Happiness Is A State of Mind

Happiness is a state of mind, and it is all in the mind.

We all pursue happiness in our lives. However, happiness always seems elusive, evasive, and unattainable. The word "happiness" is a term difficult to define because it is very much individualized. But genuine human happiness has to be holistic in that the body, the mind, and the soul all feel some sense of satisfaction. 

Happiness is a state of mind. The mind controls your thoughts: how you act and react to any event or circumstance. The mind records all your mental perceptions and interpretations. and stores them at the back of your subconscious mind, where they become your memories, and hence the fabrics with which you weave the "realities" of your life. In short, it is your mind that decides whether you are happy or unhappy.

In addition, your mind makes your life choices, such as what you eat and your lifestyle. Again, they may positively or negatively affect your body and your health. Given the close connection between body and mind, your physical health has a direct impact on your mental wellness, and hence your mental happiness. 

Your soul oversees your body and your mind, which affect your soul with respect to its supervision. It is the interconnection between the body, the mind, and the soul that is ultimately responsible for your overall wellness and ultimately your perception of happiness. Happiness is always a glass half-empty or a glass half-full. Remember, life is always a bed of roses with thorns -- we all have our good fortunes and misfortunes. It is all in the mind, which can make "a heaven out of hell" or "a hell out of heaven."

In order to empower the mind to create your own happiness, you need true human wisdom to understand what genuine human happiness is. With that wisdom, you know who you really are, as well as your needs, and not your wants. With that awareness, you become a better person and more connected with others. Human goodness is the foundation upon which genuine human happiness is built.

Stephen Lau

Copyright©2018 by Stephen Lau

Spiritual Wisdom Is Daily Living Wisdom

Spiritual Wisdom Is Daily Living Wisdom

You have a body living in a physical world. Your body is controlled by your mind, which is supervised by your soul. Everyday living in balance and harmony requires the alignment of the body, the mind, and the soul. To have this perfect alignment, the help of spiritual wisdom is necessary.

Where does spiritual wisdom come from?

The Bible is the Word of God. Through the Bible, God speaks to each and every one of us. But God's wisdom is often beyond the understanding of man. Jesus often uses parables to explain Biblical truths because it is not readily available to the human mind; God's wisdom is always profound and unfathomable to many.

To pursue God's wisdom in the Bible, understanding human wisdom is the "first" step. 

It is true that if we diligently and fervently pursue God's wisdom, such as reading the Bible, God will use the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and our minds. However, we may require human wisdom to overcome our disbelief first before there is further understanding.

To seek God's wisdom, first and foremost, we need to know who we really are. Unfortunately, many of us do not really know who we are, let alone what we want in our lives. 

Why is that? It is because human thinking is imperfect. According to the famous statement "I think, and therefore I am" of Descartes, the great French philosopher, we think and therefore we become what we think we are, that is, the product of our thoughts. However, that statement is only partially true: due to flawed human thinking, we may not be the sum of our thoughts, because our thoughts are only partially true. Therefore, we are not really  who and what we think we are.

"True" human wisdom is an endeavor to understand who we are and what we need. Understanding the self helps us understand the true nature of things, or the laws of nature. Without understanding the natural laws of this world, human sufferings and ordeals in life often become stumbling blocks to understanding spiritual wisdom. Indeed, many of us find ourselves often asking the questions: Why me? Where is God?

Lao Tzu's immortal classic Tao Te Ching explains the essentials of human wisdom, which involve "reverse" thinking from the "conditioned" mindset of conventional wisdom. He explains how to acquire "true" human wisdom, without which there is little or no intent to seek God's wisdom, let alone understanding the wisdom of God expressed in the Bible.

Understanding human wisdom begins with the mind -- an empty and inquisitive mind with the intent to ask questions to find out who we are and what we want. Asking questions enhance awareness, which is an important ingredient of human wisdom. With acute awareness, we develop clarity of mind. Heroes in movies often know the right thing to do because they have clarity of mind. In life, no amount of training can compensate for clarity of mind, which enables you to separate the truths from the half-truths or myths.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau

Believing in Yourself Despite Your Imperfections

Believing in yourself is self-efficacy. Believing in yourself is confidence in your own ability, knowing what you have to do to win or simply to get what you want in life.

Diane Sawyer once said: “Whatever you want in life, other people are going to want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have an equal right to it.” 

Believing in yourself is one of the first steps to success in doing anything that becomes the very substance of your confidence. To have confidence, you must set goals, and achieving your goals helps you build more confidence.

But believing in yourself is not easy, especially if you are getting older. You look back and there are so many goals you have not accomplish. Looking back in the past may create negativity in the form of victimization. In other words, you may find you are a victim of circumstances; this may also lead to bitterness, despair, or even anger.

One of the reasons why sometimes you don’t have self-efficacy is your obsession with your past. You could have been haunted by your past failures that generated regrets, bitterness, and disappointments that you have not been able to let go of. Attachment to the past is always a stumbling block to moving ahead. 

In addition, you may also be comparing yourself with others. Remember, nobody is perfect. Others may also have their failures that you are unaware of. You see only their successes but not their failures. Surprisingly, seeing your own imperfections may be the pathway to future success.

The Wisdom of Letting Go

The wisdom of letting go shows you how to use the ancient Tao wisdom from China to live in the present moment, and, more importantly, to let go of the past. With both  human wisdom and spiritual wisdom from the Bible, you may start believing in yourself again. With self-efficacy, you can do anything at any stage of your life, and the sky is the limit. 

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Control Your Emotions

Your mind is the generator of your emotions because it perceives, interprets, generalizes your thoughts, which then become your assumptions that affect how you act or react in the physical world. Your mind affects your body; as a matter of fact, there is a close connection between the body and the mind.     

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), human emotions are the major underlying causes of disease because Chinese physicians believe that certain body organs are related to emotional activities; for example, the heart is related to joy, the liver to anger, the spleen to obsessive thoughts, the lungs to anxiety, and the kidneys to fear. Therefore, excessive emotions disrupt the free flow of qi, the life-giving energy that flows through the body, and thus causing imbalance and disharmony that may lead to disease and disorder.   

In addition, human behaviors—often a byproduct of human emotions—affect the mind, just as emotions of the mind affect the body. According to a study at Ohio State University in 2003, physical behavior, such as enhanced body language of nodding in agreement or shaking head in disagreement, may significantly affect how we think without our knowing it. According to that study, even posture, such as sitting up straight, may be conducive to remembering positive memories or thinking positively, because posture changes the production of human hormones.   

The interconnection between the body and the mind is further evidenced by the indisputable notion that a healthy heart produces a healthy brain by pumping sufficient oxygen and nutrients to nourish the brain through its bloodstream.   

With enlightenment, you will become a better, happier, and healthier you. With enlightenment, you will live a stress-fee life. Learn how to overcome your stress by letting go your ego-self. No Ego No Stress!   

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Not A Death Sentence

Diagnosed with cancer is devastating and depressing. But a cancer diagnosis is also life-changing. Learn how to turn a traumatic experience into a blessing. Get your book on cancer: Congratulations! You've Got Cancer!

This 132-page book is about what to do when one is diagnosed with cancer. The author is neither a doctor nor an oncologist. He is simply showing the power of the mind not only in coping with the traumatic experience of cancer but also in overcoming the disease itself. In addition, he presents detailed information on what an individual must do on the cancer journey of cure and recovery. A cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. Rather, it is an opportunity for growth and development. Harness mind power to combat cancer and live your life as if everything is a miracle. Remember, stress is the underlying cause of many diseases and disorders, especially autoimmune diseases. Stress stems from your ego: No Ego No Stress.

Remember, a cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. 

Stephen Lau

Copyright©2018  by Stephen Lau

The Role of Faith May Play in Super-Aging

The Role of Faith May Play in Super-Aging

Longevity has much to do with order, which is a basic principle of the universe, without which chaos develops. To live long, you need to get your life in order; that is, you must align yourself with the principles of the universe. The first and foremost principle of the universe is alignment with the Creator of the universe. Once you have that alignment, you get faith that gives you spiritual strength.

Research studies have shown that people with a religious belief tend to get sick less often and get better faster than those with much less religious faith. Dr. Herbert Benson (Harvard Medical School) attributes this to the faith factor in his book Beyond the Relaxation.

Faith gives you peace of mind, which plays a pivotal role in longevity because peace of mind is the antidote to stress that often shortens life. To live longer, you need to de-stress yourself. But life is never easy, and living in this modern world is always challenging and stressful. 

To have faith in God is another aspect of living that may eliminate much stress in everyday life. However, living for a Christian; just like any other non-believer, you face the same challenge along your life journey. The only difference is that with faith you may transcend the limitations and losses that inevitably come with old age, as well as the difficulties and disappointments encountered in everyday life struggle. “All things work together for good to those who love God, and to those who are called according to His purpose.” Your life becomes purposeful, and living, despite its many setbacks, has a divine goal. Faith may help you overcome the many tragedies that may come with life and old age.

If you have faith, you live longer. The reason is simple: you take better care of your body because: your body is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

If you have faith, you most probably belong to a church, and you may enjoy fellowship with other like-minded believers. Fellowship plays a pivotal role in alleviating loneliness, which is a serious problem among the elderly. Albert Einstein had to say about loneliness: “It’s strange to be known universally, and yet to be so lonely. St. Augustine wrote in his classic work The Confessions of St. Augustine, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find peace in You.”

If you are a believer, most probably you also actively involved in church activities after your retirement. Involvement with people with all ages holds the key to successful aging because you express your compassion and loving-kindness to others. By doing so, you also develop empathy, which is experiencing the feelings and emotions of others; in the process; you learn to appreciate what you have, and make the most of what you have left to help others. 

Your Senior Years and Santa Claus: This 252-page book is about wisdom of living in the golden years. Make the best of your senior years, and still make some waves, with the most of what you have left. It has everything you need to know about overcoming life challenges!

Be A Better and Happier You With Tao Wisdom shows you how the ancient wisdom of Lao Tzu (an ancient sage from China) expressed in his immortal classic Tao Te Ching can make you become a wiser person so that you will be better and happier.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau

Liver Health Is Super-Aging Health

Liver Health Is Super-Aging Health

Liver is one of the most important organs of your body. It affects your brain, your heart, your digestive system, and even your sex life. The reason is that the liver not only metabolizes your sugar and protein, but also stores your body's nutrients and hormones.

Your liver health is important given that the liver performs a unwanted host of metabolic and regulatory functions throughout your complex body system.

Overeating is the worst enemy of your liver. Do not overeat. Do not eat between meals, especially when you are not hungry.

Alcohol is not a friend of your liver, especially if you drink excessively. Alcohol takes a heavy toll on your liver, making it work extra hard to detoxify.

Avoid saturated fats and sugars in your diet because they not only make you become overweight but also overload your liver and gallbladder, predisposing them to the formation of gallstones, which further damage your gallbladder, pancreas, and liver.

Re-hydrate yourself to avoid constipation and facilitate kidney elimination.

Avoid constipation: eat a lot of fiber.

Eat healing foods that help you detoxify: beet, brown rice, burdock, ginger root, and legumes.

Avoid chemicals in your foods, such as artificial sweeteners, food colorings, food emulsifiers, and food preservatives. In other words, stay away from supermarket processed foods. Also, go organic as much as possible to avoid pesticides and other chemicals.

The liver is called "liver" because it is a reflection of how well you "live." A healthy lifestyle produces a healthy liver. Detox your body naturally.

A healthy liver is a sign of super-aging health. Get your Fatty Liver Diet Guide to overcome any liver disease you may have. Statistics taken from 2007 health survey show millions of Americans have fatty liver disease in a certain degree and don't have a clue about it. Research also shows that there has been an alarming increase of Americans having an elevated level of fat in the liver in the past decade. The Fatty Liver Diet Guide is not just a hyped-up product like the vast majority of products out there; it is an easy 4-step process that has worked for hundreds of fatty liver disease patients. The author has worked with hundreds of fatty liver disease patients.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau

Believing in Yourself

Believing in Yourself

When we were young, we believed in anything and everything—even in the existence of fairies. However, as we grew older, we became more skeptical, and we might have even stopped believing in ourselves. But it is important that we believe in ourselves, especially as we continue to age. Believing in yourself holds the key to successful aging.

Diane Sawyer once said: “Whatever you want in life, other people are going to want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have an equal right to it.”

It may sound too simple. However, many of us may find it too difficult to do just that: believing in ourselves.

Believing in yourself is confidence in your own ability, knowing what you have to do to win or simply to get what you want in life. In your senior years, you may have become physically incapacitated, and your health may have compromised such that you need believing in yourself once again to do what needs to be done. It is important that you can still make waves in your senior years; without believing in yourself, it is easy to go downhill as you continue to age. Why not make the best of your senior years, turning them into golden years of your life?  

Believing in yourself is one of the first steps to success.in doing anything that becomes the substance of your confidence. To have confidence, you must set goals, and achieving your goals helps you build more confidence in the process.

There is, however, one roadblock to believing in yourself: everyone, with no exception, fails to achieve some goals at some points in life. This stumbling block may create negativity in the form of victimization. In other words, you may find that you are a victim of circumstances; this negative mindset may also lead to your bitterness or even anger. 

Develop mindfulness, which is acute awareness of your thinking mind. If you feel that your are a victim, you often have a tendency to complain. When you are just about to complain, a thought begins to form in your mind. Before you vocalize it, stop short! What would you rather have instead? Train your mind to focus on gratitude: grateful for what you already have, rather than what you want to have. Very often, it is your negative thinking, such as being a victim, that holds you back. A positive mind enhances your positive mind to take positive actions, and you will start believing in yourself again.

Your Golden Years and Santa Claus shows you how to live your life to the fullest, just like Santa Claus, in your golden years, and how to fuel your belief in yourself. There is another way to live your life, if you don't like the current one you are living.

If You Just Don’t Die! Shows you how to live longer, even to 100 and beyond. Living a meaningful and purposeful life is important, if you just don’t die! Get the wisdom to do just that!

 Stephen Lau

Copyright ©2018 by Stephen Lau

Mindfulness and Timelessness

Mindfulness and timelessness play a pivotal role in longevity. If you wish to live long, embrace both mindfulness and timelessness. Living a long life involves the mind.

Mindfulness is full awareness of what is happening to you, as well as what is happening around you. Mindfulness creates deep concentration of the mind to see who you really are, and why you think people are what you believe they are. These perceptions may result in positive or negative actions and reactions that may positively or negatively affect your life and living. Without this mindfulness, it is almost impossible for anyone to appreciate what is genuine human goodness in self as well as in others, let alone putting it into prevalent practice. It is this intense presence of mind in the present moment—which is timelessness—that enables you to have better and clearer observation and perception of self and others.

Staying in the present moment enables you to confront with courage and honesty your subconscious identification with the thoughts and memories that are deeply embedded in your subconscious mind. Maybe you are not as good a person as you think you are, or maybe others are not as bad as you presume they are. To become a better and happier you requires conviction and courage that you may be afraid to confront. The wisdom of living in the present moment is to dis-identify yourself from your mind so that you become only an observer of what is happening on the movie screen, instead of being a real participant in that movie.

All in all, according to the Okinawa Centenarian Study, those people who live to a ripe old age have one thing in common: they are basically good, and they also see goodness in others. Without human goodness, it is almost impossible to have healthy aging. Without mindfulness and timelessness, it is difficult to see goodness in self, or to appreciate goodness in others.

Be wise in order to be good and happy, and live your life as if everything is a miracle.

Be A Better andHappier You With Tao Wisdom: This book is about using human wisdom to become wiser and happier. It also includes the translation and the complete text of Tao Te Ching an ancient Chinese classic by the famous sage, Lao Tzu, on human wisdom.

The HappinessWisdom: This book helps you create your own happiness recipe based on ancient wisdom, contemporary wisdom, and spiritual wisdom. Your recipe has to be yours, and only you can create it, because it’s you who will be going on your life journey.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau  

Super-Aging Ginseng

Super-Aging Ginseng

Ginseng is super-aging. For thousands of years, most centenarians all over the world have consumed ginseng. It is the elixir of life for those who just don’t die.

Ginseng Is the King of Herbs

Ginseng is the king of herbs in the herbal kingdom due to its holistic-healing potency—it treats the body as a whole, keeping it balanced and healthy.  

In Chinese medicine, balance and harmony holds the key to wellness and recuperation, and ginseng is instrumental in doing just that. With its branched roots in the shape resembling that of the human form, ginseng is called “man root” in Chinese. The word “ginseng” literally means crystallization of the essence of the earth, “shen”, in the form of a man, ”jen.” The name itself attests to the importance of ginseng among herbs, especially in Chinese medicine.

As far back as 1800 B.C., ginseng was declared in the East as the king of herbs among more than 200 superior herbs recognized as “medical wisdom” for balancing and harmonizing the body for overall health.  Ginseng is ideal for super-aging -- especially if you just don't die!

According to Chinese medicine, it brightens your eyes, opens your heart, enlightens your brain, and strengthens your soul and spirit—they are the attributes of healthy aging. For centuries, ginseng has been present in many classical prescriptions for adjustive, preventive, and restorative purposes.

Ginseng is also a potent short-term stimulant that does no harm. It stimulates your nervous system and increases your reflex. In ancient times, Chinese soldiers used to carry ginseng to the battlefield, using it not only to restore strength, but also to ameliorate the effects of shock and stress in battles. It is quite common practice for Chinese to give ginseng root to those on their deathbed to provide adequate strength to be able to receive their family and arrange their after-death affairs before dying.

In space exploration, the Russian astronauts considered ginseng a better stimulant than the amphetamines used by the American counterparts, because ginseng enhances performance without the hangover effects of amphetamines. 

Nowadays, Soviet coaches and trainers have long used ginseng to enhance the performance of athletes in training, even for Olympic Games.

Another strong evidence of its efficacy as a medicinal herb is that wild ginseng can be worth thousands of dollars in price. If stored in a tight container, ginseng can retain its potency indefinitely. Today, ginseng is widely grown in different parts of the world. However, wild ginseng is still exclusively sought.

Even in the West, ginseng has been well respected as a medicinal herb. Many American tribes used ginseng for childbirth, fever, aches and pain. In fact, ginseng was listed in the official book of medicine, the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, in the 19^th Century as a stimulant and a digestive aid.

Ginseng is safer and more effective than synthetic drugs or vitamins available on the nutrition market today.

Stephen Lau

Copyright © 2018 by Stephen Lau

Tao Wisdom Is Super-Aging Wisdom

Tao Wisdom Is Super-Aging Wisdom

Super-aging wisdom is the capability to live your golden years as if everything is a miracle. That means: you must have an empty mindset without any pre-conditioned thinking; you must live in the present, without thinking of the past, or worrying about the future; you must embrace all life challenges and difficulties, instead of avoiding them. They are some of the essentials of Tao wisdom.

What is Tao wisdom?

Tao wisdom  is the wisdom of Lao Tzu, the ancient sage from China, who  was the author of Tao Te Ching, the immortal classic on human wisdom

The interpretations of Tao Te Ching are as many as its translations. They are all based on their own interpretations of Lao Tzu’s masterpiece with respect to their own views, just like the three blind men touching different parts of the same elephant and describing what an elephant looks like..

Tao or the Way is a means to an end, but not an end itself. That is to say, we follow Tao to some destination, but Tao is neither a destination nor the destination.

Tao is above and beyond human wisdom, but it is not divine wisdom. Simply, Tao may be the Way between human wisdom and divine wisdom. It helps us understand the true nature of man and his role in the world of creation, and thus connects us directly or indirectly to the Creator.

Tao is about the thinking mind. We are human, and it is human nature to follow and cling to human wisdom as a beacon of light to show us the way. As a result, we have developed a conditioned mind of thinking, which only further impairs human wisdom, already frail and fragile as it is due to human imperfections. In contrast to conventional human wisdom, Tao is about reverse thinking that renders the human mind more receptive to spiritual wisdom.

Tao is not a religion, although it has been associated with religions, such as Zen, Buddhism, and Taoism. Tao was never meant to be an object of human pursuit or worship; that is why Tao is also called “the Way” to show us a direction or pathway to divine wisdom. It is just a means to an end, and the end is spiritual wisdom..

Tao is not God’s wisdom; at best, it is only distilled human wisdom that may lead to the ultimate understanding of spiritual wisdom.

Tao wisdom may give you happiness as you continue to age

Stephen Lau

Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau