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The Secret to Serenity:
Burst Out In Laughter …
and
Bring on The Sunshine
by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway |
"Turn your face to the sun
and the shadows fall behind you." --Maori proverb
We have all had those days when nothing seems
"serene;" when in fact everything that can go
wrong does go wrong. When the check is not in the
mail, the dog pees on the rug, and the dry cleaner lost
your favorite shirt … it is very easy to get frustrated
and bent out of shape, and lose your sense of balance, and
worse, your sense of humor. Once your sense of humor is
gone, life can become so un-fun!
There are a lot of things in life that can lead us down
a bumpy, grumpy path. Some are far more painful and vexing
than others. But there is one thing that can snap us out
of it in a nanosecond: Laughter. You can do it with
anyone safely, and it’s mess free, drug free and it
doesn’t require a condom. A good laugh alleviates
tension and makes you feel good all over.
Laughter is like medicine and studies show that when we
laugh, physiologically, it is impossible to be depressed
or sad. Like a quick fix of fun and an easy-to-access mood
elevator, it helps uplift us and heal us. Even if you are
not in the mood to laugh, the act of laughing will make
you laugh. Then you can see there is an entire world
around you just waiting to give you a good hoot, and to
point out the hilarity of being divinely human.
We all need comical relief, and time out from tragedy
and challenge. We can help heal ourselves – and our
friends and family – with humor and laughter. If you, or
anyone you know, is suffering from humor deprivation …
its time to have a good laugh. It costs nothing, yet helps
you gain a new attitude and perspective. Laugher brings
sunshine into your life. No matter how bad things get, or
how awful they may seem, your world can change with the
simple movement of your facial muscles – a slight twitch
of your lips that starts as a smile and grows into a big,
loud, hilarious laugh.
Laugh and the world laughs with you
There is great power in a good laugh, especially when
it is pursued mindfully and, particularly, when shared
with friends. Here are some Simple ways to bring their
laughter and sunshine to everyday life:
Greet the Rising Sun. People in Japan welcome each
day with prayers and hand clapping each morning. This can
be a stimulating warm up to the start of a brand new day.
Just the act of clapping will be a wake up call to your
body. Clapping makes you feel happy and joyous! Remember
that favorite kiddy song, If you’re happy and you
know it clap your hands.
Share laughter and light with friends. You don’t
have to be outrageous and totally wacky. Friends can share
a laugh together over the most mundane and silly things.
From rural areas to urban cities, in the middle of
Manhattan to a farm on Montana, we can always gather with
a friend or two to express gratitude for a new day’s sun
and share some laughter.
Share a happy meal. Just one breakfast meeting a
week with people of similar sense of humor is great
medicine for the soul. Order your meal, say thanks for a
new day, and celebrate by sharing laughs, cracking jokes,
and being goofy. You can have joke contests and funny
story telling fests. If you are not good joke tellers, buy
a book of jokes and practice on each other. Stay in touch
with your friends during the week by e-mailing each other
the best Internet humor you can access.
Create a deck of "Happy Cards." Buy a
pack of plain index cards and some pretty magic markers
and write individual sayings, jokes and quotes that make
you laugh and bring sunshine to your life and to others.
Keep them in a special box, or a decorated coffee can, and
reach in any time you need a laugh. Offer them to friends,
like brownies, when they come to visit. Even if they laugh
at you for having "Happy Cards" in a coffee can
it is worth the effort.
Let’s go fly a kite. If you have not done it
since childhood, you will really have fun. Make sure that
as it flies you send your wishes to heaven. Pray for a
life of serenity and sunshine that is filled with the
sound of laughter! Even if the kite dives, you will
have set forth a positive intension and seasoned it with a
laugh.
Start a good mood virus. If you long to be the
ultimate fun bunny and favorite friend that everyone wants
to be around, take responsibility for spreading good
cheer. When we allow ourselves to feel good and filled
with joy, we radiate it. Just as our bad moods can be
contagious, our good moods can pave the way for many miles
of smiles. If we smile, people smile back; if we laugh,
they chuckle too!
Laugh like crazy. If you are with a small group of
friends who are not feeling too peppy, or just one bummed
out buddy, and you want to break the bad mood … start
laughing. This is not something you would NOT do at a
funeral, obviously, but in a non-emotionally charged
situation where the room, and people in it, need a new
burst of energy and sunshine. Break out in laughter. Start
slowly with a straight face, so they don’t even know
what you are up you. Then formulate a smile… then turn
it into a chuckle… then build into a contagiously happy
laugh. They will think you are insane at first, until they
can resist no more… the laughter will sneak up on them
and out of them. Just keep laughing like crazy, and see if
one person can resist the allure of that wild laughter. It
will fill the room with a burst of laugher and sunshine!
Keep smiling. Every time the sun fades lift the
sides of your mouth into a smile. Remember – you cannot
be depressed when you are smiling.
Take humor risks. When you are in your head, do
something just a little wild to get out of it. And do the
same thing to help a friend who needs a good laugh. The
Greek Goddess Baubo once lifted her skirt and exposed her
privates in order to get the heartbroken Demeter to smile
again and bring the sun and flowers back to the earth.
What can you do to top that?
Affirmation:
"A good laugh a day keeps the darkness
away"
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The
Romance Reverend’s Tools for the Heart and Soul
This issue of Soulful
Living introduces the Romance Reverend’s favorite
picks for books, tapes and goodies to uplift the spirit
and enhance your relationship to yourself and others.
Barbara Biziou’s Momentary Meditations and Simple
Solutions for Stress:
 In
her breakthrough DVD Momentary Meditations,
the nation’s best and most skilled ritual expert,
meditation teacher and life-strategy coach will help you
through the toil and trouble of daily stress and strain,
and bring you home to yourself. In this special edition
DVD for the "meditation connoisseur, " Barbara
combines contemporary technology with timeless spiritual
truth and has packaged five easy to follow guided
mediations that can help us through a spectrum of
disappointments, trauma, upset and stressful surprises. I
have attended many of Barbara’s rituals and events and
it is extraordinary the way she has translated her loving
presence – the sense that she is with you on the journey
– onto DVD. Barbara’s soothing voice and manner is
enhanced by the music of Robbie Gass and On Wings of Song,
and other fabulous performers. In her soon to be released
trio of Simple Solutions for Stress, she offers a
veritable tool box of meditations that includes: Volume
One, Stress Free Travel: Volume Two, Stress Free
Change, Volume Three, Inner Peace in the Face of
Fear. Momentary Meditations
($20) is available now at www.fourworldsentertainment.com/productdvd.htm
or by calling 212-741-3358. Or contact
Barbara@fourworldsentertainment.com.
The Laura Norman Method ® Of Reflexology:
There is nothing more heavenly
than foot reflexology session. When you see Laura Norman
and Associates for a session you lay back in a dim lit
room and let the reflexologist’s fingers do the walking
… all over your feet! It is a heavenly foot rub, but,
more importantly, it targets specific areas of the feet
that represent organs, and areas of the body. It helps
bring healing and rejuvenation, gives you energy and …
it relaxes the hell out of you. Literally. I have been
having Reflexology for 20 years and find there is NOTHING
that can adjust your attitude and perk up your point of
view like foot reflexology. I truly believe this gentle
and delicious healing technique – said to be about 5,000
years old – can help you connect to your own heart and
soul, and can enhance the way you relate to others. Now
you can learn how to do reflexology on yourself and loved
ones with Laura Norman’s Instructional Video ($49.88) or
DVD ($65.95). Find out more at www.800feetfirst.com
or call 1-800-FEET-FIRST.
The Sedona Method: Your Key to lasting Happiness, Success,
Peace and Emotional Well-being, by Hale Dwoskin, Sedona
Press, $17.00:
 I
am off to Sedona as I write this and only WISH I could
take the seminar that this book is based on. Sign me up
for The Sedona Method! The author, Hale Dwoskin opens by
telling the compelling story of how he served as assistant
and prodigy to the originator of the work, Lester Levenson,
and then took over at Lester’s request. The book
outlines super simple techniques designed to enhance all
areas of your life. The one special key is the key that I
totally agree with – Releasing. This book reminds
us of basic spiritual and universal truths. "One of
the main ways that we ourselves create disappoints,
unhappiness, and misjudgement is by holding on to limiting
thoughts and feelings," Dwoskin writes " …
Have you ever held on to tension and anxiety even after
the initial event that triggered it was long love? This is
the form of holding on that we will explore throughout the
book." Find out more at www.Sedona.com
or contact release@sedona.com.
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© Copyright 2003 Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway All Rights
Reserved.
Read
Reverend Laurie Sue's Past Columns:
May
2003 - "A
Gathering of Goddesses: Our Girlfriends Keep Us Real"
April
2003 - "Love Has Its Own Schedule"
March
2003 - "A Spring Time Reawakening To Soulful Love
and Self Love"
February
2003 - "Marry Yourself First..."
December
2002 - "Who is the Goddess?" & "The
Goddess Rocks!"
October
2002 - "How to Clear Your Love Clutter"
August
2002 - "How to Mourn a Broken Heart and Lost
Love"
July
2002 - "Relationships That Nurture and Inspire
Growth of the Soul
June
2002 - "Finding Peace in a Turbulent World"
May
2002 - "Sacred Sexuality For Modern Men and
Women"
April
2002 - "When Someone You Love Pushes Your Buttons"
March
2002 - "When Life Has You Down, Remember You Are
Loved"
February
2002 - "Plan a Valentine's Day Team Date"
January
2002 - "Do I Hear Him Knocking … From the Other
Side?"
December
2001 - "How Do We Make Our Love Dreams Come True?"
November
2001 - "What is the Future of Love?"
October
2001 - "Getting to Know
'Lakshmi'
the Goddess of Good Fortune"
September
2001 - "Can't Hurry Love... It Will Happen in Its Right Moment"
August
2001 - "Family Rituals Help Us Grow Into Loving Beings"
July
2001 - "Dreams Warn It’s Time To Own Your Power"
June
2001 - "A Fun Visual of Your Favorite Romance"
May 2001 - "Someday
Your Mystical Soul Mate Will Come"
April
2001 - "Enjoy the Merriment and Fun of An Ancient Love
Holiday"
March
2001 - "Nourish Yourself On a Date for One"
February
2001 - "Get Ready for Soulful Love"
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is
an interfaith minister who is often called upon to
teach, speak and write about women’s spirituality and
The Feminine Faces of God. She is author of, A GODDESS
IS A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND: A DIVINE GUIDE TO FINDING
LOVE, SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS, from Perigee Books,
December 2002.
For more information:
Website: www.GoddessFriends.com
or to join "The Goddess
List" for inspirational and informational
electronic message, Email: GoddessLaxmi@aol.com
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