The Happiness Project

What years in the therapy room taught me about weight management, and why I understand the appeal of weight-loss injections By Craig Fookes | The Mind Works When I first started my career as a therapist, I had a brilliant business idea. I was extremely pleased with it, anyway. I was a man in my mid-thirties who'd experienced more than my fair share of mental health difficulties. Anxiety, depression, addictions, relationship problems, money worries. You name it. I'd experience

Why pushing yourself out of your comfort zone isn't always the answer By Craig Fookes | The Mind Works I'd like you to ask yourself a question. On a scale of 10 to minus 1, how do you feel right now? And I don't just mean whether you're happy or sad. I'd like you to imagine putting everything in your life together into one overall score. Your physical health. Your psychological wellbeing. Your energy and vitality. Your relationships. Your work, family and financial circumst

How I found an explanation for almost everything, and why I eventually started looking beyond it By Craig Fookes | The Mind Works During what I've come to call my Happiness Project, I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to understand myself. Why I think and feel the way I do. Why certain things seem to come so easily while others can feel almost impossibly difficult. Why I can be extraordinarily productive one day and barely able to get off the sofa the next. And, p

Why do we stay in relationships that make us unhappy, and why can the same argument mean something completely different to two people? By Craig Fookes | The Mind Works I've occasionally had people tell me in the therapy room that they've always thought they were a bit thick because they weren't very good at maths at school. It's quite a lot of baggage to carry from a maths lesson. I was reasonably good at maths. And, to be fair, most of what I learnt has been remarkably usele

Why having the things we want doesn't always mean feeling the way we expected By Craig Fookes | The Mind Works Have you ever achieved something you thought would make you happy, only to discover that it didn't quite feel the way you'd imagined? Perhaps you've reached a goal you've been working towards for years. Perhaps you're in a relationship, have a reasonably comfortable lifestyle, or have finally found yourself with more free time. On paper, things might be going rather

After years of searching for answers, what have I learnt about finding contentment? By Craig Fookes | The Mind Works What does it actually take to feel happy? A simple question, apparently. Although judging by the amount of time and money we spend trying to answer it, perhaps not quite as simple as we'd like. We spend so much of our lives pursuing the things we believe will make us happy. A better job. A healthier body. More money. A loving relationship. A little more time t