Christmas can be a crazy time, we’re caught up in a whirlwind of buying gifts and parties, but often gratitude takes a back seat.

We’ve all be there, we wake up on New Year’s Day with varying degrees of hangover from too much food or drink the night before and suddenly realisation hits that this is the start of another brand new year. So we make some hasty and half-hearted New Year’s resolutions (or revolutions as my late German-born Mum used to call them!) and then slump back onto the sofa in front of the TV. The problem is, these resolutions are often linked to something that is important to us, and these decisions to make changes shouldn’t be made in haste, or half-heartedly.

How often have you heard the old adage ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ and thought “I bet it could”? I know I have several times. Well it turns out we might have been right.

When was the last time someone went out of their way to be kind to you at work? Researchers at the University of California, led by Joseph Chancellor, carried out a study of the Coca Cola workforce in Madrid decided to determine how an act of kindness can have a ripple effect out into the wider organisation and working environment.