social marketing & corporate responsibility (CSR) & business and human rights
It’s February and you know what that means – advertisers trying to sell us more stuff – cards, flowers, wine, gimmicks, experiences and the idea that we are lacking in some way if we don’t have a significant other or have and don’t wish to take part in Valentine’s Day spending.
Or can it? The saying ‘money can’t buy happiness’ isn’t always true…
If you live below the poverty line money will ensure you can buy yourself physical security and feel emotionally better due to the reduced stress that lack of money brings with it.
Disposable income can also be used to help others. Research suggests people who help others are happier than people who spent all of their money on themselves. Spare income allows us to donate to causes close to our hearts and leads to happiness.
Once we pass a certain threshold, namely $75,000US according to Economists Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, we won’t be any happier when we earn more and upgrade existing and add more possessions to our own private empire.
The things that bring long-term satisfaction and contentment can’t be bought with money, on the contrary, instant gratification particularly can actually have the opposite effect. [Read more…]
January 2020 – the end of an old and the beginning of not just a new year but a new decade. A decade of hope and to move into the right direction.
A time for collaboration and consensus building. A time for integration of the different, of the poor, of the voiceless, of non-human animals, of plants, of everybody and everything. A time to create balance.
2019 will be a big year for women globally. There is a lot to be proud of. Yet, a lot remains to be achieved.
[Read more…]A balanced world is a better world. How can you help forge a more gender-balanced world? Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.
We are half way into January and by now, your new year resolution(s) are probably already out of the window. You are not alone:
But don’t let this stop you from having one or several resolutions. Drawing one year to a close and starting a new one is a powerful tool for reflection, for taking stock and to set out where you would like to be in another 12 months time… no goals = no results.
There is something unifying about Mother’s Day that few other commemorative days have to offer – we all have a mother and wouldn’t be in this world without her (our fathers have played a minor role of course… but that is a story for another day.)
Mother’s Day is for all of us and, regardless of circumstance, is an opportunity to cherish women for what they bring to the world. Women, like men are diverse human beings and come in all shapes and forms. Women are not perfect by any means however, today is not about a balanced discussion about the complexity and diversity of women. [Read more…]
World-wide, the single person household is growing rapidly in line with economic development and education. The more developed and educated, the higher the proportion of single person households…it is predicted that the lone person household will rise most of all households over the next 25 years and more than half of these households are females. And the reason is simply that people want to live an individualistic lifestyle when they can afford it.
If love is an embrace, a kiss, caring and feeling – a fondness or affection, why then has the annual celebration of love – St. Valentine’s Day become a consumer driven machine worth an estimated $18.9 billion USD that leaves even the most reasonable of spendthrifts feeling a little sinful (estimate of figures by About News – that’s huge!)
In the 1850’s Esther A. Howland began mass producing Valentine’s cards in the US, from the 18th century custom of exchanging handmade cards to loved ones on St. Valentine’s Day and it has steadily gained momentum to the excessive holiday it is today that people love to hate and retailers unashamedly relish.
St. Valentine’s Day wasn’t always linked with love, it wasn’t until Chaucer’s Love Birds that the custom of exchanging cards began.
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If you do a lot of things at once with few resources, need to deal with negativity and at the same time, need to keep your energy levels up, these strategies might help you too to keep balanced and happy.
Here it goes*:
What do you like doing? What is frustrating you? Focus on the bigger issues. Which of the things that frustrate you can you change and which are beyond your control? Don’t waste time on the latter. Identify and remind yourself of your goals and values. Be honest.
If you are a meat eater and wine lover, commit to 2 or 3 meat & alcohol free evenings and [Read more…]