Welcome to Wow Now Blog
Insights on Happiness, customer experience, and personal growth through mindfulness & creativityWelcome! I’m Rosaria Cirillo Louwman, an Italian little ball of energy, passionate and enthusiastic mother of two boys, married to a Dutch, living in the Netherlands since 2002, and founder of Wow Now since 2013. Author of Yellow Goldfish Factor and multiple other books, in English and in Italian (12 so far and counting).
My blog posts cover two main areas and many of their sub-areas:
1. Happiness in business, Customer Experience, Design Thinking and all things Net Promoter System and NPS journey
2. Inspiration & Personal Growth, mostly about Non-Violent Communication, Mindfulness & Creativity, and any other topic I learn about (most recently exploring Laughter Yoga and Hearth Coherence)
We recently wrote two major blog series that you can find directly here with an introduction on the reference framework:
- Yellow Factor and Happiness in Business Blog series
- Customer Experience Framework and HCX Blog Series
I hope your reading here will be meaningful and valuable to you and I look forward to starting a conversation with you about it, so please leave a comment with your point of view. Smiling regards, Rosaria
Nurture Wellbeing for a happy, fulfilled and successful life: the SPIRE operating system and its elements. P2: Quotes
Second post of two in the SPIRE Wellbeing Series published in honor of World Happiness Week from 15 to 24 March, and International Day of Happiness on 20 March. This post focuses on inspiring quotes related to each element of wellbeing (Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Relational, and Emotional).
There is so much discussion and confusion between similar, at times overlapping yet different concepts such as Happiness, Wellbeing, fulfillment, resilience, and success.
In the posts of this series, I briefly share my opinion and definition of each, before diving deeper into the topic of Wellbeing and how we can maximize it with the SPIRE framework used by Tal Ben-Shahar Happiness Studies Academy to indicate the 5 primary elements of wellbeing (Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Relational, and Emotional) and organize what science, history, philosophy, religion, art, business and literature have to teach us about each element
For each of the SPIRE elements, I cover the following elements in two posts:
1. Two Principles as identified by Tal Ben-Shahar as part of the HSA curricula
2. Related hardware, software, and practices, as connected by me across all my learnings
3. Elements Highlights (post 1) and Favorite quotes (post 2), mostly based on the learnings from HSA
4. Questions for refleAction, a combination of learning from HSA, Uppiness game, and other courses
5. The very first steps you can take to nurture this wellbeing, based on my own learning and experience
6. A summary visual with paths and Yellow Factors (post 1) and a summary visual with paths and quotes (post 2)
7. Links to the recording(s) of Laugh&Learn Laughter Yoga sessions inspired by each of the wellbeing elements (different sessions in post 1 and post 2)
I hope you find the posts insightful and valuable and I look forward to hearing your point of view and experience in the comments or via private message.
Nurture Wellbeing for a happy, fulfilled and successful life: the SPIRE operating system and its elements. P1: Concepts
First post of two for the SPIRE Wellbeing Series in honor of International Happiness Week 17 to 25 March, and World Happiness Day on 20 March
There is so much discussion and confusion between similar, at times overlapping yet different concepts such as Happiness, Wellbeing, fulfillment, resilience, and success.
In this post, I briefly share my opinion and definition of each, before diving deeper into the topic of Wellbeing and how we can maximize it with the SPIRE framework used by Tal Ben-Shahar Happiness Studies Academy to indicate the 5 primary elements of wellbeing (Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Relational, and Emotional) and organize what science, history, philosophy, religion, art, business and literature have to teach us about each element
For each of the SPIRE elements, I will cover the following elements in two posts:
1. Two Principles as identified by Tal Ben-Shahar as part of the HSA curricula
2. Related hardware, software, and practices, as connected by me across all my learnings
3. Elements Highlights (post 1) and Favorite quotes, mostly based on the learnings from HSA (post 2)
4. Questions for refleAction, a combination of learning from HSA, Uppiness game, and other courses
5. The very first step you can take to nurture this wellbeing, based on my own learning and experience
6. A summary visual with paths and Yellow Factors (post 1) and a summary visual with paths and quotes (post 2)
7. Link to the recording(s) of Laugh&Learn Laughter Yoga sessions inspired by each of the wellbeing elements
I hope you find the posts insightful and valuable and I look forward to hearing your point of view and experience in the comments or via private message.
What, why and how of Yoga Nidra
IIn this post, also available as episodes 24 (Insight) and 25 (Guided Practice) of the Happiness Contribution™ Show, I share with you
• My journey to discover Yoga Nidra
• What is Yoga Nidra
• Why is so beneficial, referencing a shortened abstract from the article “The Origin and Clinical Relevance of Yoga Nidra” published in 2022 on PubmedCentral, and key insights from the book Yoga Nidra by Swami Satyananda Saraswati
• a poem about YN written by Swami Satyananda Saraswati
• the link to a guided recorded practice
What is Yoga and what are the 16 types of Yoga connected to 7 chakras
In June 2023, I gave myself the best gifts of all: a full month for myself, my self-care, and my self-growth, going for a full month to Nepal, joining three different courses (Yoga, Reiki, and Singing Bowls) and enjoying this wonderful country and all the care I received at the Himalayan Yoga Academy.
As part of the Yoga Teacher training and the requirements to obtain the certification, in addition to practicing daily at least 90 minutes of Hatha Yoga and 90 minutes of Ashtanga Yoga, I was required to complete three written assignments, three practical assignments, a written exam and to prepare a 20-minute presentation deepening research and understanding on a topic of choice. Since I’m really fascinated by overviews and a deep understanding of concepts and connections among them, I choose to look at the different types of yoga (did you know there are 16 main ones?) in relation to the 7 different chakras.
In this post, I share with you my findings about what is Yoga really and the 16 types of yoga connected to the 7 chakras.
Read more in the post…
Happiness in Customer Experience: A Competitive Advantage
In July 2023, Rosaria had a great fireside chat “How can we use the science of happiness in CX?” with Carlos del Corral, the co-founder of Lumoa, an innovative and fast-growing CX platform.
In this guest post, Lumoa’s Marketing Manager Wesley Santos explores the undeniable connection between customer happiness and customer experience, and nicely brings to light the core of Wow Now’s message and vision for a world of HCX (human-centered, happiness-contributing, and heart-connected experiences) and happiness driven growth.
Read more in the post.
15 takeaways from my Yoga Teacher training & journey in Nepal
In this post, also available as episode #21 of the Happiness Contribution Show, I share with you why I went to Nepal for a Yoga Teacher Training as a much-needed learning and recharging journey; 3 types of recovery recommended by Tal Ben-Shahar to handle any type or amount of stress; what did I do in Nepal for a whole month; what is actually Yoga; 15 takeaways from my learning journey and the Yoga Teacher training; and the three gifts technique that allows us to turn any challenge into an opportunity, from Shirzad Chamine Positive Intelligence Coaching program I followed in April & May.
The link between perception, happiness Chemicals DOSE and business
Customers perception is customers’ experience reality. Our perception is our experience reality.
In this first post of the new “Human Perception Series”, we cover:
1) A high-level overview of the “Human Perception Spiderweb”, a new framework summarizing all the different elements that impacts our perception as human being (and customers and employees).
2) A detailed overview of one of the four individual dimensions: the DOSE chemicals (Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphin).
Read more in the post.
Three types of Happiness & why Happiness Contribution is a better goal than happiness
In this post, also available as episode #8 of the Happiness Contribution Show, I share with you my definition of Happiness, the 3 types of happiness (spoiler: Hedonic, Eudemonic, Mature) and related aspects, the sun and sunflower metaphors, why Happiness Contribution is a better goal than happiness and became a podcast show, and about International Day of Happiness and the yearly World Happiness Report. One of my favorite parts of this post is the intuition, that I had during our autumn break, applying the metaphor of the sun to the three types of happiness. Read more in the post.
The power of Laughter & World Laughter Day
In this post, also available as episode #4 of the Happiness Contribution Show, I share with you about the power of Smile and Laughter, the amazing health benefits of Laughter Yoga (aka unconditional laughter), World Laughter Day, and how Laughter can help us towards peace!
15 tips to cultivate Happiness and blossom like a sunflower
In this post, referenced in episode #2 of the Happiness Contribution Show, I share with you 15 tips, based on the Science of Happiness and the insights gained during the research done while writing Yellow Factor, to cultivate happiness, fill up your “happiness tank” and blossom like a sunflower.
Reflections on truth, perception and choice
During the last “meaningful conversation” we discussed the topic of truth which I was asked to introduce to start up the group reflections with some reflections and questions. In this post, I share some of the reflections, rumbling, research, and links to related articles, without the intention of being exhaustive (impossible!), but simply to share with you what I learned as I explored the topic of truth and open the space to a conversation on this topic in the comments.
(Free) Body, Mind, and Soul Nurturing Resources during coronavirus time
Since the corona crisis forced most of us to work and/or self-isolate at home, many people in my personal and professional network have started to offer their contribution online, often for FREE or in exchange for a donation. As I started sharing some of these initiatives in my social media feed or directly with my clients, I realized that it may make sense to collect all of them in one place for everyone to benefit, hence this list.
While this is surely non-exhaustive and it’s continuously changing, here are my favorite go-to-resourced to nurture my Body, Mind, and Soul during this time. I have given priority to sharing the temporary ones since they are time-bounded. In the next few days, I will add to the list more resources that I know of. All the resources are in English, unless differently noted, and nearly all are FREE or have a FREE version.
If you know of more resources, please feel free to add them in the comments and/or to email them to me so I can regularly update this list. We are in this together!
In the next days, I will post an additional article with my key recommendations and practices to nurture body, mind and soul during these challenging times. Stay tuned!
About Me
A (little Italian) sunshine of energy, enthusiasm, and passion, with a mission to bring more happiness in the world one interaction at the time, the business world being my chosen playground!
I inspire and empower conscious leaders to nurture their happiness (moving from depleting to enriching emotions) and to move from depleting to enriching experiences, choosing, designing, and delivering WOW life-enriching interactions that contribute to everyone’s HAPPINESS, so they can achieve business and personal prosperity, making happiness their competitive advantage Certifications:
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