Need an excuse for a good belly laugh?
The more you laugh
The more you fill with glee
And the more the glee
The more we’re a merrier we!
— from the movie Mary Poppins
But is a “merrier-we” a good thing? YES!! So say gelotologists – people who study laughter and its effects on the body from a psychological and physiological perspective:
… laughing decreases stress [and] does the body good… A UC Irvine College of Medicine study… found that even looking forward to a funny event increases endorphins and decreases detrimental stress hormones.
— DailyPilot.com
And apparently, laughing comes more easily when Continue reading » Have a “Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee” Kind of Day!

I get really upset seeing my friends who are mums crying because they feel like they’re not good enough. Clever, confident, kind young women all going, “I’m ruining my child’s life.”
— Daisy Donovan
Why is it that we always want the gift that someone else received?
I’m not talking about birthday or Christmas presents. I’m talking about the talents with which we have been blessed. There are so many talents that we see in someone else that we want. It seems that we’re never satisfied.
What made me think of this is an essay, The Juice Box Mom, posted on This I Believe . In it, Candance Gordon writes: Continue reading » Never Satisfied

I can show you where the greatest advancement of mankind comes under stress and strain, not comfort.
— Don Young
One of my favorite whines has to do with how I look. Yes, I’m getting older and I’m showing my age (where I can’t help it), but that’s not what I’m referring to.
My problem is I’m showing my stress. For all of us who are carrying a little, or a lot, of weight around the middle, there’s good and bad news attached. The good news is that the weight that you’re carrying is less about a lack of discipline or an unwillingness to give up cake/chips/muffins/buttered popcorn, etc. than it is about the amount of stress in your life. The bad news is that if Continue reading » Making Stress Your Friend

Originally published on December 16, 2009.
Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
— Dwight David Eisenhower
Last year, after Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer, Primetime aired Diane Sawyer’s interview of Randy, his family and friends. Much of the footage was of conversations that took place prior to Randy’s death. In addition to the phenomenal courage and the deliberate way that the Pausch family planned for and dealt with Randy’s death, one interchange between Diane and Randy’s wife, Jai, has stayed with me.
Diane and Jai were talking about how Jai was making it through each day. Jai replied that in therapy they had discussed how we humans tend to project into the future. When she watched Randy and kids play, she would go to Continue reading » Stay Here, Now!

Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.
— G.B. Stern
The end of the year is such a rush with the holiday madness and business deadlines combined. It’s easy to get lost in all the busyness.
In my family, because we’ve all scattered to the winds, getting together for the holidays necessitates at least one full day allocated to travel to the festivities which just adds to the general craziness and the sense that there’s not enough time.
By the time we get to the New Year, I’m ready to get a cup of hot cocoa, a blanket, a good book, an animal to keep me company, and just Continue reading » Goodbye to 2011

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