Do you know what LOVE really is?

Do you know what LOVE really is?

While everyone was running around giving thanks, and shopping till they drop on Black Friday’s and Cyber Monday’s, I have been recording my Simply Laughter Online Summit which I am hosting in January. I am so blessed to be interview amazing people who are really making a positive difference around the world. In the next couple of months I would like to share some of the highlights with you. Dare to dare Yesterday, I interviewed a man who opened his heart to me about his journey as a Humanitarian Clown. I met Guy Giard 4 years ago at the Canadian Laughter Conferences in Toronto as he was starting a journey that transformed not only his life but many that he came in contact with. Like so many he was a home owner, with a stable job and loving family and yet he was only giving 5% of his full potential and was just cruising through the other 95%. It took the loss of his dad for him to wake up and change this. He knew he needed more and that no matter what he had been through, what harsh situations he had endured it didn’t need to define him. And that is when he went for his first Laughter Yoga session. How Patch Adams changes lives Being amongst the wonderful laughter community wakening his curiosity about the benefits of childlike playfulness and unconditional laughter prompted him to do his research. This took him to none other than Patch Adams, one of the pioneers of adding a more fun, laughter and colour when treating patients. Guy had watched many clips...
Sweet Sorrow

Sweet Sorrow

When you lose someone you love, they remain lost, but eventually those left behind do find themselves again. Men and showing emotions It is often said that most men do not show their emotions – but this is not true. What is true is that most men do not show their emotions in the way most women do. Women seem, quite effortlessly, to have a way of showing, or rather, sharing their emotions, which for us men is a wonder, a mystery. Watch a group of women gathered around a table having a cup of tea together: one of them will be talking whilst the others are listening; then another will take up the conversation sharing their own feelings on the matter – it is intimate and honest. Most men cannot do that, or at least, not men of my generation, those of us in our sixties and seventies, who were brought-up with the ‘stiff upper lip’ mentality of our forebears. Of course, this is a generalisation: some men, younger men perhaps, can and do share their feelings in this way – but it would seem, it is the act of conversation itself that is important. No-one is trying to ‘solve the problem’ – they just want to be heard, their feelings acknowledged. Women are supremely good at that. A conversation about loneliness Meanwhile, four men are in a bar. They are standing somewhat apart, laughing and joking, but something else is going on between them. One of them, John, is emotionally exhausted, as his wife passed away six months ago. He looks tired and he is quieter than...
Noetic Nomad in Search of … Novelty

Noetic Nomad in Search of … Novelty

Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz craved novelty. She was bored with simplicity. She forgot where her real power was. To seek novelty in lieu of our routine helps us gain perspective. When we want something to change, we have to begin doing something we’ve never done. It’s not always easy though, is it? So many people are unhappy, or unsatisfied with their lives, but they don’t know how to make the shift toward what they do want or how to go about doing it. That’s why this booming positive psychology industry is doing so well! We’re thriving because so many people want us to help them to feel … something. They want help clarifying. They want companionship. They want belonging. They want their lives to have a more intense feeling of what it is to be human. Coaching is huge right now because that’s exactly what we do. Novelty “Where there is no novelty, there can be no curiosity” ~ Aphra Behn In order to truly want that shift in ‘being’ toward something we desire or dream of, we must consider doing things we’ve never done before. Changing involves action, and action involves courage. We get bored, so naturally crave newness. The latest, greatest flash trend began with one person saying, “Let’s try …”, whatever it is that they’ve never done before. But do we crave novelty? Not all of us. Many people like things exactly as they are. Many people are comfortable with the sameness of something. That also leads us to being familiar which leads to a feeling of safety which in turn, leads us to...
Resilience, Strength, and Fortitude

Resilience, Strength, and Fortitude

Have you been dealing with stress and the unknown? So, have I! And, I’m still here! 🙂 As it happens, life sometimes gets in the way. Namely for me, an audit by the IRS got in the way. (cue dramatic music) This all-consuming challenge I faced, managed, and pushed through since August of 2016 and felt like FOREVER has finally neared its end. Without going into detail (I’ll leave that for my next book or just keep in my journal), the challenge included: Having an accountant to whom I had given power of attorney to handle my audit who didn’t submit the paperwork to the IRS as he said he was going to. (insert curse words) Dealing with an IRS agent/case manager who was claiming that transfers between my accounts were income and logging cash wedding gifts as income, and claiming that insurance claim money was income. (more curse words) And, having an IRS agent not knowing what PayPal is or understanding how PayPal works, let alone what PayPal is in the first place. My accountant (had to fire the first accountant and hired the second accountant) and I spent 20 minutes explaining to the IRS agent how PayPal works. IRS agent was claiming that the positive amounts on the PayPal report were income that I had made when in fact, they were amounts I had paid for networking events. (at this point…invent curse words) I’m still pushing forward I am still pushing forward and still finding the funny. I am still living life. I am still travelling, going to speaking engagements and networking events. Life has not stopped....
Make a New Year ReVOlution

Make a New Year ReVOlution

If you’re thinking of making a New Year Resolution I don’t want to throw water on your fire but, the odds are against you. 80% of resolutions fail by February in America (1) and about 60% of people who make resolutions in the UK will quit within 3 months (2). The common belief is that failure is due to things like not setting clear, measurable goals or planning bite-sized stages of progress. Oh, and not having enough will power. If you fail, it’s because you’re weak. You can’t handle the pain of change. Nonsense I don’t believe we fail because we don’t have will power, plans or clear goals. Maybe that happens in a few cases but, there’s a much more important root cause of failure which is rarely mentioned. It’s this: your goal is not YOUR goal. What I mean is, you’re setting goals that are not aligned to your own core values. Instead you’re buying into extrinsic values. You’re doing what other people think you should do. Society makes people think they should lose weight because ‘slim people are more attractive’. One’s parents can make them think they should save money because ‘not having money makes them unsuccessful’. Their friends make them think they should travel more because ‘not travelling means they are missing out’. So, off they run into the New Year sunset with these goals in tow. But, pretty soon they’ve given up. This is because humans are inspired to act in accordance with their own deepest values, NOT in accordance with the values of other people. “If there is something that you believe you...