Unhappiness is a much maligned aspect of our lives. Instead of being regarded as the opposite of happiness, which is apathy, unhappiness serves a vital positive purpose. It is the starting point to our developing an awareness of what we need to change. Here are 10 reasons why unhappiness matters.
The familiar link between mental health and creativity is discussed in an article by Julian Barnes in the London Review of Books.
Harville Hendrix’s ‘Getting the love you want’ remains one of the most useful books for couples seeking to understand their relationship at a deeper level. Recently, on rereading the opening section ‘The Unconscious Marriage’, it pointed me towards a deeper truth about why we might choose partners who are challenging to us.
I came across the writing of the painter Agnes Martin when I was an art student 25 years ago; and remember how captivated I was by her strange meditative phrases leading my mind away from meaning and towards something more feelable. I was in the presence of someone who had realised something hidden about being human that I had not yet found. I remember how spacious her words felt to me, as if I was breathing clean air again after being stuck in a claustrophobic room.