What a weekend it has been. I hope you had a good one.

This weekend I have been working in the garden. I must have shifted around three times my body weight in weeds – well, it felt like that, anyway – and then we rolled out the barbecue. On Saturday night, of course, like many others in the UK, we watched the final of the hugely popular Britain’s Got Talent talent contest.

Something I have noticed whilst watching snippets from this show is that, this year, people seem to be very openly discussing the role of psychological well-being and its influence on the contestants’ performances.

Earlier in the week, this story in The Mirror broke the news that pizza delivery man, Jamie Boyle, a talented singer, says that he will now consult a hypnotherapist to help him to let go of ‘the jitters’ that, he feels, prevented the judges from seeing him at his best.

We saw ten-year-old Holly Steel, pleading with the judges through her tears to be given a second chance to sing when nerves overwhelmed her, earning her the title from the judges of ‘the bravest girl in Britain.’

Then there was the big build-up to Saturday’s final with all kinds of rumours flying around about the well-being of Susan Boyle and whether she is ‘equipped’ to participate in the show. These sorts of stories concern me greatly. I really do wonder whether the contestants of such shows can ever be prepared for the way that they are catapulted from anonymity to international stardom and the sometimes very unkind attentions of the media in just one evening.

And then, if these people show the slightest signs of being human – feeling a bit pressured or worried, as most of us would in such a situation – well, that must mean that they are just not ‘up to it,’ are they? Hmmm….

I aways find myself hoping that there are people in the background who are able to advise the contestants on these shows and support them on their journey.

So this morning I am saddened to read that Susan Boyle has checked in to a clinic for some rest now that the media circus of the last few weeks has subsided a little. I do hope she gets the help that she needs to move forwards into the future in whatever way makes her most happy. It must have been extremely hard for her to have all the public support of the last few weeks together with the repeated picking-over of her history, circumstances and aspirations. All she wants to do is sing, for goodness’s sake!

It also makes me wonder again about the nature of happiness. We can think we want fame, recognition, money and all the rest… but then, what happens when we get it?

We see it over and over again, don’t we, in this Age of the Celebrity? Happiness isn’t about winning a medal or a contest or having people tell you how talented you are or circulating your video on YouTube. Happiness is something inside us. It is that base level of well-being that enables us to appreciate this beautiful sunshine right now.

For me, it is about being able to pause and notice the first rose blooming in our garden and take pleasure from it; or the birdsong; or the taste of sausages on the barbecue. I don’t know how you experience happiness but I would take a bet that it isn’t really something that other people tell you that you are or something that you buy in a shop.

And if we don’t have this real core sense or base level of well-being, it can be hard to know who we are and what is important to us, to cultivate a sense of meaning in our lives, meaning from the work that we do and the contribution we can make and the support of people around us. If we don’t take time to learn the skills of happiness – and I do think that they are skills that most of us have to learn and practise - then we may not be free to fully enjoy our success and achievements. Maybe we tell ourselves we’ll be so much happier when we get ‘there’, wherever ‘there’ might be. And then we get there and… well… it feels a litte empty, a little overwhelming or a little, well, like it always did.

I am not saying that this is what is happening to Susan Boyle. But I did notice that there was a lot of talk about how a few weeks ago this lady was just an ordinary spinster, living with her cat: the implication being how much better it would be to have world fame, lots of money and attention, the media knocking on your door? Hmmmm…

I do wish Susan Boyle much happiness. She seems like a lovely lady and I hope that she will have the space over the next few weeks to discover what makes her happy… on her terms, in her way, which I think is the only way it is possible for any of us to be truly happy.