Richard Hogan: This is the secret to happiness

Those moments when we feel connected to ourselves and others are golden ones. Do more of them

Happiness is an elusive thing, but we often have to be intentional if we are going to meet it

42. That’s the meaning of life, according to Douglas Adams. 47. That’s the answer to when we feel life is mostly meaningless. Age 47.2, to be more exact, according to recent research is when we feel the nadir of our happiness and contentment on our life arch.

 What is it about our mid, to late forties, that makes us feel disconnected and lonely? Is it simply the thinning of our hair, the loss of our looks, the ‘sadness of (our) changing face,’ as Yeats put it? Is it a superficial thing? Or is it a deeper more pervasive existential crisis that engulfs us as we move towards old age?