Is it
T H A T
s i m p l e:

CHANGE YOUR WORDS

CHANGE YOUR WORLD

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm of the Day :

F I N D O U T

(say it differently)

USE FRESH WORDS

not to be heard

but experienced. . .

u n l e s s.          .          .

Thanks to the World Laughter Tour and Dr. Steve Wilson

I became a Certified Laughter Leader

in February, 2016

but often

I’m more C E R T I F I A B L E 

than CERTIFIED.        .        .

I recently provided a workshop

for a Hospice Team

that was organized by their FUN COMMITTEE.       .       .

Shortly following the workshop

one of the Nurses on the Team sent me this email:

Chuck, Thanks for the laughs. I think you answered a question for me.  A year ago an acquaintance of my brother and I had posted on FaceBook that she could not tell the difference between us from posted pictures.  My nephew posted that the the pictures where the guy was smiling was my brother.  The other pictures were of his uncle, me.  Since I do not use social media, I wouldn’t have noticed except my daughter pointed out to me how she had put her cousin in his place.  (Such fire can come from gentle souls!)  Since then though I have been checking in with the mirror to see where the smile went  I was most puzzled because (1) My nickname in high school was “ear to ear,” and (2) I thought that I was smiling.  I have been watching my peers in team and I have noticed that we do not smile except the we are laughing.  As I watched you, I did not see a smile except with laughter.  When your face relaxed the corners of your mouth relaxed downward.  I have a voice from the past that says, “It  takes more  muscles  to  frown  than  to  smile.”  What has happened?  I think that it is this: Both smiles and frowns are surface expressions and quickly deceive  Of the two, though, are work allows for the frown as the more acceptable.  I think that we spend a great deal of effort in the trenches where smiles are inappropriate.  We have lost the ability to smile from disuse of smiling muscles  So though we may be smiling on the inside, our faces do not show it.  I do not think that this is either good or bad.  I thing that it as the artist, Chuck Close has said, “The  face  is  a  road  map  of  a  person’s life.”  You showed me today that you do not have to be able to smile to be able to laugh,  Hohohahaha, YEAH! Thanks.

How about an

“A”

for paying way more than just Attention

but   for  really

N        O        T        I        C        I        N        G

Harry Chapin

is still one of my favorite musicians.        .         .

He died tragically in a car accident

on July 16, 1981, at 39 years of age.        .         .

He wrote a song,

L  A  U  G  H      M  A  N

that I’ve always related to personally and publicly

long before becoming a Certified Laughter Leader

.         .         .maybe it embodies and describes the essence of all of us:

The   World   can   be   a   really   sad   Place.        .          .

u n l e s s

I   make   it   a   different

r            e            s            i            d            e            n            c            e

join me

in proving

w     h     o     e     v     e     r

L       A      U      G      H      S

l    a    s    t    s.       .       .

Let’s    be    about

P        R        O        V        I        N        G                 I        T

Is the W H O L E     W O R L D

a  Stage

or  just

Y     O     U ?

There could be an argument made

either way.     .     .

but before the Tony Awards

are passed out

and you hit all of the

Congratulatory Parties

lets take a look at

T            H            A            T

l    i    f    e:

Sometimes it’s not the

multiple scenes

the various acts

the witty dialogue

 the sensational

musical interludes

or even the much needed intermissions.     .     .

O          F          T          E          N

it’s those momentous

s     o     l     i     l     o     q     u     i     e     s  

that take their direction

from the inner chambers of the

h     e     a     r     t

or even more intimately

the depths of the soul

that makes any ocean appear

s              h               a              l              l              o              w

Sometimes.       .       .

it’s a scene of a blank stage

narrowly shot

ON  P U R P O S E

for effect to illustrate

just how much we block out the

p             e             r             i             p             h             e             r             y   

where some of the best action

a c t u a l l y

takes place;

maybe after all–

we’re all wondering if what happens behind the scenes

is more important–

more interesting

than anything that takes place

front

and

c  e  n  t  e  r;

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.          .          .

Quiet  on  the  Set

The Spotlight is on

and it’s catching little dust particles

floating around in the air

while it seeks you out

front and center

to illuminate

that the best scenes

are those

yet to be acted.          .          .

but don’t discount all of the other previous

p            a            n            o            r            a            m            a            s

e   a   c   h

have advanced the plot

for the most fantastic

A          C          T

of

N     O     W

Quiet   on   the   Set.          .          .

R     E     A     D     Y :

A                 C                 T                 I                 O                 N

(NO DO-OVER’S)

YOU

hear it more and more:

IT’S    NOT    A    SMALL    WORLD  

 SO    MUCH    AS    JUST    A    BIG    LIVING    ROOM.       .       . 

I do a Keynote presentation where I hand out of Baggie full of objects

that helps us Understand that very thing:

IT’S   NOT   A   SMALL   WORLD   SO   MUCH   AS   JUST   A   BIG   LIVING   ROOM

One of the small objects I place in the baggie is a puzzle piece;

I tell the audience that the we’re often told to

LOOK     AT     THE     BIG     PICTURE

which is really an overwhelming thing to do.         .         .

It   is

P  I  E  C  E      b  y      P  I  E  C  E

 that our lives are literally put together and

T  A  K  E       S  H  A  P  E
R  E  C  E  I  V  E       M  E  A  N  I  N  G

I give the audience a puzzle piece to remind them just how important

 I  S

T    H    E         M   O   M   E   N   T

I give the audience a puzzle piece to remind them just how

WE       ALL       FIT       TOGETHER.

Mother Theresa once said,

“IF    I    LOOK    AT    THE    MASS,    I    WILL    NEVER    ACT.”

If she thought about just how many suffering victims there were in the World, it would have been emotionally paralyzing and prevented from actually providing help.

I don’t have to help every poor, hungry, down-on-their-luck-no-one-gives-a-damn-about-me-person in the World.        .        .

JUST   THE   ONE   IN   FRONT   OF   ME
JUST    THE    ONE    BEHIND    ME
JUST     THE     ONE     BESIDE     ME

J   U   S   T        T   H   E        O   N   E !

We really do have the World in our Hands.        .        .

It’s not so big

T H A T      W A Y,

is  it?

Very  manageable;

I don’t know the 12 Mystical Ways to Open your Soul

I don’t know the 21 Magical Ways to open your Heart

I      do      know      that     when

I    LISTEN    WITH    MORE    THAN    MY    EARS  

I    RESPOND    AND    NOT    SO    MUCH    REACT

I    REPLENISH    MY    SOUL    TO    REFILL    ANOTHER’S

I    REMEMBER    THE    WHOLE    PERSON

I    SUFFER    WHAT    OTHER’S    HAVE    SUFFERED

I    GIVE    MYSELF    A     PASS    FOR    BEING    TOO    HUMAN

I   know

that my Puzzle Piece becomes a little bit more important

I know

that the World becomes a little bit more smaller in my Hands.       .       .

More, uhhhh,

H           A            N            D            A            B            L            E

for    me
for    you
for    us
A      L      L