You decide one evening that the next morning you will get up and go for a walk.
Why? Because the weather report says that it’s going to be a sunny warm beautiful day and you don’t have to go in to work early so you have extra time and you have that trip coming up in a month and you want to look your best. You know that you have a few extra pounds that are getting in your way and preventing you from getting into the new summer clothes and on top of it all, you invested in a great pair of walking shoes that haven’t been used yet. Maybe.
Morning comes, your eyes open, you look at the time and you’re thinking, “Oh yeah, I’m supposed to go for a walk”.
What happens next? Here are a few scenarios:
-You have time to sleep in or go for a walk – with no further thought you turn over and choose to sleep in.
-You look outside and it’s not sunny it’s cloudy and it might start raining so…
-Your kitty throws up and your concern prompts you to take her to the vet immediately…
You get it. You’re not going for a walk today whichever way you slice it or dice it.
Do you ever think about what makes you do or not do something that you say you are going to do? In this particular case you wanted to go for a walk but you didn’t end up going. What really stopped you?
*If you happen to be in a quandary and searching for clarity, your responses to these may shed some light.
Take a moment and think about something you are actually planning to do or somewhere you’re planning to go then consider the following:
What is the genuine reason you are considering this?
What positive outcome could come from this experience?
Detail what could possibly stop you from what you have chosen.
How much do you really want to do it or to go?
Are you doing this for yourself or for someone else?
If you are doing this for someone else, how will it make you feel knowing that you have done this for him or her?
What will be your personal payoff when you do this in other words; in what way will it make you feel good?
What’s at stake if you don’t do it?
How can this experience potentially create new learning and growth for you?
What insight are you taking away by answering these questions?
What role does laughter play in your life?
How often do you laugh?
When was the last time you had a good laugh, one that brings a few tears, a deep breath and relaxing sigh at the end?
What can laughter do for you?
What can it do for those around you?
For many, laughter is a part of who you are. It is a value without which you could not feel whole. If that’s true, how could not getting enough of it be affecting you subliminally? Have you ever noticed how laughter is used sometimes as a ‘magic pill’ to soothe the complexities of life and help you move forward in some situations?
Think back to the last time you had a good laugh.
What were you doing?
Who were you with?
What made you laugh?
How did you feel after you stopped laughing?
Life creates obstacles that take up time, thought and energy to resolve. How could laughter help?
Laughter is like exercise for the soul. It can create a meditative release, a kind of break, a feeling of letting go that may open your mind to perhaps a refreshed outlook on a situation at hand, a new perspective or at the very least, a feel good moment.
Think about this - what specifically would stop you from having a laugh a day if you knew it would make you feel a lot better overall?
Studies have shown that laughter boosts the immune system, increases the level of endorphins released in the body much like exercise and lowers blood pressure to name just a few benefits.
There is only one way to find out what a laugh a day can bring. What can you lose?
And, if you want to see how just a simple smile affects others, wear one on your face next time you’re out and about and watch people’s reactions. While you’re at it, notice how it makes you feel too.
To all my brave friends may the words spoken by Theodore Roosevelt comfort, inspire and help you forge ahead with renewed strength and hope.
And may the same words inspire the “critic’ in you to understand and act with courage.
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is not effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
