When your mood dips or you experience tumult in your life there’s a good chance your go to is comfort food, retail therapy or perhaps in a delicious vacation by the sea. Those things won’t make you happy, though, as it turns out your happiness lies in having relationships that are strong and healthy.

That is according to a London School of Economics study (On The Origin Of Happiness, Clark, et al) – love and strong mental health are indicative of bliss versus twice the income. You might be convinced that your unhappiness lies in an empty bank account, but it’s more likely that you are broken emotionally.

The Research

Researchers evaluated 200,000 people and identified that it was that emotional brokenness that was fueling unhappiness in participants, not their bank balance. Continue reading →

Perhaps one of the most overlooking factors in the term social skills is the skill part. Just like any other skill you can improve it by practicing it. The biggest issue with practicing these skills is that you need to put yourself out there to practice.

Practicing social skills doesn’t mean you need to get dressed up, head to a bar, and approach strangers. That would be enough to put anyone off. There are other tools you can keep in your kit to boost your skills when you’re in social situations.

1 – Handy Topics

When you have anxiety about social situations (especially new ones) one of the biggest problems is coming up with topics to discuss.

You might worry that you don’t have anything to contribute to conversations that are in full swing, perhaps small talk leaves you in a cold sweat… having some icebreakers handy as well as a story or two can relieve a lot of that anxiety. Continue reading →

Whether you find it easy to make friends or nearly impossible, let me ask you this – are your friendships meaningful? There’s a difference between building a social network of acquaintances and developing close and fulfilling relationships.

Not everyone is born with an innate ability to build amazing friendships. Luckily, you can improve your skills on the friendship front and improve your existing relationships while you’re at it.

1 – Notice Everything

You probably feel great when someone asks if you’re okay when you feel down. You may not have told them that you weren’t feeling yourself, but you appreciate the fact that they noticed – they pay attention to you and that’s something we all appreciate. Continue reading →