Soft skills are very important in the business world, and etiquette is an integral part of it. Excellent soft skills can positively differentiate someone over others with comparable technical skills.

Imagine that your company has a formal business dinner with a potential new client. Your staff member was asked to participate as well. He arrived dressed casually, chewed with his mouth open, drank one too many drinks, took private phone calls and started to eat before everybody else. Do you think that you will get this potential new client to do business with your company? Everybody in a company from the new staff member to the high executive needs excellent etiquette skills because it reflects back on the company’s work ethic and the quality of your product.

Great etiquette will also improve the atmosphere in the office. People will be better team players and treat each other with more consideration and respect. This is very important considering that now people of diverse cultures and ages often work together in tight-knit teams.

Bullying and gossip is not just a problem at schools but also a very big problem in offices. Losing an employee because of bullying will cost the company. It will cost time and money to find and train somebody new, customers may leave, the dynamic in the team changes, and  the bully is probably still there so the problem will likely occur again. These problems can be avoided if your workforce is trained on how to gracefully interact with one another.

Consideration, respect and honesty are valuable traits in an employee and in a team. Wouldn’t you love for your employees to appreciate their co-workers and look forward to coming to work? Etiquette will provide an excellent base for that.

Marietta Stuhlfelder, 2020

When we fall in love we walk on clouds. Our hearts beat faster as soon as we see the person who holds our affections. Life sometimes seems to stop, but sometimes it spirals out of control too.

Butterflies swirl around in our bellies and make us feel drunk with all the happiness we feel. Our feet seem to hover above the ground and our heads touch the clouds. Our love is so endless like the stars in the sky. Our love glitters and sparkles like the sun rays touching the water during sunset. Our hopes for pure love awake again when the sun rises in the morning.wedding dance

When we first meet a person we see the good in them, their potential, and their hopes and dreams. We love the quirky little things they do and think them to be charming. We love the twinkle in their eyes when they laugh. It breaks our heart when they cry. We want to be close and look in their eyes to see ourselves in them. The eyes are the windows to the soul, so they say.

So let me look deeply in your eyes and see the valleys, mountains, beaches, deserts and oceans of your soul. Give me a road map so I am able to understand you better. Help me to feel safe on our journey we are on together and show me the way when I am lost in the depth of your soul and heart. I want to love you, understand you and hold you close forever in my arms. I want to hold your hand and be your rock in the stormy sea of life.

Love is light in the beginning and often at some point it turns heavy on us. The day-by-day routines keep us prisoners and easily we forget the ease of life and love. Our love turns sour like old milk and breaks into thousand pieces like a glass falling on the ground. We trample on the feelings of our loved ones and turn our backs on them when they cry. Lost is the connection of the hands and we’d rather throw them in the sea like a useless rock instead of being the rock for them.

Every single day we have to make a conscious decision to love with the greatest of ease. Every single day we have to hold hands, kiss passionately and look deeply in the eyes of each other to see their soul. How does their soul landscape look like today? Is it a breezy morning on the beach? Is it a heavy thunderstorm in the mountains? Can we hear the voice in the wilderness? Can we see the ship of the desert?

You might be surprised what you can find when you dare to go on an adventure. So put your walking shoes on, pack your backpack with lots of love and kindness, fill up your water bottle with respect and flavor it with trust and loyalty. Also pack some band aids should you get hurt on the way when you explore and climb the jagged volcanoes with their sharp edges.

I can assure you this wonderful adventure will last a lifetime. Every day you will find a new hidden gem and lovely little gardens with fragrant and colorful flowers. But you have to dare to look and leave the heaviness behind you. It is all just a choice away. So go, and love with the greatest of ease…

Marietta Stuhlfelder, 2020

Vorurteile gegenüber unseren Mitmenschen sind schnell gefasst. Egal ob im Arbeits- oder Berufsleben.

Wir stecken andere Menschen gerne in eine Schublade, um uns sicherer im Umgang mit Ihnen zu fühlen.

Dadurch können wir die immer komplexere und undurchsichtigere Welt um uns herum besser einschätzen und …

Man macht es sich somit leichter, Menschen zu beurteilen, ohne sich mit ihnen befassen zu müssen.

Was wir dabei allerdings nicht bedenken ist, dass Menschen nicht immer oder selten den Vorurteilen entsprechen. Jeder Mensch ist ein Individuum mit einzigartigem Lebenslauf und Erfahrungen, die sich von anderen Menschen grundlegend unterscheiden.

Wie können wir es uns anmaßen, in “Schubladen” zu denken und Menschen zu beurteilen, ohne sie persönlich zu kennen und ihren Lebensweg zu erfragen? Ist dieses Handeln unsererseits fair?

Nehmen wir uns nicht selbst die Möglichkeit, eventuell einen wunderbaren Menschen kennenzulernen? Nur weil uns ein Vorurteil daran gehindert hat?

Ich bezeichne das als einen „verlorenen Moment“. Wir haben einen Moment mit einem anderen Menschen verloren, der sehr kostbar hätte sein können. Ein tiefgründiges Gespräch, eine hilfsbereite Geste, gemeinsames Lachen, ein Lächeln und Freude über ein Kompliment. Alles verloren, weil wir diesem Moment keine Chance gegeben haben.

Lasst uns anderen Menschen begegnen, so wie ein leeres Blatt Papier einem Stift begegnet. Wir schreiben unsere Geschichte selbst. Wir erleben unseren Moment gemeinsam, indem wir offen und bewusst aufeinander zugehen. Aus dem „verlorenen Moment“ wird ein Moment gefüllt mit Leben.

Ein „lebendiger Moment“!

Beziehungen werden dadurch gefördert und gestärkt. Unser Zusammenleben wird harmonischer und friedlicher. Anstelle von Vorurteilen geben wir einem offenen Umgang miteinander Raum zum Entfalten.

 

Nicht das Leben ist voller Momente, sondern die Momente voller Leben!

Marietta Stuhlfelder 11.February.2020