Make 'em Laugh

“A smile starts on the lips, A grin spreads to the eyes, A chuckle comes from the belly; But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, Overflows, and bubbles all around.” ~ Carolyn Birmingham

Some days all I can do to get by is simply laugh at the situation before me. To get overly upset or mad would only worsen the predicament. And most likely the situation is out of my control anyway.

What better way to relieve the stress than by laughing.

There have been those who feel offended when in the seriousness of it all, someone is chuckling. Each of us react to the problems life sets before us. Those issues build and compound with each other. So much that we feel our life has been targeted with all of the world's problems.

What we can do when there seems to be no way out from under all of it is to simply laugh.

Even the doctors at the Mayo Clinic say, "...laughter helps you deal with a variety of maladies, including the stresses of daily life." A laugh or even a smile can bring the focus away from negative emotions and send us into a better mood. This mood change will give us the ability to more clearly concentrate.

What once seemed like darkness begins to brighten with new light.

So if you can help someone, "make 'em laugh."

To help even yourself, "make 'em laugh."

For everything else in life, "make 'em laugh."

Stay inspired my friends!

Sliding Through Life

"It's a beautiful thing, diving into the cool crisp water and then just sort of being able to pull your body through the water and the water opening up for you." - Dawn Fraser

How fascinating the above quote is and how you can apply it to everyday life. Our interaction with others is greatly impacted by our own opening up. So many times we develop a thick carapace or shell around our lives. We protect our feelings and self; so much that the shell becomes a heavy weight upon our lives.

When we carry this shell or build walls around our life, opportunity is lost for us to experience the cool crisp water. We slowly deteriorate and harden even further to anything beyond what we have within the walls we've erected. Our covering becomes such a hard disposition that nothing new can be breathed into it.

If we open ourselves to the world, things change.

Like diving into the water, the world will pull your body through life. It is the world opening up to you. As the words from a song (paraphrased) say, "...you'll love the color of it all."

Remove the hardened shell over your life and experience life for all it is worth. Do not wallow in the silent and lonely darkness. Open up to a life that exists, waiting to pull you to new heights. Once you remove the shell, you will never want to put it back on.

Stay inspired my friends!

Grace Changes Things

"And you know, when you've experienced grace and you feel like you've been forgiven, you're a lot more forgiving of other people. You're a lot more gracious to others." - Rick Warren

All of us get to ride our lives on a rollercoaster that sees our mood, our situation and circumstance change from time to time. It can cause us to have a bad day, maybe get a little cranky as well.

When it happens, it does helps the situation when others have grace for you.

The Hebrew word for grace is chesed, which means "loving kindness" and implies the giving of oneself to help another without regard to compensation.

It is an act which affords people an opportunity to help others change their lives. It is an act that helps people get through those difficult periods or bad moods in life. Without it, I'm sure my wife would have given up long ago.

We each have varying levels of grace in our hearts to give. The ability to overlook the bad and see that goodness lives within another person. As humans, our grace is naturally limited and exists at varying levels. Yet we need the ability to show grace upon others or it would be a pretty miserable life for everyone.

As humans we are prone to make mistakes; to have a bad day or to 'get cranky' from time to time. If we recognize this fact, then we have the ability to give a little slack (grace) to others. I have been given this slack throughout my lifetime. And I try to use that excess slack as often as possible by giving it back to others.

Granted, I have to exercise more grace when it comes to my superior driving skills in comparison to others. But I'm getting better and yes, I make fun of myself in that regard. I may think my driving skills are better, but it is just an illusion.

In recognizing my driving is really not much better than others, it changes my attitude. In recognizing I can not read the mind of another driver or understand why they did or did not do something while driving, it changes my attitude.

Chances are, the other driver is probably wondering the same thing about me. If I recognize it, my attitude changes and I can have a little bit of grace. back off, relax and let it go. Can you try it for half a day?

Give just a bit more grace to others around you.

A half day can stretch into a full day. A full day will stretch into being an everyday habit. Watch what happens to your life when you extend a little grace to others. You will be amazed.

Stay inspired my friends!

Which Key Is Yours

“Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be Number 1.” - Arthur Ashe

Each of us has the ability to determine how successful we are. A man with very little can consider himself successful if he is happy and content. A man with much can feel himself a failure if he is unhappy in how he got there.

So much of what is considered success is dependent upon you.

Be successful in how you feel about yourself. Know that getting to a point of success is more important then the actual achievement. Be successful in the doing. And stay inspired my friends.