Tag: laugh

Laughter really is the best medicine

by energywriter, posted in Thoughts to Ponder

Thoughts to Ponder

April 8, 2016

“The more stressful, baffling, or unpleasant your situation,

The more important it is to laugh at it.”

Martha Beck*

“You grow up the day you have your first real laugh, at yourself.”

Ethel Barrymore**

Life has been stressful for all of us for quite some time. All sorts of things have weighed on our minds: economy, weather, politics and our own personal issues. We’re allowing ourselves to turn into a nation of curmudgeons.

It’s time to reverse that trend and remember to laugh again. During our nation’s stressful times, humor helped people laugh and relax just a little. A few of those people are President Abraham Lincoln, who loved a good anecdote, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Erma Bombeck, and Robin Williams. They found ways to make distressing events funny. Every drama includes one or two of humorous incidents to break up the heaviness. How often have you been in a serious meeting where little is accomplished, then someone makes a joke, everyone laughs and immediately you are finding solutions to your dire dilemma.

Let’s dial back on the news and drama shows on television and focus on what is happening closer to home. We’ll see our children, our pets and, most of all, ourselves in a new light. Rent a funny movie and kick-start laughing with the whole family. The next time you spill your cereal on yourself, don’t worry about the mess, but imagine how funny you look to the rest of your family.

Spirit, Thank you for the ability to laugh at ourselves. Often we don’t realize what a gift humor is until we’ve been surrounded by seriousness and someone makes a joke in the middle of it all. And, so it is.

*Beck, Martha, Daily Inspiration for January 19, 2017, info@marthabeck.com

** Warner, Carolyn, Treasury of Women’s Quotations, pg 169, Prentiss Hall

Sharon D. Dillon, energywriter@cox.net, http://energywriter.me

Chesapeake Bay Writers, Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, Southern Humorists, National Society of Newspaper Columnists

Author of Echoes of Your Choices, a motivational book, and one of 14 stories in The Book of Mom: Reflections of Motherhood with Love, Hope and Faith, published by booksyoucantrust.com. Available in print and e-format at Amazon.com

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Thoughts to Ponder – Earth Day -April 21, 2015

by energywriter, posted in Thoughts to Ponder

“Sometimes, I laugh so hard,
it starts a hurricane in the heavens.
Sometimes, I grin so wide,
it causes earthquakes on distant planets.
 And, sometimes, when I feel so happy I could float,
worlds are born, continents rise, and oceans surge.
But never, ever, ever, 
do I lay so much as a finger on planet Earth.
Because there, my work is long over,
and yours has just begun.
... Trust me, this barely hints of your true power….”
The Universe*

Today is Earth Day and, to me, this quote is apropos to its significance. I’m not going to lecture you on recycling, driving a smaller car or wearing a bicycle helmet. Rather I’m going to talk about something even more important to the future of our Earth – each of us as individuals.

For me the key lines in this quote are “But never, ever, ever, do I lay so much as a finger on planet Earth. Because there, my work is long over, and yours has just begun.”

Where do we start doing that work? Being kind to others? Yes. Being kind to animals? Yes. Planting trees? Yes. However, before we can do that we must first take care of ourselves.

“But…but…but….” you say. I say there are no “buts.” We MUST take care of ourselves first. How can we raise compassionate, responsible children if we do not treat ourselves compassionately and responsibly? How can we treat other people and animals kindly if we don’t do the same for ourselves.

We must take time to relax.

We must stop and watch a sunset.

We must watch a movie that makes us laugh until we cry.

Only by taking care of ourselves first can we take adequate care of those for whom we are responsible. We must be sure that we are strong, healthy and well rested in order to provide for those we love and by extension our community and our Earth.

Enough lecture. I hope your Earth Day is beautiful and happy and that you smile all day.

© by Sharon D. Dillon, April 21, 2015

*TUT – A Note from the Universe, April 20, 2015, aka Mike Dooley, www.tut.com

Sharon D. Dillon, energywriter@cox.net, http://energywriter.me “Laugh your way to peace, love and joy”

Chesapeake Bay Writers, Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, Southern Humorists, National Society of Newspaper Columnists

Author of one of 14 stories in The Book of Mom: Reflections of Motherhood with Love, Hope and Faith, published by booksyoucantrust.com. Available in print and e-format at Amazon.com