I have a friend who begins to lament the approach of winter as soon as the nights begin to get longer and whose mood is low during much of the winter months. Yet I also know people who are equally cheerful winter and summer - and I recently saw an article about this which I found very interesting. One of the things they did was to talk to Norwegians who live within the Arctic Circle - they have winter days when there are only 2 or 3 hours - or fewer still - of pale sunlight. Many of them love winter! It turns out that this is largely to do with how they think about it - here are some examples of questions they were asked:
Which of the following statements best reflects your attitude to winter?
*There are many things to enjoy about the winter
*I love the cosiness of the winter months
*Winter brings many wonderful seasonal changes
Or
*Winter is boring
*Winter is a limiting time of year
*There are many things to dislike about winter
No surprises that the people who agreed with the positive statements about winter were also found to be happier and more cheerful. And of course, it isn't only our attitude to winter which affects our mood and feelings - lots of things can look different if we find another way to look at them. I turned around a fear of flying by changing how I thought about it - and it wasn't as hard as you might think, once I allowed myself to see the 'story' I was telling myself. I wonder how many gransnetters have found that changing the 'story' they tell themselves about something changes how they feel?
Army horses loose on London streets
Have any of you got all electric cars? Pros and cons please.