Life Coaching-Learning to Laugh

Shall we laugh? I hope so because first off....I am not Jay Leno or Bob Hope and I am certainly not Sarah Palin..who visited Jay a night or so ago....so now we have all of that straight, don't we??? Today I hope at least to make you smile and see the effects it can have on your life. No, I do not have Alzheimer's disease either ( and hope that I never do and I am not joking about this terrible disease or making light) as I remember I have another hub "the funny side."

The reason for this continuation of a hub about laughing is that I do not feel like we laugh as much as we should and laughter can cure a lot of things. Let me give you an example..sometimes a conversation that is strained or heated can turn into a settled discussion if someone has the ability to make the serious not so serious; depending of course on the situation. This is of course where personality comes in. Everybody does not have the ability to make other people laugh; these people are special and I wish I were more like those individuals but most of the time, I am more serious, but I am trying to change and see life in a different perspective.

In my recent work elsewhere, I have found that we have to be able to laugh at ourselves and when we learn to laugh at ourselves; we then can learn other ways in which we can grow in our empowerment of having more joy in our life. Joy in our life can ease the frustrations of daily life. Joy is another word for cheer, amusement, bliss, pleasure, comfort and many other things. When we obtain this great ability, it rubs off on others and when others see the joy in our life we are then influencing other people to be the same way. No, it does not mean that one must go around laughing all day or telling jokes, as we have already decided everyone does not have this ability. What we do have is the ability to find joy and most of us already have it and are not intune to where true joy really lies.

We all have something or someone in our life that is an expression of true joy...

-----------a child or children we adore

-----------a friend who is true

-----------an older parent who needs us

-----------good health without medication

-----------we can see and hear what others tell us - there are those who cannot

-----------we are able to walk and run and play

-----------we have the ability to learn, grow and share

There are many other blessing that we can be joyous over and when we learn to somehow laugh at ourselves we are able to see that whatever it is that we might think is missing could not be half as bad as it seems.

When to laugh at yourself....

• When you wear two different color shoes to work
• When you slipped and fell going out the door and look around to see if anyone saw you
• When you tell a joke and it made no sense
• When you pick up on a conversation which has ended with what you are saying
• When your husband brings home the queen size panty hose when you said average
• When you want to scream over the spilled milk; the baby smiles and says "mommy"
• When you tell yourself you are losing weight yet the scales do not agree
• When you missed the green light
• When you missed your exit
• When you missed the phone call
• When you came out of the store and your skirt is tucked in your waist--oops
• When you are afraid to tell your husband you spent too much money
• When you spouse wants to go away for the weekend **you have done something right
• When you can't find your hairbrush
• When your spouse fills up the car with gas
• When your child brings home straight "A"'s **you helped in some important way
• When you think life is teaching you a lesson
• When you know you have done your best
• When you know you made a mistake
• When you can't stand to make a mistake
• When you want to cry

"Enjoy the journey, enjoy every moment, and quit worrying about winning and losing."

- Matt Biondi

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness." --

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Joy is the best makeup." -- Anne Lamott

"The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their differences." -- Audre Lorde

"Joy is a heart full and a mind purified by gratitude." -- Marietta McCarty

"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by its breathtaking moments." - Michael Vance