Your Happiness Factor

Do you have emotional intelligence - what is your emotional intelligence quotient? "All learning has an emotional base." -- Plato The ability to express and control our own emotions is important to our success in life. But so is our ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. Imagine a world where you couldn't understand when a friend was feeling sad or when a co-worker was angry. Psychologists refer to this ability as emotional intelligence (EI). Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions - your own and other peoples'. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic.  A number of testing instruments have been developed to measure emotional intelligence, although the content and approach of each test varies. The quiz at the link below presents a mix of self-report and situational questions relate

Fish Adobo is  Filipino .  The fish is cooked using an inadobo style.   Inadobo means it is cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic; along with pepper or whole pepper corn, and dried bay leaves.  This the signature dish of the Philippines. You will find the video on the Gelo YouTube Channel here https://youtube.com/c/GeloSpicyChannel100621 Here is the recipe Ingredients 1 medium-sized fish, sliced 4  of garlic, peeled then minced 1⁄4 cup of vinegar 1⁄4 cup of soy sauce 1 teaspoon of whiole black peppercorns 1 cup of water 4-5 pieces of bay leaf 1 red chili pepper (optional) 3 tablespoons of cooking oil sugar Instructions Combine all the ingredients except for the cooking oil and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the sugar according to your taste. Then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the fish over halfway through the cooking time. When the fish is thoroughly cooked and the sauce is has thickened remove it from the heat. Transfer to a servin

I love this picture. It so full of warmth and comfort. It gives us a quiet space to reflect wherever we happen to be at any moment in the day. You don't need to be there. Just look at the picture. Take in it's colours. Truly see the flowers, the trees, that wonderful old bridge and the gently flowing water.  Now breathe in slowly and as you breathe out let go as you feel yourself in the picture. Try it for a few moments. I find it really helps me to get through a difficult day Wendy Mason  Smith  is a  Personal Coach and Writer helping people feel happier.  If you would like  help with your career or your life away from work, you can book a FREE coaching session with Wendy or find out more at this  link

Lifting your mood Are you feeling low and a bit down? Perhaps too many blue days are around right now? Here's something to help. We've been through such a lot. Really bad things are happening out there in the world and we're reading, hearing and watching all kinds of horrible things. Lots of us are worried about money about our health and about the health and wellbeing of those we love. So how do we raise our spirits. And how do we try to keep them up there, so that we can get out there and do the things we want to do do? Well here is what I try do every day of the week.  Every morning I write what a lot of people call Morning Pages. I write about 500 words in my journal about positive things that I really like.  I try to write about small things that I might see in a day that bring me joy. Sometimes I write about people that I care for or like and why I value them. Sometimes it's hard not to whinge but the point is to stay positive. So long as it's positive it do

Bees are wonderful. Think about it; they spend their whole lives totally focused on what matters to them. They are dedicated to what they value and so serve their community.  But unlike us, they don't have to think about it - they are born knowing. Unfortunately, most of us have to think about our 'purpose'. Well, here's a place to start.  Take a little time out. Go deep within yourself and think about what you truly value. Be really honest with yourself. Stop thinking about what you think it should be. Oh dear that word 'should' is dangerous. Now, what would life be like if you started to shape your life round what you truly value? Maybe living your life in accordance with your values is your purpose. Wendy Mason  Smith  is a  Personal Coach and Writer helping people feel happier.  If you would like  help with your career or your life away from work, you can book a FREE coaching session with Wendy or find out more at this  link

Our ancestors must have feared the darkness of night terribly. Oh how they would have loved  daylight and those nights when the moon shone bright. Most of all they must have loved the full moon. It is all too easy to see how they came to worship the sun and the moon.  But then, of course, they discovered fire. At first it was probably a natural fire; perhaps, a bush fire following a long hot summer. Those fires would have inspired awe. And keeping alight a flame from a natural fire through the dark winter must have been a very special responsibility - the sacred flame. In time, the secret of making fire was discovered. The Greek myth tells how Prometheus defied the gods by stealing fire and giving its secret to humanity. He was sentenced to eternal torment for an act that enabled human progress and civilization. Life in the cave without fire would have been pretty constrained, if not impossible. It was the coming of light in the form of flame  that led to man's greatest c

This poem on my Dreaming in Purple and Grey poetry site. It was written in remembrance for the 100 years' anniversary of the First World War armistice.  You can find it at this link . I wanted this poem to sound like a nursery rhyme despite the gruesomeness. For us growing up in the fifties, the First World War was not very far away. My Grandad was a wagonner when the war began. He was called up with his horses. My Mum could remember those horses being dressed in horse ribbons to be paraded through the village before they made their journey to France. Grandad drove a water wagon at the start of the war and a water truck by the end. I don't know what happened to the horses. I know he lost a brother and, I believe, a brother-in-law, on the Somme. All they told us kids about his experiences in the war was about the lack of clean clothing. And, how each night in the trenches, Grandad and the other soldiers would kill the lice in their vests by running a candle flame up the seams. E