much of an animal person but I’m starting to rethink this. In fact, I have been on safari three times, whale watching, diving and to see orangutans in Borneo (all of which required much saving and penny pinching to achieve). I must, on reflection, have quite an interest in our furry, feathered and gilled friends.

Lately, I asked myself – who would I choose to interview, if I had my pick? One of the people who sprung to mind was Sir David Attenborough, who is famous for his natural history programmes and work within the administration of the BBC.

His programmes, including the 'Life' series and 'Planet Earth' feature some of the most spectacular wildlife and landscape photography that I have ever seen and often, the moments that his work captures are so very beautiful as to cause pin prick tears to leap to my eyes.

But it is not just the flickering images of animals, plants, underwater creatures and birds that have me glued to the television set any time that one of Attenborough’s programmes come on. It constantly amazes me how his observations about the lives of other species are applicable to human life, whether these observations are about the role of the family, the drive to survive, or the search for food in landscapes that are altered by environmental damage.

What these series proved to me was that life exists wherever it can. In freezing climes, deep underwater and in the hottest, driest deserts, life goes on. Life finds a way, even in circumstances when the entirety of that life must be invested in staying alive.

Attenborough would surely be an interesting subject, even if we never mentioned the flora and fauna. After all, he has been involved in television for over fifty years, first having been recruited into television when he had seen just one television programme. He has been Controller of BBC Two and also, Director of Programmes across both channels, although he gave up this role to return to making programmes.

His 9-part ‘Life’ series, which began in 1979 with 'Life on Earth' and concluded in 2008 with ‘Life in Cold Blood’ succeeded in completing the mammoth task of documenting all the major terrestrial animals and plants on the planet.

His later work has taken on an overtly environmentalist stance and he is committed to promoting environmental issues.

I would like to ask Attenborough about his views on ecology and how these views changed over time. I would like to ask him where in the world he would most like to return to. What were the moments that took his breath away? How do he and other people who watch individual animals for months at a time remain emotionally detached when that animal gets injured or eaten? What have other living creatures taught him about the human race? And I would like to ask him about patience, which he must have in infinite quantities.

He has been awarded Baftas, an honourary degree from the Open University, a knighthood, the Order of Merit and he’s even had a Mezozoic reptile named after him.

The man who has documented almost the entirety of life on earth has done much with his go on the roundabout. If anyone would be in a position to discuss the meaning of life, with some authority, I suggest that it might just be this man…

Let's celebrate the weekend!

The weekend is almost upon us and I am delighted. There's nothing like enduring the working week to make Friday seem like a cause for celebration. These days, we believe that a weekend of rest and play is our God given right, but this was not always the case.

The idea of leisure time (yes, that's right, leisure time is an 'idea'. As a member of the generation who believe in career breaks and yearlong round-the-world-trips, I can barely get my head around this) seems to have originated in Victorian England, near the end of the Industrial Revolution. In the early days, weekends were a brief one-day affair and given that factory workers often worked up to 18 hours a day, 6 days a week, my suspicion is that rather than 'going on a mad one' on Saturday and spending Sunday nursing hangovers, playing football and having brunch with friends, this one-day was probably given over to household chores and sleep.

As the working class gained more power and organised themselves they successfully fought to have the weekend extended to Saturday and Sunday. With the development of railways, workers began to travel during their time off work and to enjoy the sights and sounds of new areas and even (imagine the excitement when it initially became possible) the seaside.

With the development of leisure time, public parks were created for recreation and relaxation. In fact, the growth of leisure time has been one of the most important factors in the development of the society that we experience today and of the most common lifestyle aspirations. Without leisure time there would be no professional sports, the word hobby might only apply to the pursuits of the wealthiest people in society, the time that we would spend with loved ones would be severely limited, spas would be empty, hotels would be few in number and the word brunch would be banished from common usage. And who would we be without time off work? After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and Jill a very dreary little lady.

So, as I set into the first true weekend that I've been in a position to enjoy for quite some time, I will try to remember that far from being short, my weekend will be twice as long as the weekend enjoyed by workers during the Industrial Revolution. However, I'm sure that, on Sunday evening, when I am cursing what Monday brings, I won't care how long (or little) my ancestors partied for, or how much workers rights have improved since then.

The generation game

I spent last Sunday with my extended family. This consisted of my parents, brothers and sister, grandfather, one uncle, his wife and their three children. Several hours, one turkey, many potatoes and a lot of excitement over a toy zoo got me thinking about family.

These days it's become difficult to define family because it means so many different things to different people. These are the elements that make up most of the definitions that I read online: a social unit living together; a primary social group - parents and children; class/ collection of things sharing a common attribute; people descended from a common ancestor; kin; a taxonomic group containing one of more genera; syndicate; an association of people who share common beliefs or activities.

Strictly speaking, the primary functions of the family are reproduction, orientation and socialization and the formation of an economically productive household. I had considered family life to be a biological fact but this is not necessarily the case. Ethnography, history, law and social statistics suggest that the human family is an institution rather than a biological fact. Family life is a product of evolution, rather than being in existence since time immemorial. Some researchers, including Friedrich Engels contended that economical factors led to the formation of family groups.

The term family, when applied to humans is often used to mean people related by blood lines without specifying that these people actually live together or share their lives in any way. In other cases we describe a group as a family because they are close, rather than because they share the same gene pool.

But what does it mean to be a family? I think that that's one of the questions that each of us will provide different answers to, depending on our experiences of family life. In my case, I grew up in a very traditional family - mother, father, four kids, grandparents, aunts, uncles and multitudes of cousins. We're a motley rabble, but there are few rifts amongst the lot (which, come to think of it, is probably quite unusual) and we are generally very close.

To me family means the people who will love you even when they don't like you and who will support you through whatever life throws at you. The word 'unconditional' floats in the background of any of my thoughts about family. My family members don't necessarily know me inside and out, but they're the people with whom I can act deplorably and come back the next day with my tail between my legs, safe in the knowledge that (eventually) they will forgive me. My family have taught me most of what I know about how to survive in this world, both physically and emotionally.

I've always thought as a family as being a hierarchically structured school system, by which elder generations pass on their skills and knowledge to the younger members. On Sunday as I interacted with my young cousins I couldn't help but think that the channel is open at both ends and that although my uncle and aunt are passing on invaluable life skills, from good hygiene to how to care for another person, they are also learning from their children. Our education never truly ends and certainly, it would appear that rearing children and interacting with grandchildren is a living grind school in self knowledge and self discovery.

Back to work

Yesterday, I started a new job. First days are always daunting. You don’t know where they keep the coffee cups (next to the water cooler), or if anyone will ask you to go to lunch with them (they didn’t). However, I am more daunted by the thought that work will become the meaning of my life.

It is very easy to define ourselves by what we do from nine to five, or more usually, nine til whatever time in the evening one can pry oneself from the desk without risking long stares and reprimand. There are people who truly do give the best days of their best years to their careers and whose entire focus is upon bounding up the career ladder, or increasing their market share. That is a personal choice like any other however, while as a friend or parent you may be irreplaceable, when you leave a position of employment it will be just a matter of days before another young upstart gets a feel for your role, sits at your desk and reads all your old emails. This arrogant creature may even do a better job than you did. And you will have to live with this. In fact, it’s probably a good idea that you make peace with this idea now.

Work might feel like your second home, but it’s always an occupation with an end limit, even when the business is your own. Call me unfocused, but I've always believed in preparing for the time when there is no work to do and nowhere to go from Monday to Friday. I think that the best way to do this is to share my energies across the span of my life, rather than focusing all my attention upon my career.

I’m trying to keep this in mind as I travel south from the city to my place of employment (which, in ironic fashion, is located in the leafy suburbs). I’m also trying to keep in mind that during these tough economic times, a job is a job and it’s best to smile and keep the head up than drown in the mundanities of working life. And this is the other thing that I have been contemplating since I left the office yesterday afternoon: work is work.

While we often become very close to the people we meet there and enjoy all of the office banter that floats above the heads of the assembled worker bees throughout the day, there are many things about working that are unpleasant (getting up early in the morning for one), but they still have to be done. Other aspects of employment fascinate us and require us to invest ourselves both intellectually and emotionally in projects that we work on. There is a danger in becoming too preoccupied by the fascinating aspects of our jobs, or indeed by the fact that our job fails to stimulate us.

When you return to work after a long absence you imagine that working will give you a useful purpose in life and that between open and close of business you will be called upon to give the best of your intellect and to share the greatest depths of your creativity. This is rarely the case and little gets done without some hard slog.

So, to any of you who are out there searching for work (as I have been in recent weeks) or bemoaning the fact that you no longer have a job to go to, for whatever reason, remember this: most of what the average worker does in any day is utterly mind numbing.

And to those of you who might be considered work-aholics: Get a life, because if you don't, one day you'll be unemployed/ retired/ on extended leave and if you've no extra curricular activities on the go now, then it will be overwhelming to involve yourself in sufficient activities to keep yourself occupied and, crucially, fullfilled.

We are who we are, not what our job title describes us as. Wish me luck in keeping sight of this fact.

Logotherapy and the search for meaning

Viktor E. Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning is a slim volume, but within its 154 pages it contains concisely presented insights into our human psychology that go a long way to explaining the role of meaning in our lives and the problems that we encounter when we believe that our lives have become meaningless.

The book is divided into two parts. The first section offers an account of the psychological impact of living within concentration camps during World War II. The second section offers a brief introduction to logotherapy, which is considered to be the third school of psychology, after Freud’s psychoanalysis and Adler’s individual psychology.

Having survived three concentration camps, Frankl is in an unusual position to discuss the psychological impact of cruelty, suffering and the role of hope during times of intense challenge. His account of his time in the camps is not a description of the atrocities that occurred there, but rather a description of the effects upon the mind, of life in a concentration camp. Some of the insights that I found to be the most interesting included his description of the deadening of emotions that occurred to prisoners within the camp and how hardened most became to the suffering and death all around them. He is clearly a deep feeling man however, he notes that he himself did not always behave with compassion and that in those circumstances, personal survival and the survival of one’s family took precedence over almost all else, even if that meant that others died.

The role of hope, as a belief in a possible positive future, appears to have been paramount to ensuring the survival of any prisoner and Frankl notes that when a prisoner gave up hope and ate the last bit of bread that he had been saving, or smoked the cigarette that he had buried deep in a pocket for safe-keeping, it was a virtual certainty that that prisoner would be dead within a few days, or even hours. It seems that when man lives on the very knife edge of starvation and exhaustion, hope can sustain him from meal to meal, but without that hope, he will perish before help can come.

The book was first published in 1946 and my edition is an imprint of 1992. On the front cover of the copy that I bought the following line is printed: 9 million copies sold. I wonder how many people have read the book now and I suggest that if you have not read it, you do. I found it to be well worth the few hours that it takes to flick from cover to cover. In his own introduction to this edition, Frankl describes his thoughts when interviewers or TV presenters ask him how he feels about the success of his book. He writes: I react by reporting that in the first place I do not at all see in the bestseller status of my book an achievement and accomplishment on my part, but rather an expression of the misery of our time: if hundreds of thousands of people reach out for a book whose very title promises to deal with the question of a meaning of life, it must be a question that burns under their fingernails.”

In my very humble opinion, the fact that many of us are searching for meaning need not necessarily be read as a negative aspect of our times. In the section on logotherapy Frankl notes that depression in often caused by a lack of meaning and that when people have a purpose, any purpose to their lives, they become more positive about the nature of their existence. He writes that far from meaning being a god-given right with which we are born and that we must only seek in order to discover, we must see our lives as an opportunity to create meaning and to find a purpose for our existence.

Frankl thought that it was unfortunate that many of those who read his book had not yet found meaning in their lives. I think that it is positive that so many people are out there seeking that meaning, searching for a way to infuse their lives with purpose and reading the wise words of Viktor E. Frankl in order to help them along their way.