laughter

Avocados Are Trouble

It started with the avocado incident; slicing open my own finger is always* laugh-worthy to me.

But it wasn’t until right after we two friends posed for the above super-imposed shot “in front of” the Empire State Building that I noticed it: a spray of blood just below the words, “I ❤ Hass” on my white t-shirt. Oh, how we laughed and laughed and waited in line to distract the sales rep while we took this contraband image of our own picture.

New York City never looked so funny to me as it did that night from the top of it all.

Fast Track Tip #1

When you find yourself at the bottom of your emotional ladder you might feel sad, frustrated, angry, lonely, resentful, hurt, overwhelmed, or judgmental.

Fast track yourself toward the top of your emotional ladder by laughing. Laugh intentionally. And laugh quickly. Find something that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and do it immediately.

Some of my favorite easy laugh options include:

YouTube videos — they’re short and convenient for a quick pick-me-up
Talking on behalf of my dog, Eli — seriously one of the funniest things I do (just ask me)
Skipping — I was the champion skipper ages five AND six, no small feat I assure you
The paperboy from Crazy Off Dead
And the paperboy from While You Were Sleeping
Basically the entire movie Elf — or this brilliant line will suffice
Also, the entire movie The Emperor’s New Groove, but especially the Smash it With a Hammer! scene
Hilarious Gandalf intervention — only Lord of the Rings fans need click this one
Dramatic readings by the Muppets — what’s not to love about the Muppets?
Reading my own Happy List — I keep a written daily record of things that make me laugh, smile, and that cause joy, and I’ve been tracking this for decades now.

Take some time right now to jot down your known methods for inducing laughter, and the next time you find yourself down, go straight to your list to get yourself back up.

If we’re going to laugh about it later, we might as well laugh about it now. — Dr. Mary Hulnick, Ph.D.

*Don’t worry; I have many stories I won’t be sharing with you in this forum.

Do you have a problem (a struggle, an issue, a frustration, a situation)?

Pick one.

Now let’s play a game with your problem.

Let’s turn your problem into a solution.

Ohhhh, maybe that’s more like a magic trick than a game! That sounds like even more fun! Grab your magic wand!

Step One

Call the “problem” a “challenge.”

Why would this simple switch be such a big deal?

Because our language creates how we see the world and how we see the world becomes our world.

Step Two

Remember the Disney movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? We’re going to proclaim We Shrunk the Challenge! (If for no other reason than it’s funny to say shrunk out loud and I can’t say it without laughing. Go ahead. Try it.)

And laughing is an important next step for us to now look down on the challenge. See yourself as exponentially larger than the challenge. Laugh at its smallness. Mock its insignificance. Shrink your challenge down to a diminutive size. You are monstrous in comparison.

Step Three

Now that you’re laughing and relaxed and visualizing the teeny tiny little challenge running scared, the final step is to overwhelm the challenge with your solutions.

SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!

That challenge has nothing on you. You are the one with a higher and larger vantage point. You wield laughter and ideas and a relaxed approach. The challenge is not serious; something that small can’t possibly be serious.

Besides, serious is so un-fun. And you’re at your best when you’re having fun, laughing and enjoying yourself. That’s when your ideas really start to flow.

You are creativity, itself.

You love this challenge for allowing you the opportunity to show off your remarkable resourcefulness.

Keep laughing.

Keep being bigger than your challenges.

Keep creating solutions from that place of relaxed fun and broader perspective.

Keep smashing your challenges with a hammer.

Do that. And then do more.

Enjoy the process of solution creating.

“It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!” — Yzma