Sunday, July 23, 2006

The Greatest Thief of All Time



(A Special Post for SundayScribblings)



I watched the evidence of his work again on Friday

I actually saw the remains of his evil hand.

I was giving my HappyUP!!! workshop to a group in my company - and, for the third time, I took the risk and inserted the most dangerous piece of the program.

HappyUP is all about helping people improve their emotional states - notice that I didn't say, "help cure people from depression." The key word that I used was IMPROVE. This means that if someone is depressed, we work towards neutral. If they are neutral, we work towards glad. If they are glad, let's take it to downright giddy about living this life that we lead. If they are giddy...hmmm....well.....let's go into the uncharted waters of the positive relm.

HappyUP is about handing people the tools to do so - I learned long ago that I can't tell someone what to think. It doesn't work and I don't have the right. Do I still take a stab at it anyway from time to time? Sure. We all do. What I do have the right to do is to be a model for higher planed behavior and hand people the tools with the hope that they become an even better model than myself. I sincerely hope they double, triple, or thousandile my efforts (if you understood what thousandile meant in that sequence, yes, it just became a word).

The tool that I used - laughter. I stopped in the middle of the workshop and asked people to observe me. I took my serious face and I slowly transformed in front of them. I went from serious to neutral to grinning to chuckling to hysterically, gut busting, it really hurts laughter and continued to laugh on that level for about 10 seconds.

As I was slowing down the laugh to continue - I noticed the looks on their faces. It's the same one I have gotten every time and it is where I know the thief had come into them at some time in their lives and ransacked their dwelling.

While I was returning to "normal" - (boy, I even hated typing that preface about normal), I had to do the requisite, "....and it is at this point that you think, 'this boy has lost his marbles' " sequeway. I then go on to tell them that people will reach for many things for a momentary dose of happiness. They will spend money they don't have and/or wreak havoc to their bodies with various different attempts to bring momentary happiness (what is better termed "fun") into their lives while ignoring the most precious gift that has been given to them for free.

I go on to describe - the euphoria that I felt while my stomach was busting up and how that feeling, though now diminished post-hysterics, is still working in my body. It's a better feeling than any cocktail I ever drank.....and the hangover is a lot more pleasant.

"I laugh when something is funny" - is the comment that I get at this point in the talk. To that, all I can say is, "Wow." I just pulled out my owner's manual. It doesn't say a thing about needing an outside stimulus to actually use the laugh button. Really! It doesn't!!! Have you checked yours lately? Ever? Really, go pull your owner's manual out.....it's located right between your ears.

I want you to stop right now - and take a couple of seconds and actually start laughing. Start slow....you don't want to overburden your system. You have to warm up. Just start to giggle and then kick it up to guffaw and continue doing it OUT LOUD for about 10 to 15 seconds.

Go ahead. Stop. DO IT!

OK.....I know that you didn't do it - because the greatest thief of all has invaded your life. The greatest thief of all is our EGO. It worries about what other people think

(Reality Check Time: others are too busy thinking of themselves. If you ever actually gain the courage to do this excercise, get caught, queried on what you were doing, and the person says, "that's a great idea," you might want to hold on to that person).

Is this excercise to delude ourselves into thinking that we can cure our troubles just by laughing? - heck no. You would be drifting into a state of denial. It does change the emotional state that you are in at the moment. That state could be anywhere from depressed to feeling good. By doing this excercise, you trump all of those for a few seconds. This should put you into a better position to deal with whatever it is that is your next opportunity.

Will you do the exercise now? - or will you remain VICTIM to the Greatest Thief of All? (I really dislike the term "hate" but I do hate the Thief and the only person that I hate worse than the Thief is the person who REMAINS the VICTIM to him). The thief only came in once. Whatever the item was that he stole is inconsequential. It is the imprint that he leaves upon you.....the fear that he could come again...that is his biggest crime.

The Greatest Thief of All is worrying about what others think - which prevents you from becoming the biggest, best you that you were created to be. As my good friend McNair Wilson likes to say, "If you don't do you, you doesn't get done and Creation is incomplete."

It's a Sunday - and another great day to HappyUP!!!

10 comments:

GreenishLady said...

Oh. Thank you for that. It was wonderful. ... And I DID stop the first time you asked and laughed, laughed... took a while to warm up, but it happened. Then again, there isn't anyone else in the house, - only the dog looking at me funny. I've done enough crying on my own. Time for some laughing. Thank you.

paris parfait said...

This is a wonderful post; love your insights and your story. And yes, I did laugh and laugh some more. You're right, laughter is so much better than the alternative. HappyUP!!

NuttersNotes said...

Dear Greenish Lady...thank you so much for giving the excercise a shot. More importantly, thank you for those great words, "I've done enough crying on my own....time for some laughing." Oh...the joy those words brought me and I will carry them forward as I continue to deliver this message.

Nutster

Verity said...

:-) Thanks for making me smile. I am forever bursting into giggles at the littlest thing...only thing is, people around me usually just give me odd looks!

AscenderRisesAbove said...

so right about worrying about what other people think!!!

Kay said...

How fun. I'm a big snorter. When I laugh hard, a snort will sneak out, which will make me laugh harder. It's a vicious cycle sometimes, but at least I can laugh at myself. My 4 year old thinks I'm a riot.

Thanks for this post!

Anonymous said...

What a great post and I think coming out with gut laughter as part of your presentation is a gutsy move.

Say: Have you ever heard of the laughter exercises invented by this indian doctor? You can read all about it here; http://laughteryoga.org/

I took a weekend course with them a few years back so I am in fact a certified laughter instructor and it's a great tool to use: Getting people to laugh for no reason.

One of the statistics they cite, is that children laugh 400 times a day on average. Adults 15.

Mimey said...

Now I hate to be told what to do, but that word improve is one which I will carry around. I think it might be a helpful word.

briliantdonkey said...

great post.....even if they are pulling out the white fancy white coat for me with all the buckles in the back.....what do you know? It still fits too! Nice job

BD

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