One of the great privileges of my job is to have the opportunity to reflect on people’s lives: to sit with their family and listen to the story of the impact of one person, the influence of one personality on a whole clutch of other people’s lives – how they think, the values they espouse, the way they look at the world – all shaped and moulded by a parent, a partner, a sister, a brother.

You would have to be a pretty insensitive person for that not to touch you, make you think, measure, consider what really makes for a life well-lived, a success story of a life. How has it been, we wonder, as we look back down the corridor of that person’s story, re-trace the journey they have made?

And you very quickly come to see that a life well-lived, a good life, has very little to do with possessions, status, qualifications or five minutes of fame! In fact, it has much more to do with relationships, integrity, humanity, compassion and contentment – and those things are not dependent upon how big your house is, how fast your car goes, or how many degree certificates adorn your wall.

However, despite the clear common sense of that truth, people still aspire to the very things that we know deep down don’t deal with deep down!

The myths are promulgated by the advertisers – the media, the world of celebrity – with such persuasive seduction, that it is hard not to believe the shameless lie that this shape and those clothes and that drink and this handbag and those shoes and that accent will somehow bring guarantees of happiness, fulfilment and meaning to our lives.