<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html> <head> <title>Having Fun &ndash; In Spite of Everything</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf16"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css"> </head> <body> <div id="content"> <h1>Having Fun &ndash; In Spite of Everything</h1> <p class="large"> Learn how to maintain a sense of humor in challenging situations with a blissful attitude, no matter what! Explore the health benefits of laughter in combating stress through healing humor in this hilariously presented interactive workshop. Learn strategies to eliminate stress and maintain a sense of humor and positive attitude! Come explore how we can use our storehouse of experiences in building rapport sprinkled with humor. </p> <p> Laughter and humor are our life line, offering us peak moments of wondrous delight!! Humor and laughter that we invite and share with others is a form of true generosity. When we surrender to the heavenly impulse of laughter, we momentarily leave behind all our cares and worries, as we ride the waves of mirth. The humorist and entertainer Victor Borge said that <i>&ldquo;Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.&rdquo;</i> Laughter is a universal language. Laughter builds bridges across the whole planet. A good sense of humor can bridge cultural, physical and economic barriers in our commonality. </p> <p> There are five important reasons for honoring and valuing humor in our lives. Number one: It is a powerful tool to utilize in facing adversity. Number two: It facilitates relaxation and enhances learning. Number three: It helps relieve anxiety &amp; supports emotional health. Number four: It frees our imagination &amp; fosters creative solutions. Number five: It builds rapport &amp; enriches our relationships. By utilizing humor fully, we value ourselves and our inner child by inviting wonder, curiosity and fun into our life each day! </p> <ul> </ul> <p> Humor is a gift for living with our imperfections. Someone once said: <i>A person with a good &lsquo;sense of humor&rsquo; is one who has the ability to perceive life comically without thereby losing any love or respect for himself or for humanity.</i> Laughter allows us to poke fun at the tensions and challenges we face in our lives by helping us to deal with them in a light-hearted way. </p> <p> Let&rsquo;s explore the reasons to value humor in our life. <b>Reason number one</b>: A powerful tool for facing adversity. I&rsquo;d like to tell you a story. Don&rsquo;t worry, if you like stories, it&rsquo;s a good one. If you don&rsquo;t, it&rsquo;s a short one! </p> <p> A man I know named Trevor had been diagnosed with Parkinson&rsquo;s Disease. One sunny morning, with five of his buddies, he went hunting. They had a great morning. They came back for lunch and we all sat down to a delicious bowl of homemade stew. Trevor picked up his spoon and dipped into in his stew, ready for his first tasty morsel. He noticed his hand quivering and shaking when it was half way to his mouth. In that moment, he realized he had a choice to make: First, he could lay down his spoon, not eat, and forget about enjoying his meal. If he did that he realized he would feel different from the people around him, sorry for himself, angry, and isolated from his friends, and that in turn, his friends who cared about him, would feel uncomfortable, creating a sense of separation from one another, and possibly, spoiling everyone&rsquo;s enjoyment of the day. Or second, he realized all he had to say was, &ldquo;Alright everybody, back off and protect yourselves because I&rsquo;m gonna go for it!&rdquo; as his quivering spoon proceeded to his mouth. He chose the second option and in that moment, gave us the opportunity to feel sweet gratitude for his willingness to include us. By sharing himself and poking fun at his physical limitations, we felt a bond grow, closely bonding him to us and us to him. He saved the day... and... we all enjoyed a good laugh! </p> <p> When we can laugh at some of the things that happen to us, it helps restore and preserve our self respect. One can choose to find humor in every situation by seeing every upset as an opportunity to laugh. The writer Jeanne Segal said, <i>&ldquo;Deliberately taking the time to amuse and be amused allows us to sustain a great deal of change that would otherwise be overwhelming.&rdquo;</i> </p> <p> Being able to laugh at our circumstances frees us to access joy. Joy is a choice... We choose how we wish to face life&rsquo;s little jokes, life&rsquo;s challenges, on us. Laugh at your troubles and you&rsquo;ll always have something to laugh about. We can use humor to face adversity and to look for the bright side of a hopeless situation when it arises. Those who thrive in adversity are those who access joy and absurdity. We can create laughter by sharing the silly or embarrassing things that happen to us with our friends and family. Look for the funny little things around us! For example: One day as I drove past a church, I noted the printed Sunday message on the sign. It read as follows: &ldquo;9:00 a.m. Jesus walks on water&rdquo;... Directly underneath it said: &ldquo;5:00 p.m. Come search for Jesus&rdquo;.... At other times I found newspaper headlines that stated, &ldquo;Red Tape Holds up New Bridge,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Stolen Painting Found by Tree.&rdquo; These are all examples of the humor that can result when words are not chosen carefully (or maybe they were!...) Look for the opportunities for humor around us!! </p> <p> Bill Crosby once said, <i>&ldquo;If you can find the absurdity in anything, you can survive it.&rdquo;</i> On a day when everything seems to be going wrong, think up your own mantra to chant to yourself. Maybe...&ldquo;Oh what a wonderful opportunity for learning and growth!&rdquo; or something like, &ldquo;It could be worse, I could be getting younger!&rdquo; Repeat your chosen phrase a few times enthusiastically, in bizarre funny way, until you feel lighter. </p> <p> <b>Reason number two</b> for honoring and valuing laughter is that it creates relaxation and facilitates learning. A robust cathartic laugh creates deep relaxation in the body. Laughter that brings tears to the eyes releases endorphins into our blood stream. Endorphins are the good feeling hormones which function as great antagonists against stress related conditions and diseases in the body. Take every opportunity to laugh; it relieves anxiety and tension. When we surrender to laughter, our guard comes down, we escape from the habit- worn ruts of our minds and our self-imposed prisons. <i>&ldquo;Humor provides the therapeutic jolt that shifts things into their proper perspective. You have to be relaxed and have fun to be creative; you can&rsquo;t do it when you&rsquo;re too serious.&rdquo;</i> When we laugh, our perception shifts. We let go of feelings of judgment, blame and self-pity to embrace a more complete knowledge and understanding of ourselves and others. Victor Borge once said <i>&ldquo;People who can&rsquo;t laugh don&rsquo;t live very long. And, while they&rsquo;re here, they make the rest of us miserable.&rdquo;</i> The soul is truly free in that moment when one abandons oneself to laughter. </p> <p> <b>Reason number three</b> for good humor is to reduce anxiety and keep us emotionally healthy. The author James Thurber once said, <i>&ldquo;Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquillity.&rdquo;</i> Laughter allows us to come to terms with challenging realities and helps us rise above them. Laughing and crying keep us from getting emotionally constipated; it cleanses our emotions and allows a natural ventilation of feelings. </p> <p> Utilizing humor can help us handle realities that seem far too difficult to cope with. For example: There were two sisters called Sara and Anna. Anna&rsquo;s husband, at age 28, died of cancer. It was very difficult for the family to accept. After the funeral, the sisters stayed together at Sara&rsquo;s home. One evening, Anna was polishing the urn containing her husband&rsquo;s ashes. Sara got tired and went up to bed. At 4 am, Sara woke up and found Anna still sitting at the table. Anna remarked, &ldquo; You know, my husband still has a way of keeping me up all night long.&rdquo; The two of them burst out in chuckles that lead to deep belly laughs. In that moment, the healing process had begun for them. </p> <p> Sometimes when a person or family gets shocking news, of something serious happening or maybe even of a death in the family, they may burst into laughter. If they are stopped in the cycle of laughter, they will be mortified, feel guilty and may never go through a natural mourning process. Encourage the laughter, for the laughter will turn into the tears of sorrow. With laughter and tears, healing will begin. In the Bible, Ecclesiastes Chapter 3: verse 4 says, <i>&ldquo;To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.&rdquo;</i> The ability to laugh and the ability to cry is the body&rsquo;s built-in response to stress which provides the emotional and physical relief we need. Humor and laughter can break a cycle of despair and free up the energy to mobilize one&rsquo;s own inner resources. </p> <p> <b>The fourth reason</b> we value humor and laughter is that it frees our imagination and brings creative solutions. What blocks us from accessing more laughter in our lives? Life can be a very serious affair with all the responsibilities, personal failures and financial struggles! If we aren&rsquo;t serious, then we may be seen to be lacking in ability and even, incompetent,... God forbid! The fear of failure and the fear of looking foolish can stop us from risking humor. We become cynical and rigid which diminishes our imagination and creativity. Now... doesn&rsquo;t that sound like fun?! A really great way to spend a day! </p> <p> Albert Einstein said, <i>&ldquo;Imagination is far more important than knowledge.&rdquo;</i> And he ought to know! You have to figure that he imagined his cosmic discoveries first before he figured them out mathematically! </p> <p> Laughter frees up our thinking so we can access the creative solutions and ideas we already have in our minds. When we laugh, we relax into open receptiveness which makes learning effortless. Information and knowledge are more easily retained when sprinkled with humor. </p> <p> Any opportunity we have to laugh, we owe it to ourselves to do it!! Don&rsquo;t stop yourself from laughing, join in! Laughter is contagious!! Laughter has a liberating effect on the flow of our ideas, and trust that you will make sense of things later. </p> <p> When we think we&rsquo;re too serious, it helps to find a mirror and make our funniest facial expressions. Say out loud (We can do this when no one is watching), 3 or more times: </p> <p> &ldquo;I choose not to take myself so seriously. I choose not to take myself so seriously. I choose not to take myself so seriously.&rdquo; </p> <p> Try it out... , I guarantee you&rsquo;ll feel silly enough that it will lighten up your whole day. Activities like this will develop a more joyous approach to living. You don&rsquo;t have to teach people how to be funny, you only have to give them permission. </p> <p> <b>Reason number 5:</b> Laughter is a gift for building rapport and deepening our relationships. Plato said, <i>&ldquo;You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.&rdquo;</i> </p> <p> Humor and playfulness are tools we can use in building bridges in our relationships and in our careers. They are wonderful ways to shed worry, pain and fear while breaking up old routines. Structured times of play and laughter increase productivity at work. Laughter and playful activities help stimulate healthy interaction between people in all kinds of personal and professional settings. Positive experiences of communication, cooperation, trust, teamwork, group bonding, and personal sharing increase and improve as people play together. To play again and relearn to let go and be more childlike is an art and an attitude, which increases the joy, laughter, energy, and creative power in our lives. If you doubt it, just watch a child at play. </p> <p> Here are a few ideas to get started: </p> <ul class="numbered"> <li>Give a GREAT celebration when your group or organization is successful in meeting a tough goal-- Go all out!!</li> <li>When you notice someone doing something really well, write them a note in acknowledgment. This is especially important if you are their supervisor.</li> <li>Find fifteen or more opportunities to laugh each day. </li> <li>Write above your mirror &ldquo;This person is not to be taken seriously.&rdquo;</li> <li>Look for humor in the everyday gaffes that occur and use them to incite laughter.</li> </ul> <p> Just a note of caution as a reminder: When we use humor that is based on caring and empathy it brings people closer together and builds confidence and self-esteem. This is humor that heals, amuses people and invites joining. </p> <p> Negative humor, sarcastic, slanderous, malicious, or statements which hurts and destroys our connection with others, is damaging, excludes others, and is a toxic influence in our relationships. When we laugh &ldquo;at&rdquo; someone in our company with contempt and insensitivity, or make someone the &ldquo;brunt&rdquo; of a joke - it creates downsmanship and destroys self- confidence and trust. </p> <p> In order to practice healing humor, ask permission before saying something that may offend. If you suspect your humor will offend, then it is best not to speak it out loud. Take a pause and ask yourself, &ldquo; Is my humor respectful?&rdquo;, before sharing it. Each one of us has a choice as to how we choose to express ourselves. How we express ourselves will affect how others perceive us. It may even affect how we perceive ourselves. Just as when we drop a pebble into a still pond. Once the pebble hits the water, it creates a ripple. So too do we create ripples wherever we go and we can always choose what kind of ripple we create. </p> <p> Mother Teresa said, <i>&ldquo;Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other- it doesn&rsquo;t matter who it is- and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other.&rdquo;</i> </p> <p> Remember always that it is healthy and wholesome fun to laugh hard and freely. Mae West used to say, <i>&ldquo;Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.&rdquo;</i> </p> <p class="footnote"> This material is a basis for workshop/seminar program tailored to meet your specific needs and time constraints. This can be presented effectively in a few hours or as a retreat or, to cover additional topics, as a multiple day conference. </p> </div> </body> </html>