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Browse published articles attributed to Lais Stephan, with full-archive search.
Hello, my name is Tinksy. I’m an amazingly beautiful and joyful butterfly. I was told my wings are colourful and bright and that it’s a true joy to watch me fly gracefully from flower to flower. However, I haven’t always been like this. Let me tell you something about my long journey...
A new year has started. And what better way to start it than with a big and welcoming smile? This article is entirely devoted to “smiles”. :-) You will be surprised to read about the many health benefits of a simple smile! So let’s dive right into it: The Health Factor: The number 1 reason for smiling frequently is that it is healthy!
Today I would like to blog about New Year. To be more precise, about the all so famous New Year’s resolutions we all set for ourselves as goals for the year to come. We want to be slimmer, stop smoking or join the gym just to mention a few of the most popular goals. More often than not we try and look for exte al things which we believe will make us happy or at least happier. If I’m slimmer, Mark from Finance will surely notice me more or surely if I join the gym and work out 24/7 I will be back to my size 36 in no time and will be able to wow everyone with my bikini body next summer.
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” World Health Organisation, 1948 Being healthy takes place on many levels: The physical, the mental, the emotional and even on a spiritual level. As a holistic therapist I understand that we can’t ignore either of these levels if we want to be really healthy. If we ignore our emotional or mental problems for instance, they will manifest themselves also on a physical level eventually.
Fall The leaves are falling, falling as from far, from wilting in the heavens' farthest gardens: They're falling to negate the summer's mirth. And in the nights the heavy Earth falls into solitude from star to star. We all are falling. This my hand here bends. And look at others: Fall's in all their calling. And yet there's One, who's holding all this falling forever tender in His uptu ed hands... Rainer Maria Rilker Enchanted Autumn
Today I would like to blog about love. To be more precise: Unconditional love. A few years ago I thought I had it all figured out what unconditional love means. Of course as the name says you would think that loving someone unconditionally means loving that someone without putting conditions, with all his/her limitations, flaws and all the gremlins in his/her closet.
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed. It truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Today I came across this touching story, please take a minute to read it: After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, “I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.” That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie. “What’s wrong, are you well?” she asked.
With Thanksgiving coming up this month it’s a good time to reflect on the history of Thanksgiving, on the meaning of gratitude and how we can incorporate a more thankful attitude in our own lives. Not just one day per year, but every day. While we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Europe, it is actually of European and Native traditions. In Europe we used to give thanks for a good harvest and to rejoice together after much hard work with the rest of the community.
Here is a little story I really enjoyed reading and thought I should share it with you all.
When I used to work in Marketing and people asked me what I did it was simple – I didn’t have to invest a lot of time in explaining what one does in Marketing. However, since I changed my profession to become a Reiki practitioner, things changed and many people look somewhat puzzled when I say I do Reiki. Either puzzled or they don’t know what to say because in some countries Reiki is seen as a cult (like in France), or as having a religious connotation. Something only hippies or New Age type of people engage with and then I get to hear things like “I don’t know if I believe in Reiki”.
They told me I was special and exquisite. They told me I would embark on a big journey. And they also told me there would be a big transformation one day and only then I would become special and exquisite. I never understood why I had to go through a process to become something which I already felt I was, but humans, so they told me, only appreciated us once we looked the way they wanted us to look. They told me that I would make someone very happy one day and that made me very happy in return.
I’m reading “The Power of Intention” by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer when I came across this true and absolutely inspirational story. As usual, when I feel so inspired I will shed some tears and will share these stories in my blog. Hope this story moves you as deeply as it moved me.
"For true love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow". - Antoine de Saint-Exupery Being happy is a state of mind and a choice we need to make for ourselves. After 30 years of struggling to be happy I decided to make that choice. Right when I wake up I make the choice to be happy during that day. Happiness is not something that sticks with you. We need to take the decision to be happy again and again.
Christmas is for love. It is for joy, for giving and sharing, for laughter, for reuniting with family and friends, for tinsel and brightly decorated packages. But mostly, Christmas is for love. I remember all the great Christmases we had in the past when we were kids and me and my two little sisters would stand together in front of the gigantic Christmas tree to sing for our family, and especially our Brazilian grandparents who always came to Germany to celebrate Christmas with us. There were tons of presents, tons of food and many great memories from those times.
Be Yourself. This must be one of the most given pieces of advice and it sounds more than overrated. But is it really? How often do we meet people who seem very opiniated, who however are expressing other people’s opinions and not their own, for they feel only strong when they follow the crowd? How often do we observe women starving themselves so they can be part of the “skinny cult”. And what’s up with paying thousands of $$$ for handbags, just because they are “in” and a total “must-have”?r
This morning I woke up very early and couldn’t sleep anymore, so I decided to just lie in my bed and meditate a bit. I had gone through a very difficult break up in the last year, and even though it’s almost a year ago I still haven’t been able to let go of my fears of a new relationship or the new commitments that would come with it. So this morning I decided to meditate on relationships and love.
"If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." Mother Teresar
Next in the “How To Be Happy Now” Series is something that is very dear to me: Spirituality. (Should you have missed Part 1 “How to open your heart” you can read it here: http://www.behappy-now.com/1/post/2012/03/how-to-be-happy-now-part-2-how-to-develop-your-spirituality.html When I tell people that I’m spiritual, most of them don’t know what “being spiritual” actually means. So yes, what is spirituality and how can we develop it? What’s the difference between being “spiritual” vs being “religious”? What is Spirituality?
My name is Sari. I’m the only one of my kind up here. I work a lot. In fact I work day and night, weekends and holidays. Only that up here we don’t have such things as holidays. We do what we love doing and each day we feel fulfilled. Each day we learn more and more and can perfect our skills. I’m a manufacturer of smiles and I export them all over your world. The beautiful thing about smiles is that they are universally understood. Let me tell you a bit about what I do:
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein This quote is so simple yet so powerful for it’s absolutely true: Happiness and seeing the magic in even the smallest of things is a state of mind, and everyone has the power to switch their own “Magic Button” on at any time they want.