Boredom is not something that’s exclusively experienced by youngsters on long car journeys or on rainy days during school holidays. It can also afflict us as adults, when we begin to feel a sense that life has lost some of its variety and flavour. Tackling a feeling of ‘life-boredom’ gives us the chance to draw on some of the life skills we began to develop as children.

Peace comes not by imposing our wills or asserting the correctness of our ways and beliefs over others, but by reckoning with our own hearts.

As Christmas fast approaches, it seems like a good time to explore another of our five senses, and possibly the one most closely associated with the sensory experience of the Christmas season — the sense of taste.

Stop holiday stress from turning into holiday blues with these five tips — and get back to what the season can be all about.

Feeling that your freedom of choice has been taken away can be deeply frustrating, but even in very restrictive circumstances, we can still choose how to respond to what is going on in our lives — by recognising the limitations of our ability to exercise control and then making our choices within them.

Some of us need to feel the fear before doing anything at all. Maybe some peace can be gained by just accepting that we function this way…

Call it “voluntary simplicity”, call it “lifehacking”, call it “downshifting”, or call it what you will, bigger is no longer better. Now “less” is chic and trendy. If you can whittle the sum total of your possessions down to 100 or less, you could be the next Internet celebrity. But the simplicity movement, like most movements, has a shadow. Let’s take a look at what can go wrong when you hop on the simplicity bandwagon.