Sunny Side Up: Choosing to live a psychologically rich life

The aim of a a psychologically rich life isn't just happiness or contentment, it's to live a life full of 'variety, novelty, and interest'. — Photo: ImYanis / Shutterstock, via ETX Daily Up

According to Harvard professor Ellen Langer, when we live on autopilot, “we’re not there to know we’re not there”. Life happens, but we can often miss it.

Prof Langer, who has spent decades studying mindfulness, talks about the cost of mindlessness – the time we lose when we stop noticing our lives. We meet deadlines. We answer messages. We keep things ticking over. But there are days, sometimes weeks, where nothing quite stands out.