Tag Archives: Laugh

What’s There to Celebrate?

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It was almost exactly a year ago that I decided to become a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) and began exploring what that commitment would look like. I selected the most rigorous and challenging program I could find (a minimum of 9 months and 350 hours) and set out to achieve that goal.

Yesterday I received notice from the Institute for Profession Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) that I had passed my oral exam and am now a CPC. As I look back, it has been an incredible year of personal and professional development that was more challenging and rewarding than I could have imagined.

The release and satisfaction that I feel at having successfully achieved this goal is awesome!

So while I still have a week’s worth of intense work to complete my second certification as an Energy Leadership Assessment Index-Master Practitioner, I am giving myself permission this weekend to relax and enjoy my success.

And I encourage you to do the same. Give yourself permission to relax, smile, laugh, and enjoy this weekend—and your life. Celebrate your success, whatever that may be. Pay attention to the connection between lightening up emotionally and physically.

Together we can do it!

Wellness Tip of the Weekend

Aside

Wellness Tip of the Weekend: Give yourself permission to relax, smile, laugh, and enjoy. There is a connection between lightening up emotionally and physically.

Serious Fun!

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While off celebrating my 20th anniversary, I’m sharing a few of my favorite blogs that you might have missed.

“A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Author

As I sat down to write this blog on the importance of having fun, my first thoughts were that I should focus on the health benefits of laughter, such as how it can lower stress hormones, boost the immune system, and can even reverse disease.

And then I realized that I was being serious about having fun. Doh!

I, like so many people, decided pretty early that life is serious. People seemed to take me seriously when I was serious, and as a result I became very intensely serious.

Whew. Just thinking about my seriousness makes my energy drop. Being overly serious is seriously no fun!

And just like relaxing, laughing, and having fun is really good for your body, mind, and spirit (I could quote some science, but how fun is that?), taking life too seriously has some serious impacts on the body.

So lighten up! Don’t just wait until the weekend to laugh and have fun. Play with your pets or kids. Spontaneously dance around the kitchen when you’re making dinner, or catch a funny movie with your favorite person. And most importantly, laugh at yourself when you’re taking life too seriously.

Beyond all the reasons it’s good for you, it just feels good.

Together we can do it!

Photo by Jomphong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Who Do You Want to Be for the Holidays?

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Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in doing, particularly this time of year. Shopping, wrapping, decorating, cooking, holiday cards, etc., etc.—there’s so much to do to make the holidays special for everyone else.

But what about you? Are you feeling the Happy, Merry, and Jolly? Chances are, not so much.

It’s easy to be so focused on the to-do list that we forget to be. We buy in to the idea that our value is demonstrated by what we do, and we forget that who we are being is so much more important.

Just ask yourself if your family would rather have that extra decoration, another batch of cookies, or even that extra gift, or if they would rather have you truly present, relaxed, smiling, engaged, and laughing?

If you have been going in overdrive to get everything done and as a result have been eating poorly, cutting back on sleep, skipping exercise, and are feeling the stress, how likely are you going to show up over the holidays being who you are meant to be? It’s more likely that you’ll be short-tempered, anxious, and miss most of the fun.

I think that’s been the most important reminder for me as I’ve struggled with having to let go of doing while recuperating from surgery. My ah-ha moment came yesterday when I remembered that my purpose in life is not to do something in particular, it’s to be the fullest and broadest embodiment of who I am.

No one else in the world can be you. You are unique. No one else has had the exact same experiences, or perceives things in exactly the same way. The gift that you bring to the world is who you are.

How can you rethink your to-do list? What are your priorities and what can you let go of? What do you need to do to remember the true value that you bring to the holidays?

Together we can do it!

 

Photo by Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Harry Potter and the Inner Gremlin

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I’ve already confessed in an earlier blog how much I love the Harry Potter series. After seeing the last movie in July, I went back and reread all the books.

What was fun about this go-around was seeing some great analogies for addressing obstacles that come up on our path to creating the life of our dreams.

One of these has to do with our Gremlin—that inner critic that tells you that you’re not good enough, will never amount to anything, and certainly shouldn’t feel good about yourself.

Our inner Gremlin is a lot like a boggart—which Harry and his friends get introduced to during a Defense Against the Dark Arts class being led by Professor Remus Lupin in a scene from Book 3, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

“So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?”

Hermione put up her hand.

“It’s a shape-shifter,” she said. “It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most.”

This is very much what the Gremlin does. It often assumes the voice and countenance of the person whose criticism might frighten or hinder us the most. One moment it might sound like your mother, the next like the bully from 7th grade, and the next like your first boss.

“So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. . . But when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.”

Regardless of whatever form your Gremlin takes in any situation, it’s important to remember that your Gremlin is not any of those people. It is, in fact, a part of you.

It is the fearful part of you, the worrying part of you, the part of you who believes you are less than you truly are. But whatever the Gremlin is telling you—it is not Truth.

Because it is a part of you, you can’t kill it, beat it up, threaten it, or destroy it. Any attempt to do those things will just make it stronger. You must treat it with respect.

But that doesn’t mean you have to respect your Gremlin’s opinion. The best way to handle it is also the best way to handle a boggart.

“The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing.”

The charm that works that magic is “riddikulus!”

My Gremlin Gabby--very "Riddikulus!"

The “riddikulus” shape that I gave my Gremlin is that of a baby alligator dressed up in baby clothes. I chose an alligator because even as babies they can be a bit frightening and they have sharp teeth that hurt when they bite. But in reality, the bite of a baby alligator isn’t fatal and it really can’t hurt me. Add some baby clothes and it’s even something I can laugh at.

To take that “riddikulus” image even further, I actually found a plush toy that came very close to fitting my mental image and Gabby, as I call it, is currently sitting on my desk.

The funny thing is that toy representation of my Gremlin is so cute that I actually kind of love it. And loving your Gremlin is truly the key to taming it–just like in Harry Potter, love is the ultimate magic.

Today, think about what “riddikulus” shape you can make your Gremlin take. Make it something you can laugh at, and ultimately love. 

Together we can do it!