CHAhaHAracter

There is nothing in which people more betray their character 

than in what they laugh at.   

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Scientists at the University of Oxford in England found that (click that for more info) laughing with friends for about 15 minutes boosts a person's pain threshold by 10%.

A good laugh is spontaneous - something you see, hear, or feel. When you see it or hear it, it's coming from your left brain and from your mouth.   When you feel it and the HAHA comes out, it's coming from the right brain and deep in your belly.

Prolonging that laughter for about 15 minutes requires a COMMUNITY (others to laugh with you), a CIRCLE (others to reflect you to you) and ChaHAhaRACTER (laughing out loud for no reason just because we can).

Which is why WSM NoahaHAha and I practice Laughter Yoga.   It gives us the opportunity to be with other people, to keep the HAHA going so that the endorphins can flood our brains and give us that feel good sensation.  And because it builds ChaHAharacter - the strength to come from the heart and be peace in our world - one HAHA at a time.  

Laughter & Longevity

Research shows that laughter affects longevity and that a sense of humor can enhance the quality of life in later years.

For me, laughter has been the secret tool in the longevity of my marriage. WSM Noah and I celebrate 14 years of marriage on May 30th. We've been laughing ever since we met. In fact, that is what keep us together strong and haHAhappy - the ability to laugh at everything and thrive from whatever circumstances are presented.

Over the years, we have laughed through broken bones and excess weight and family drama and changing jobs and moving and learning to love ourselves and each other. In fact, we shaHAhare what we know so others can grow younger with us too.

Scientific proof comes from the medical school at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Dr. Sven Svenbak tracked 54,000 Norwegians for seven years and discovered that those individuals who found life the funniest lived longer than their less mirthful countrymen.

Israeli researchers who have been trying to decode the "longevity gene" announced new findings this week that personality traits such as being outgoing, optimistic and easygoing, enjoying laughter and staying engaged in activities may be a crucial part of the mix. The findings, published online in the journal Aging, come from Einstein's Longevity Genes Project,

"When I started working with centenarians, I thought we'd find that they survived so long in part because they were mean and ornery," said Nir Barzilai, M.D., the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair of Aging Research, director of Einstein's Institute for Aging Research and co-corresponding author of the study. But, "we found qualities that clearly reflect a positive attitude towards life," he adds. "Most were outgoing, optimistic and easygoing. They considered laughter an important part of life and had a large social network. They expressed emotions openly rather than bottling them up."

As I look forward to another 14 years with this wonderful man, I pray for the longevity of my laughter muscles. May we laugh together, may we have aBUNdance and may we find friends who enjoy laughing as much as we do.

HA HA Action

This week I started to walk again.

After a 3 1/2 month hiatus so my fractured bones could heal, I bore weight on my right leg for the first time. In my mind, I thought it would be so easy. I mean, I have been walking for almost 43 years. For some reason, I imagined that I would get up and go and resume all my activities. Ha ha ha.

In fact, I pushed myself too haHAhard. I was so eager to "get back to normal". Back in my kitchen, on my feet, putting recipes together. Trying to walk GingerMama and establish a routine. And staying away from my bed (where I spent the last 3 1/2 months resting and recuperating).

I took it for granted that I could sit criss cross apple sauce. Now, I know it is something I am going to need to relearn. Learning to stretch my muscles and ligaments and laugh at myself through this process. Which really helps. Flooding my body full of endorphins makes the discomfort of stretching outside my comfort zone slightly easier and more pleasurable. Ha ha ha.

Learning to find a "new normal". Allowing my body to dictate the flow of movement and rest. Laughing at myself and my expectations of how things are supposed to be. Accepting that this is just right for me in this moment. Ha ha ha.

I have spent time this week being compassionate with my body and what it is telling me. Remembering that the process is what it's all about. Taking HA HA action to create small baby steps and build big change.

PERMISSION to SHAhaHAre

"FIND THE HUMOR IN THINGS TODAY.  IT WILL DO YOU GOOD.

SEE THINGS WITH THE FUNNY SIDE UP!  PEOPLE WILL CATCH 

ON AND EVERYONE WILL BE LAUGHING."

This is one of my favorite pages from a new book called PERMISSION SLIPS.   This book features the wise wisdom and delicious ART of my lovely WILD CHILD tribe Sister Goddess Pattie.   SG Pattie gave herself permission.  She decided to play big and shine her light wide.  She submitted her ART to StoryPeople who loved it so much they made it a book.  Woohoo.

SG Pattie's colorful pages and whimsical designs and bright words exude HAhaHAppiness. I open this book and the pages make me giggle and the words remind me to give myself permission to just be.

SG Pattie and I met at a WildChild Art Retreat years ago - when the walls of my house were still white with other people's stuff on them.  After seeing this Wise Omazing Woman create and acquiring some of her ART to bless my sacred space, I gave myself permission to paint - every possible surface I could find.  That is why my house has orange walls and yellow gold hallways and blue, fuschia and green kitchen cabinets.

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SG Pattie was kind enough to share some of her wisdom with me - here is our interview below:

1. What inspires you to create?

My heart and spirit inspires me! It is not something that I readily think about but rather it is a feeling that over comes me to pick up my paints and pens. It is a feeling of being whole, of being complete, of being ME when I create.

2. Do the words come first or the images/pictures/colors?

There really is no one way for me...Some days the images come first, which then bring whispers from my heart...Other days the words come and they direct me what to paint...color is my way of bringing the two together.

3. What is your favorite permission slip?

This is a hard question to answer because I use them all...and on any given day I will have a different answer. So, I would have to say today, that my favorite permission slip is "LUCKY DAY". I have this new book out, I am blessed with good friends and a loving family. I have found that I am much stronger than I thought I was, and that happiness is truly a state of mind. There are my 4 lucky things that I honor today!

4. Where do you get your ideas?

I get my ideas perhaps from a color I might see, from a book I am reading, or the sweet song of a bird outside my window. Ideas come from my heart and then blossom outward.

5. What is your secret superpower?

AH...my secret superpower is that I do not require a great amount of sleep! So I have many hours available to create, garden, read, love my kitties, and enjoy life.

6.  What encouragement can you offer to other artists?

Be courageous to submit anything you feel really shows who you are and what your heart has to say.  Be okay with rejection, not everyone likes everything we do. Fear traps us and does not allow us to move forward closer to our dreams. That old saying ..."if at first you don't succeed...try...try..again" is a great mantra!

7. What other projects are you willing to shaHahare with the world?

I am currently working on a board book for children of all ages. This again is a book inspired by the transformation of my good husband, Michael. I found that talking about death was not a subject most people were comfortable with, and trying to find a book that dealt with death that was suitable for a 6 year old was impossible. That is what this new book is about. How people never leave us really...because, they are always in our hearts.

3 Steps to Increase our EnerCHI

People always tell me that they love my energy.  Woohoo!  Over the years, I've learned how to build that energy so I can bring HAhaHAppy from within and let it spill out into the world.


Here are 3 vital steps to increase our energy 


1. WHAT WE FOCUS ON - Where I place my attention first thing in the morning determines how juicy my enerchi is.


When I wake up in the morning before jumping out of bed and starting my day - I stretch my arms and legs. I feel my toes and stroke them in appreciation for all the work they will perform today. I fondle my fingers and rub them together. I massage my nose, my wonderful instrument of breath and smell.


I continue this discipline with my elbows, my thighs, my stomach, my ears - I give thaHAhanks to all the different body parts that make me up. I am grateful that we work together so well. I am grateful that I am healthy. I give thanks and attention to this beautiful body propelling me forward in the adventure called my life.


2. WHAT WE FEEL - Checking our emotional barometer lets us align our energy with our reality.


I take five minutes each morning to consciously breathe. I pour myself a cup of tea, and while it steeps, I sit down and close my eyes and focus on my breath.


Inhale one two three. Exhale one two three. Inhale LOVE LOVE LOVE. Exhale PEACE. Inhalamos. Exhalamos. Inhale one two three. Exhale one two three.


I give myself five minutes to just be quiet and pay attention inside. If thoughts come up, I simply take a deeper breath and hold it a moment and exhale it out. If something feels sore or not right, I just breathe and imagine myself sending my breath to that particular spot.


Inhale and smile. Exhale and smile. Aaaaaaaha ha ha.


3. WHAT WE DO - Documenting what we find for research and reference


As a pleasure researcher, I look for the good in my life and document it. I write down everything that I am grateful for and that makes my heart sing.


Today, it was the aroma of the mangos growing in the tree right outside my bedroom. And the bluebirds chirping in my oak trees. The squirrels chasing one another and jumping from the oak trees to our palm trees. My beautiful house and my orange walls. My salt water pool where I will swim today. The red hibiscus plant that gives me flowers for my tea. The opportunity to write this newsletter and shaHAhare all my findings with you.


These three vital steps reMIND me how much aBUNdance I haHAhave. It gets me into the flow and raises my mojo so I can shaHAhare my enerCHI from this space of overflow. My HaHAhappy cup runneth over.


What do you do that gets your enerCHI flowing?

JOY - a Practice

Most people think that JOY is something outside of us - to be found or acquired.  Actually, it's an energy we knew how to access as children and over the years, we forgot.


JOY is a fire from within.  An energy of HAhaHAppy that gets ignited by touch, smell, sound and memory.  And PRACTICE.   Like building our HAHA muscle. 

   

JOY is about being haHAhappy NOW.  Accepting ALL that we have in our lives - surrendering to the circumstances of what IS with grace and gratitude. 

 

Now, for some of us - our life circumstances feel overwhelming or too hard to handle.  That is where practice makes perfect.

The HAHA, HOHO, HEE HEE laughs in our Prayer of Practice today - practiced for 10 minutes a day create a haHAhabit of JOY. 

ShaHAhakti ShaHAhake - 

ShaHAhakti shaking out the stuck -moving you out of your mind and into your body.  

Gibberish - 

getting ourselves from the left side to the right side of our brain - easy peasy Japanesy.

Laughing at Myself - 
appreciating who we are in this moment.  Pointing a thumb at ourselves and laughing and kissing the essence of who we are.

Laugh about it

Today was a hahahard day - staying in bed all day is not my cup of tea - getting up and moving on my foot is no fun either.

Today we went to a doctor's office. LoverBoy drove me to Miami and to the building on campus at Mt. Sinai's. He dropped me off and went to park. I hoHOhobbled inside and to the directory to find my doctor. Only to find out the doctor was not in this building.

Frustrated and tired and sad and hoHOhot (85 degrees today) - I hoHOhobbled back outside to ask for help and find LoverBoy. A valet told me the correct building was right around the corner.

Usually, right around the corner is no big deal. Hohohowever, today - around the corner feels like miles away. My foot is throbbing, the cane hurts the palm of my hand - I am totally out of my comfort zone. I am ready to cry.

My hero -my husband - my LoverBoy - took it all in stride. "Get on my back" he said.

And he proceeded to carry me over around the corner to the building where we needed to be. Right onto the steps where he lowered me back to my feet. And we laughed.


WhaHAhat else are we going to do?

I love this guy.