Human beings have free will – of course they do! We constantly make choices, and then we get to reflect on those choices in the hope that we can – hopefully! – make better choices. But what if this isn’t true? What if we’re never really choosing? What if we’re always doing the best we can in any given moment, and the choices we make simply reflect that fact? What if the truth is that we do not have free will? What then?

Here are three facts about you (me, and everyone) that I would be VERY surprised if they didn’t surprise you. Facts about what you really want, for example, facts about who you’re really trying to please (as a people pleaser), and facts about what you’re really battling against… in this game… called life… Ready?...

Do right actions speak louder than right words? When it comes to solving the problems in life – your life, or the life of others. Yes, it’s time for another difficult question, but this time I am going to suggest a simple answer. I’m going to suggest to you, me and everyone that that when it comes to what’s needed right now: we need to SHOW, NOT TELL…

What if everything you’re DOING to make things better is only making things worse? (What if it’s the DOING that’s the problem?) What if it turns out that your strengths (your ideologies, your values, your opinions) are your weaknesses, right now, and your weaknesses are your strengths? What if what’s needed right now is for you to put down your cherished sword?...

Why… do YOU do… what you do? Why do THEY do what they do, too? (Ever wondered?) Not just the lovely - random acts of kindness – stuff that we do, but the mean and nasty, admit-it-to-no-one, deny-it-to-everyone stuff. Is there a single reason for why we do the things that we do? Yes. There is. A simple, single reason. And that reason is…

Is it possible to learn from someone we really don’t like? If so, what can they teach us about our common humanity: about the strengths and values that we admire, and about the flaws and weaknesses that we’d rather not acknowledge - even to ourselves? Must we always demonise those that are ideologically opposed to us, or is there a better (more loving) way?...

If life is a game, then what are the rules? Are these rules universal, or do we get to make up our own rules? Are we all playing the same game, and why do these questions even matter? Is the Hokey Cokey really what IT’s all about?...

Easy answers (blaming others) versus difficult questions (how is this my responsibility too?) – ooh, which one do you choose? Hah! Do you go for the oh-so-seductive “easy way” solution, or “the road less travelled” one?

What does it mean to live in the “real world”? And whose “real world” are we talking about - the “real world” that you experience, perhaps, or the “real world” that I as a middle-aged dreadlocked Yorkshireman experience? Is there really only ONE “real world”, one reality, or do we all actually live in separately created realities? Might understanding this be helpful?

What does it mean to you to be a healthy, happy human being? Should your happiness be what matters most, or should you put the happiness of others first? How DO we make the world a happier, better place, anyway?