Today we raise our fists high and put our hands together in celebration of our Feature Girl Warrior, Writer, Reiki Master, Reflexologist, Empathic Listener and Happiness Enhancer, Stephanie Cerins, author of Healing My Heart, After Domestic Abuse. This compelling book is about helping women create perspectives that encourage self-love, patience with oneself and the world, and the ability to create good stories about themselves and the situations they find themselves in. Stephanie has been studying the Art of Happiness since she was a teenager and has been on a mission to discover the true meaning of lasting happiness and inner calmness. Her life-long dream is to radiate happiness so that there is more happiness in the Universe for all people to experience. She also shares her joy for living through her book series Personalized Affirmations To Remind Me Of My Exquisiteness. Stephanie had a past relationship that was filled with physical and mental abuse, control issues and massive trust problems. She kept her cool through the practice of time tested positive thinking methods, meditation and praying to the Universal Source of Love. Her first step on the road to being happy was found in the book Working With The Law by Raymond Holliwell. In the book she learned her most valuable lesson, one that has served her well to this day, that “It is up to me to manage my mind or my mind will be the boss of me.” Her life choices took her on paths where it was a gift to explore how her thoughts and emotions affect the quality of her life. Stephanie’s goal is to be so cheerful that other people get cheerful. And to that we say a happy, cheerful YES!
What makes you a Girl Warrior?
Being a Girl Warrior to me is about listening to my heart, to the people in my life and to my dreams. I am the only one capable of creating the dreams in my head. To have the life I want it is up to me to bravely take the steps necessary to follow my dream. For example, playing the piano like a master is one of my dreams, to accomplish said dream it is up to me to practice.
How did your father’s death change your life?
My father’s death changed me totally. I went from being delusional about what life really is to understanding life is short and we can drop dead in a moment, there is no safety in life. There is only safety in trusting we are here for the perfect amount of time. Trusting that I am alive because there is important stuff for me to share, do and create. The only reason to be alive is to be giving and loving.
How do you “be happiness”?
I Be Happiness by focusing my mind on thoughts that empower me. I focus on what I can do. By concentrating on what I want to have happen, knowing that the outcome in my mind’s eye is coming to me at the perfect time and releasing my focus on what is actually going on in the real world.
For example, when my wasband (my X husband) would slap me around, I would be thankful for the stressful time. Trusting in the law of attraction that I must emit the vibration of a happy life to have a happy life. So I would say, ok I am being thankful for everything by being thankful for being yelled at and slapped around. I would ask myself what am I to learn from my husband slapping me? How can I improve me so that I draw to myself a better relationship? Then I would repeat. I have love, health, prosperity, and serenity over and over and over again until now I have a super happy life. And when I have problems now I am still thankful for everything!
What lesson did you learn from the book “Working With The Law” by Raymond Holliwell and how did it impact your life?
What I learned from the book “Working With The Law” was that the thoughts I think are important, powerful. That the thoughts we think have creative energy in them. I learned that I have a one-on-one relationship with the Universal Love or God that started each heart. I learned that my thoughts and emotions shape my future. So it is up to me to keep my emotions and thoughts calm, positive and hopeful. The book impacted my life by allowing me to see there is a way to really live and be happy. That happiness is something that can be cultivated like a garden. It is up to me to weed out the fearful thoughts and plant thoughts of beauty, hope, faith and willingness.
How did your time in a battered women’s shelter help you heal?
It was my pleasure to spend time in the battered women’s shelters because it allowed me to be with other women who had been beaten and see that I was not the only one. Being in the shelters (I was in two different ones) allowed me to go to some classes and get some understanding that there is a cycle of violence. Where things seem good for a while then the tension starts to build; there are more and more emotional out bursts until there is a huge emotional blow-up that leads to physical violence, and then things would seem really good for a while until the cycle started again. At the end of our seven-year marriage there was four times in two weeks when my wasband got physically violent with me. It was a blessing for me to have a place to go to find safety.
Why is it so important to you that you “cheer up people”?
It is important for me to cheer people up so that we can all live together peacefully on planet earth. Each person on this planet is here to give and receive love. It is my mission to express and receive love as if I am a spiritual master. To be able to communicate to people that each of us has a chance to improve our lives by improving our thoughts and emotions. It is up to me to be an example of acceptance, persistence and absolute love. It is up to me to be my own shero. I can change my world and maybe somebody else’s world too by sharing my experience of empowerment through emotional mastery.
What is Reiki and how do you use if as a tool for healing?
Reiki is a system of healing that relies on our connection to source energy. The Reiki practitioner allows Reiki Energy or Universal Love (to me it is all the same energy) to flow through themselves then offers the energy of Universal Love to each client during the healing sessions. I use Reiki to connect to source energy and then offer the energy of Universal Love to my clients, by offering my clients Universal Love their bodies are infused with Universal Love and their bodies use the extra energy to heal, relax and repair.
What’s the most important decision you ever made?
The most important decision I ever made was to listen to my heart. My heart advised me to not have children. I stuck to my truth and I am now 54 & 3/4s and I am child-free! My heart encourages me to believe in my ability to be a competent Reflexologist and Reiki Master. My heart promotes me to follow my dream of being an author. So listening to my heart and intuition is the best decision I have ever made.
What have been the biggest challenges or obstacles that you’ve overcome – personally and/or professionally?
The biggest challenge I have faced was to believe I was able to express myself and that someone even cared about what I wanted. When I was twenty-four I went to AA and quit drinking. AA meetings are really cool! People sit around and listen to each other and really care about each other. I learned to share my feelings, express my feelings and accept my feelings. I learned in those meetings that I was worthy. The internal feeling of worthiness I gained in AA has benefited my life every moment.
What do we need to know “for sure” about being happy?
That Happiness is a state of mind. Happiness is a perspective. Happiness is a choice made moment by moment. The ability to be happy comes from the potential to have faith to trust that Universal Love is looking out for us. Generating happiness for me comes from staying focused on what I can give instead of what I can get.
What’s the most important life lesson your Mom taught you?
That it is good to masturbate. My mom’s mom (my grandma) shamed my mom for pleasing herself. My mom made sure that I knew that it is healthy to please myself. Mom said that if I did not know what makes me feel good how can I tell my future mate how to please me.
What would you say to your younger Girl Warrior?
I would say everything is going to be ok. I would tell my younger self that I have an amazing body that is capable of healing itself. I would remind me again and again that my dreams matter. I would advise me to invest time doing what I love. I would proclaim loudly that the only person I can fix is me. It is time for me to make my needs as important as the needs of my friends and family. I am important!
What would you say to future Girl Warriors looking for inspiration?
I would say to them listen to your heart! I would remind the girls that they can change their lives by paying attention to the thoughts they think and the emotions they emote. I would share my passion for having faith. I would encourage girls to always do their best because that is the only way we can expect the best. Whether you are washing the dishes, doing what you love or feeding yourself make sure you do it with your heart, mind and spirit grounded in gratitude!
Who is/are your Girl Warrior hero(s) and why?
I have many Girl Warrior Sheros. I love Alexandra Morton for standing up to fish farms. I love my mom for suffering Rheumatoid Arthritis and doing her best to live a happy life while being in total physical pain with hardly any complaining. I love Donna Morton who lives to create a better economic system. I admire a friend Darra-Lee who is going through cancer without any chemo or radiation! I am impressed by all the women who dedicate their lives to raising children.
Blue Sky it. No boundaries here, just limitless opportunities. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I see myself being a well-known author of self-help books. I visualize myself winning the CBC Literary Prize. I imagine women all over the world being inspired by my story of empowerment. I am excited by the opportunities I have to express my love of being alive!
What makes you laugh uncontrollably? Cry out all the tears?
Lots of stuff makes me laugh! I love to laugh and have a loud laugh that can sometimes startle people (which makes me laugh more). Lots of stuff makes me cry too. Singing Amazing Grace, watching someone else cry, a sappy movie, a hurting friend and when I feel lost because someone I care about transforms back to pure energy.
What has been your biggest disappointment/triumph?
That I cannot make someone treat me in a manner I like; that I must find people who have the capacity to be kind, loving, honest, thoughtful, trusting and trustworthy and then I will be treated in a manner that I do like.
If a bioflic were written about your life, what would it be called?
Dare To Take Chances
To learn more about being happy and healthy head over to Stephanie’s website at:
www.happinessishealthy.com
And her blog at: https://happinessheals.wordpress.com/
Connect with her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/HappinessIsHealthy/
And follow her on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/happiness_heals
And on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/happinessishealthy/?hl=en
Subscribe to her “Happiness is Healthy” YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5YrKfvgnvc63WtHDdfG1pA
