Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix,

the Science of Happiness Podcast.

For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want

to share that science with you.

And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.

I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that

calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.

This is a Thinking Loud Podcast from the BBC and for more details in our terms of use and

much, much more about thinking aloud go to our website at BBC.co. UK.

Hello, my sister always hated me saying it but I couldn't help and observe that although my

mother's sight and hearing and memory rapidly deteriorated in the last few years of her life,

her snobbery remained intact.

For while the staff of the nursing home in which she spent her final days, they did everything

they could to encourage sociability among the residents. My mother

resolutely refused to go on the organized trips to Blackpool lights or

to join in the regular evening games of bingo and she particularly

disliked sing songs. I've got a vivid memory of arriving at the nursing home one

evening during one such get-together and finding that while everyone else

in the room had drawn their chairs up around the

piano for another chorus of We'll Gather Lylix, my mother was silently seated at the far

into the room clutching her handbag with a ferocity that suggested it was the only bastion that lay between

her and the encroaching sea of voices. And that rather sad moment came back to me as I read a new article in the Journal of

...