Happy Growing

Your experience of happiness is uniquely yours & no definition or logical explanation could ever live up to it. But why is happiness so unique? Why is it important? And how can you work towards your own happiness?

In this week’s episode, I talk about my own experience with happiness and episodes of being unhappy. We talk about the importance of contentment & fulfilment & why happiness shouldn’t be the massive ‘highs’ in contrast to a life with many ‘lows’.

You’ll learn keypoints to following your own happiness & I’m sharing tasks & exercise to support you on your journey.

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

I’m currently going through a lot of change and much of it is actually being brought to life and happening next year. A lot had to happen for me to get to where I am now, and things are never going to stop changing - and that’s okay. That’s normal. And that’s also exciting.

In this week’s episode, I’m giving you a little bit of a life update, and also talk about the importance (and enjoyment!) of not having life figured out. Because mine certainly isn’t all clear and certain, and how boring would it be, if it was?

Topics:
What my life has been like
Personal changes
Why I don’t have life figured out
Why not having things figured out it great!
Aren’t ‘life’ and ‘change’ the same thing?
The beauty of life
What I’ve been prioritising

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

This week’s episode is a very personal reminder for how great you are. For all the effort, love, care and energy you put into your daily life. You are so great at doing life.

And sometimes, things might not seem right. Something might feel like it’s missing or there might be a sense of lack, but that’s okay. In this episode, we are talking about how you can tackle feelings of confusion or unhappiness in your current situation. There is especially one thing, that we keep going back to in this week’s episode. And I know how important this one thing is, because I’ve been reminded of it in my own life very recently.

Topics:
Why you’re great at doing life
Something I’ve been going through
One thing to always support yourself
Comparison is the thief of joy
Status and materialistics don’t bring fulfillment

TW: There are brief mentions of abuse is this episode. Please look after yourself.

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

This theory from the 90s is most likely something, you have at least heard about over the years. But what is it really about? What are the Five Love Languages and how do they work? Are they actually benefitting relationships? And how can you find out you own?

The answers to these and many more questions are in this week’s episode. And of course, I also talk about my own experience and past relationships.

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

In this week’s episode of Spooky-Season, which is also our last spooky episode, I’m joined by my close friend Becci. We talk all things supernatural, ghosts, vampires, aliens, personal beliefs & scary experiences.

We share unbelievable stories & you find out a very dark family secret of mine… that I wasn’t even sure I should share publicly!

Recording this episode brought me so much joy, but also left me questioning a lot of my beliefs around the supernatural & who really lives among us & why. I hope you have as much fun listening to it as we had recording it.

Thank you so much for listening to this month’s spooky specials & for your support! From next week, Happy Growing will go back to its non-spooky content.

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

The story of The Beauty & the Beast is actually about Stockholm syndrome? Neverland is meant to be heaven & Peter Pan the guiding angel for dead children? Hansel & Gretel is based on real events?

We have all heard many different stories about the fairy tales we have grown up with. Supposed truths of the magical worlds we adored, but have probably never given much thought - I mean, we don’t want to ruin our childhood memories, right?

But this week’s Spooky-Season Special of Happy Growing goes deep into the intentions & realities behind our childhood tales. You will find out the origins of your favourites tales, learn about their original versions & whether they are based on real events.

And such dark stories for children are actually part of something called Black or Poisonous Pedagogy. A dark, manipulative & partly violent approach in child-raising and teaching. But what does Dark Pedagogy really mean? And how are such scary & violent stories supposed to support children? We are discussing this & much more at the end of this week’s episode.

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

Welcome to our second episode of this month’s Spooky-Season. In this week’s episode, I will be telling you about Serial Killers & even more about one in particular. One, who has worked as a nurse, in an environment, where people should be helped & supported. But it is also an environment in which it is common for people to pass away & so unusual deaths don’t always get noticed immediately.

Niels Högel is a sad & horrifying exception of how a nurse should care for their patients. He is a killer from the region Lower Saxony in the North of Germany, who is responsible for ending hundreds of his patients’ lives between 2000 & 2005. Sadly, he could have been stopped & many people could have been saved. But why wasn’t he? And why did he do, what he did?

And why do Serial Killers kill? What goes on in the minds of people who again & again take people’s lives? It is trauma? Are they all psychopaths?

Answers to these & many more questions will be part of today’s episode. Answers, that will give us more clarity & hopefully give us an understanding to be able to spot the signs of someone who hurts others & to find the words & the courage to speak up when necessary - because that’s what didn’t happen in Högel’s case.

TW: This episode contains topic that can be disturbing, triggering, upsetting & includes visual descriptions of violence, blood, murder & death. Please look after yourself.

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

This week’s episode is different to anything that I have shared on this podcast so far. In celebration of October & autumn, we are fully embracing Spooky-Season with very different episodes throughout this month. But that doesn’t only mean that we are talking about unbelievable, scary, mind-blowing stories… we are also diving deeper into the psychology behind True Crime, murders, the supernatural & more.

This week’s story is a story that was never fully solved & many people have different opinions on it. A story that is well-known in the United States & even had children singing rhymes about these horrible events. This case has had massive influence on the culture & fascination around True Crime. It’s been portrayed & discussed in media, literature, film & TV. The more I learnt about this story, the more I wanted to know. But sadly, there’ll never be clear answers to all our questions.

This episode is about Lizzie Borden & the gruesome events that ended the lives of her father & step-mother, Andrew Borden & Abby Borden. This very true tale will take us on a journey through a complicated family life in 1892, Fall River, Massachusetts.

Following this story, you’ll find more clarity around True Crime’s origins & most importantly, why we are so fascinated with it & why especially women seem to be so interested.

TW: This episode contains topic that can be disturbing, triggering, upsetting & includes visual descriptions of violence, blood, murder & death. Please look after yourself.

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

I’m currently visiting my parents in Germany & I’ve been so excited leading up to it, that this week’s episode is all about the meaning of home.

‘Home’ is a very personal & individual experience. It isn’t just a place or people, it is a feeling. We all have different associations with what Home means to us & just as everything in life, this can change.

I talk about the definition of Home, why it is so individual, why some of us don’t have an association with home (or not a positive one), & what being at home looks like to me.

This episode also includes a little bit of a life update & what’s I’ve got going on whilst I’m at home…. Little hint: there’s love, a wedding & animals.

Topics:
Life update
Definition of Home
Not experiencing Home as something positive
What we associate with ‘Home’
What ‘Home’ means to me
What my time at home looks like

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_

I know 10000% that you have a show, film or book that you watch or read again & again. And probably have been for the past 5, 10 or 15 years? Right? I knew it.

That’s because it brings you comfort. But why does it bring you comfort? This is exactly what this week’s episode is about, including my personal favourite show: Gilmore Girls.

What are my associations with Gilmore Girls? What makes this show so special? Why is autumn the perfect season for it? This episode is definitely for my Gilmore Girls lovers, but also for those of you who love comfort & want to learn more about their own comforting habits.

If you love Gilmore Girls, please reach out & tell me why you love it so much & what it means to you.

Topics:
Comfort through the seasons
Why we re-watch our favourite shows & films
Triggering positive sensations & thoughts
My story with Gilmore Girls
How a show, film, book or music can help you cope
Living in Stars Hollow

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen

Instagram: @happygrowingpodcast
Photography & Design: @eva_poglajen
Verena's Instagram: @verenaberndt_