 Someone
once said “he who laughs last, laughs best!” When we laugh
we reduce stress by bringing oxygen to the cells of our body, in addition
to that we exercise our muscles and allow our blood to flow freely.
Sheila Feigelson in her great book “Energize your Meetings with
Laughter” writes; “laughter relaxes us, makes us feel
better, helps us to think clearly, builds camaraderie and makes the
day go faster. It allows us the freedom to feel more optimistic and
certainly more positive”.
Laughter sheds
a different light on any situation. It allows us to step off the
boardwalk of stress and helps us to take a dip in the sea of tranquility.
When faced with a stressful coworker or client it does you no good
to step in their pool of misery and gloom to find the answer. In
that frame of mind one cannot find a solution, instead we create
more mountains out of Larry, Curly and Moe hills.
Master Peking
Duck says in his motivational, CD, 
TM “STRESS WILL KILL YOU! It creates
a blockage, which manifest a breakdown of the internal flow sometimes
causing headaches, self-depletion and disease.” Master Peking
Duck goes on to say: “Our bodies are like a river constantly
flowing, giving and receiving. For example if there is a blockage
in a certain part of the river, the water in that area becomes stagnate,
looses nutrients and soon dies. When we allow stress to take us
over we are like a bumbling beaver who built a big damn that block
the flow.” That is a song I wrote if you want to hear it click
on www.richardpaul.com and you can hear it. It is destine to be
a top-10 hit.”
Laughter is
the tool needed to pull away the twigs, stumps and junk that is
blocking our inner flow.
How
can we be more cheerful and funny?
Robert Frost
said, “every morning make your bed and make up your mind that
it is going to be a great day.” You decide to how you want
to handle your daily challenges. Face it, you can’t change
another’s disposition but you can change yourself.”
 I
have a dear friend of mine who was one of two librarians at a school
library. The other librarian had a very negative and poor attitude
on life. She would see only the bad and never the good when it came
to the children, the rest of the school staff and generally most
people she came in contact with at work. My friend on the other
hand demonstrated a positive uplifting attitude. She only focused
on the good and made it a point daily to have fun and enjoy her
daily work and interactions with the children and staff.
One day the other librarian asked her, “how
can you be so happy all the time? “
My friend quickly replied, “Because I want
to be happy!”
Soon the other librarian began to be a little more
cheerful and playful with the students and staff. My friend said,
“she not only changed her attitude, but she was finally expressing
her inner beauty.” When we make up our minds to include laughter
in our daily routine, we strike a spark that ignites a happier,
healthier way of life.
As an events planner for many major corporate events
I found myself with clients that were not always the easiest to
work with. In most cases these events were not part of their regular
job and because of this they were stepping into uncharted territory.
It was my job to stay calm and collect during these sometime loud
outbursts of verbal abuse.
 One
time I booked in a nationally known act for a client who wasn’t
familiar with backstage demands from the artist and their entourage.
The morning of the event she was so stressed out she was screaming
and hollering at all the staff and volunteers. On the two-way radio
I heard her scream my name,
“RICHARD
PAUL WHERE ARE YOU?”
Her voice
was heard through mine and four other walkie-talkies in the area.
It was so loud it caused the glasses that were stacked up in the
VIP tent to tremble. The staff told me I should run for my life.
To tell you the truth my first reaction was to run, but instead
I decided to try something better. When she pulled up in her golf
cart, before she could scream my name I gave her a big bear hug
and then I got on my knees and cried; “I am so sorry I ate
the last pretzel in the VIP bowl, please forgive me!” She
laughed then told me to get into the golf cart. Together we went
backstage to find a solution to the minor crisis.
Neil Simon wrote: “I love living. I have
some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they’ve
come up with so far.”
With laughter there is living, it is the fuel needed
to get through the tough times and helps add flavor to the good
times. It is the one thing we have over animals. If you don’t
believe me tickle your dog; the most he can do is shake his leg.
Any comedian will tell you that most comedy is
something funny that has happened or something that happens opposite
of what we think is going to happen. I have heard of some offices
where in stressful moments they did something as silly as walking
down the hall as penguins or standing on a desk to recite the days
goals and objectives like a Shakespearean actor.
I guarantee
that if we all are a little more comically creative during the rough
moments at work we will bring forth a laugh and ignite a more positive
productive workplace.
Copyright
Richard Paul 2004
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