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The idea of sparking joy has been made famous in Marie Kondo's runaway bestseller, "The Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up". The basic concept is that if an item 'sparks joy' when you hold it, then you should keep it and if it doesn't spark joy, discard it.

Sparking joy seems to be a great way to analyse almost any situation. Imagine if we asked, ‘Will this spark joy?' before every action and took corrective action if the answer is 'No'. Would our lives change significantly as a result?

The question is intended to elicit an emotional response.  Science likes to be less emotional and more objective while feeling joy is purely subjective. This can be confronting for the more analytical among us. Those looking for facts that can be universally applied may struggle with the uniquely personal nature of what sparks joy in me, compared with what sparks joy in you. What sparks joy for each of us will almost certainly be different.

The emotions around colour are similar …...

Honey Is A Comfort Colour

Honey is the quintessential comfort colour. Who can go past the warm-wooded mid-tone colour and silken texture of pure honey? Yet honey, and more specifically the honey bees, are under threat. Colour Psychology helps us to interpret the impact of environmental factors on the honey bee and the hive.

Often, when excavating ancient Egyptian tombs, modern archeologists will find something unexpected among the artifacts. Thousands of years old containers of fully edible honey still await the Pharoah's pleasure. The food remains unsullied through time. It is an unmistakable testament to the eternal nature of honey.

Honey is unique in that it can remain preserved in a completely edible form. This means you could tuck into a 'thousands of years old' jar of honey and enjoy it without delay. It would taste the same as if it were a day old. Honey is also unique amongst long-living foods as it retains medicinal properties that...