Quotes

Socrates said:  “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Adlai Stevenson said:  “Life without laughter is not worth examining.”

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Where's the Love?

The Dalia Lama once said, about Americans, “They shower love on their animals much more than they do on each other”.  I thought this was an astute observation.  You see it everywhere – people cold and reserved with each other while they lovey it up with their dogs and cats.  Something’s amiss.

Yet when we laugh, love rises out of it spontaneously.  It’s why I love promoting laughter.  It’s why laughter is the #1 most romantic trait.  Hearts soften instantly.

When you get that person, who is loving their dog and ignoring you, to laugh, you immediately witness the ice melt.  They soften and start to feel the connection that naturally flows between people.

Laugh – and the love follows.

Uplifting Smiles

Uplifting smiles

If you’re over a certain age and you want to keep your face from sagging, just smile.  It pulls everything UP!  Try it in the mirror.

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Quote

"Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live."

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Rose

Rose was the brightest spirit!

I led a laughter program for a retirement community recently, where the brightest spirit was a woman named Rose.  Rose ended up visiting with me for a while at the end, sharing a bit of herself and her history; which I slowly realized, being both Jewish and German, included two years in a concentration camp during WWII.  Yet she was the most receptive to Laughter Yoga, had the brightest light in her eyes and laughed the easiest.  Go figure!  It’s always the way of it.

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Three Types of People

I had a shock recently when I visited my doctor’s office.  It had been some time since I’d been there.  So when said doctor walked in to the office, and I quickly realized something was amiss, only to be confirmed when she/he announced to me that she was a “dude now”, I pretty much went into shock.  The fact that she used humor to ease the shock was a gift.

Yes my naturopath, who as far as I knew was still a woman, has chosen to become a man.  It was a tremendous surprise.

I was already in a slightly anxious state as she/he was about to inject a needle to pull out my blood.  So my usual m-o, which is to make a joke in order to laugh and relax, was a bit slow on the uptake.  All I could muster was “Wow!”

But in the course of our short visit, we did manage to interject some humor and get a few laughs.  For this is how we’ve always conducted our visits.  I was glad the gender switch didn’t change that.  I postponed freaking out until I left the office.  And I can proudly state that after my initial freak- out, I was able to laugh about it.  I am still pretty much alternating between these two modes - shock and laughter.

In her book Growing Up Laughing, Marlo Thomas states, there are three kinds of people:

·      Those who can never laugh at a challenge

·      Those who can laugh after the challenge has passed

·      Those who can laugh right in the midst of it 

     I thought I did pretty well.

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Smile while you...

Smile while you…

I know I was going around smiling today because everyone was smiling back at me.  In the grocery store.  Walking down the street.  In my apartment building.  I checked once as I passed by a shop window and sure enough I was smiling.  I know I was feeling lighter today.  Perhaps that’s why.  Perhaps I’ve simply trained myself to smile often enough that it's become my default expression.

Smile while you do what you do.  I heard a spiritual teacher say it once.  I’ve said it myself many times.  It enhances the act, whatever it is.

Smile while you do the dishes.

Smile while you exercise.

Smile while you walk.

Smile while you drive.

Smile while you…

Try it.  It relaxes you.  It makes you more joyful.  It causes others to smile back.  Then it’s joy multiplied.

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