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Laughter Revisited

 

Note:  If you’re hav­ing trou­ble view­ing this, please click here.

“We don’t stop laugh­ing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laugh­ing” ~ Michael Pritchard

August 2009.

 

Laugh­ing to bring a sense of good­ness and cheer to a small part of the world.

 

Won­der­ful friend Katie West in on a mis­sion to make the world a hap­pier place.  Her web­site, The Lev­ity Project, is all about ways to add some extra lev­ity and laugh­ter to your life.  And one of her mis­sions has been to do this through fif­teen minute laugh­ter events.

 

Back to August.  And to the laugh­ter event Katie was orga­niz­ing for the month.  What a great idea!  Although, not some­thing I wanted to tackle myself in Wis­con­sin, a long ways from Maine, and the place Katie and her army of laugh­ter sol­diers beck­oned from.

 

So, I teamed up with Kim and Jason Kotecki, an amaz­ing husband/wife duo from here in Wis­con­sin, whose web­site, Escape Adult­hood, is about let­ting the inner kid within you out a bit more.

 

With Katie’s expert assis­tance, we cre­ated a plan for bring­ing a laugh­ter event to Madi­son, Wis­con­sin.  What an amaz­ing day!

 

Watch the video above, it speaks for itself.  Laugh­ter is con­ta­gious.  Laugh­ter is fun.  Laugh­ter is con­nect­ing.  Laugh­ter just feels good.

 

Laugh­ter Is Soul Good

While I’ve known just how good it feels to laugh, orga­niz­ing and par­tic­i­pat­ing in this event really brought a deeper aware­ness of just how good laugh­ter can be for us.

“What soap is to the body, laugh­ter is to the soul.” ~ Yid­dish Proverb

Laugh­ter felt so con­nect­ing that day!  Con­nect­ing within to a deeper part of me, and con­nect­ing out­ward with peo­ple I’d never even met before. 

How can you make laugh­ter a big­ger part of your day?  Is there any­thing spe­cial you notice when you laugh?

Edit:  The umbrella hat?  It’s cour­tesy of Katie…all part of her rain­ing a col­or­ful rain­bow into the world.

Lance writes sto­ries from his heart, aim­ing to inspire and moti­vate, as you align more fully with YOUR true peak. When he’s not here, you can find him hang­ing out with his fam­ily, rid­ing a bike, or just gen­er­ally act­ing goofy.   Sign up for the Thoughts from the Tree­house newslet­ter and get addi­tional inspi­ra­tion in your email inbox!
Lance Ekum
View all posts by Lance Ekum

Comments

  1. Joanna says:

    You can make laugh­ter a part of your day by con­nect­ing with joy filled souls around the globe. This is some­thing I do on Twit­ter, LinkedIn, Face­book, and blogs every singe day. Lance, Twit­ter con­ver­sa­tions with you and YumYucky truly make me laugh out loud.

    Meet­ing” you has been a gift.
    .-= Joanna´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..A bowl of oooh’s and Oz =-.

  2. Lisis says:

    Fan­tas­tic! What a great idea… these should be reg­u­lar events through­out the coun­try. Just like in China peo­ple gather for Tai Chi events, we (goof­balls) could gather for Laugh­ter events.

    You know, just read­ing the word “Laugh­ter” so many times in this post lifted my spir­its. What a mag­i­cal, pow­er­ful word (and activity)!!!

    Can’t wait to check out that Escape Adult­hood site… sounds right up my alley! :)
    .-= Lisis´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Adven­ture: How to Get From Fear to Faith =-.

  3. Christy says:

    This was a great video. Thanks for sharing.

  4. Laugh­ter is such a stress relief and is con­ta­gious and can also cheer other peo­ple up. I always say to my step­dad that there are a lot of bad things in the world to make you feel down and upset but there are also a lot of good and fun things in the world too.
    .-= Sonia Panesar´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Sex Before Mar­riage: Should I Or Shouldn’t I? =-.

  5. Jay Schryer says:

    What a great idea! There def­i­nitely needs to be more laugh­ing in the world. Too many peo­ple go through their lives with a per­ma­nent scowl, infect­ing every­one they meet with unhap­pi­ness. The power of laugh­ter is much like the power of a smile, only more so. It uplifts the spir­its and light­ens the heart. Laugh­ter radi­ates joy into the world around us, and makes it a bet­ter place for us all.

    Thank you, Lance, for mak­ing everyone’s day bet­ter and brighter.
    .-= Jay Schryer´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..God is Play-Doh =-.

  6. Caity says:

    Oh my gosh — it’s YOU!! This is so fan­tas­tic! Smiles and laugh­ter is so con­ta­gious! I always try to smile at peo­ple to brighten their days and spread around hap­pi­ness. That’s why my online alias is “Caity Sparkles.” I like to think that I sparkle at peo­ple and smile and brighten up their oth­er­wise dreary days. Thank you so much for this. I needed it today. I am home sick and needed some laugh­ter myself today. :)
    .-= Caity´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Stick sick… and Aion! =-.

  7. Laugh­ter = awe­some. And this post is awe­some too! :) Thanks for the uplift­ing mes­sage today!
    .-= Pos­i­tively Present´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..5 sim­ple ways to cul­ti­vate inner peace =-.

  8. Tim says:

    Hi Lance:

    Thanks for shar­ing this, it is a very cool idea. I’ve heard of a laugh­ter yoga group in my area that gets together to stretch everyone’s laugh­ter mus­cles. I don’t know how it dif­fers from your event, but it sounds intrigu­ing. Thanks for your post and get­ting my day started with some fun!
    .-= Tim´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Arrr! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day! =-.

  9. suzen says:

    Hi Lance! Fab­u­lous to see the laugh­ter exper­i­ment! I agree with every­one com­ment­ing — we need more laugh­ter in the world! So much heal­ing takes place! I don’t pre­tend to under­stand the bio­chem­istry of how this works but its true! And the gal who said she was so ener­gized from the exper­i­ment — yep! A good laugh will give the best side effects you could hope for!

    Thanks so much for shar­ing this! I am sorry I couldn’t make this event but let me know if you plan another one! I really hope this catches on!

    Love, laugh­ter and hugs
    suZen
    .-= suzen´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..I’m Alive! Celine Dion and Great Inspi­ra­tion =-.

  10. Lisa's Chaos says:

    This is GREAT! Wish I had known about it! Laugh­ter is con­ta­gious! I laughed while watch­ing!
    .-= Lisa’s Chaos´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Nat­ural Macro Mon­day =-.

  11. Keith says:

    Hi Lance!

    The video was great! It looks as if every­one involved had a won­der­ful time, and I bet there were bystanders who had a brighter day because of what you guys did! Great job! I love how you don’t just dis­cuss an idea, you go out and DO IT!
    .-= Keith´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Joy In The Jour­ney =-.

  12. I loved watch­ing this on Katie’s site, and love see­ing it here, as well. On days when I’m laugh­ing, my energy is just higher, big­ger, and all things feel so easy. I used to laugh a lot where I worked, and when­ever I trav­eled out of town for days at a time, my office mates would send emails say­ing they missed hear­ing my laugh.

    Of all the things I don’t know about this life, one thing I do know is that I want to always be laugh­ing. And I’d love to die laugh­ing. How cool would that be?!
    .-= Megan “Joy­Girl!” Bord´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Feel­ing Pros­per­ous =-.

  13. Lynn says:

    Lance — how great to see you and hear the laugh­ter! Just view­ing this film and read­ing your words will make me have a bet­ter day! And it was already good. :)
    .-= Lynn´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..This­tle, umbrella to umbrella and delight­ful =-.

  14. Lance,
    This video shows your per­son­al­ity loud and clear. I love to laugh and make oth­ers laugh. I think this is what exactly what the world needs today. Laugh on and con­grat­u­la­tions on a video that rocks!

  15. Hi Lance,

    Thank you so much for shar­ing the video with all of us. Laugh­ter is def­i­nitely the best med­i­cine and so con­ta­gious. It was great to watch you all have a great time and it made me laugh too. :)
    .-= Nadia — Happy Lotus´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..The Sep­tem­ber Issue of My Life =-.

  16. Marelisa says:

    I love the video, and it’s so awe­some that you took a chance and did this Lance. And the umbrella hat is great, I have to admit I’ve always wanted one of those. :-)

  17. Audra Krell says:

    Hi Lance, The umbrella hat is per­fect. You must wear it when our fam­i­lies meet! Love this video, what a great project, watch­ing the video made me laugh. My umbrella hat is off to you guys, a great group bring­ing joy to the world, one laugh at a time. Awe­some!
    .-= Audra Krell´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Gonna be a Chai Wal­lah =-.

  18. Lori says:

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
    Love it!
    I wish I could have been there with you all; plus, I LOVE Madi­son!
    Lance, it was great to see your smil­ing face there live and with ani­ma­tion.
    This lifted my spir­its. I real­ized by the end of the video I was laugh­ing, too!
    Big hugs to you and Katie.
    ~xoxox~
    .-= Lori´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Nature is Music =-.

  19. You are so awe­some. Thanks for shar­ing this video…it looks like a great day!! I was laugh­ing just watch­ing it. :-)
    .-= Stacey Shipman´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..What Stress? The Day My Web­site Dis­ap­peared =-.

  20. JenX says:

    this is hon­estly a coura­geous thing to do — in our grumpy old world full of cur­mud­geons — one who dares to make laugh­ing and laugh­ter a cause is brave. i love it!
    .-= JenX´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..summer’s cease­less deaths of gen x icons, and autumn can’t come soon enough =-.

  21. Bern says:

    When some­one is telling a joke, they cre­ate a line of thought where the lis­tener is fol­low­ing along but iden­ti­fies and expects what is per­ceived as a nor­mal out­come. The nor­mal out­come is a habit­ual ten­dency that an indi­vid­ual or soci­ety may prac­tice. At the end of the story line how­ever, a punch — line is inserted to knock one’s self out of the nor­mal pat­tern or orbit to a place they have not been before in their minds. There­fore, lib­er­a­tion of the loop has taken place momen­tar­ily. The by prod­uct is laugh­ter because the lis­ten­ers are ris­ing or thrust­ing to a higher vibra­tional plateau, but usu­ally fall back into the loop that was just made fun of. The state of laugh­ing are the feel­ings that one receives dur­ing this orbital shift of aware­ness.
    .-= Bern´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Tran­scen­dence =-.

  22. I remem­ber read­ing some­where that research shows laugh­ter really is good for you, as in it’s healthy — med­ically speak­ing.
    .-= vered — blog­ger for hire´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Con­trol a Woman Remote Con­trol =-.

  23. So I’m laugh­ing right now Lance! And that hat. I have to get me one of those! So awe­some to see you guys spread­ing laugh­ter. Gutsy, funny and very giv­ing of you. Patch Adams would be proud.
    .-= Sami — Life, Laughs & Lemmings´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Kick Arse Ques­tion – Liv­ing Like You Mean It =-.

  24. Lance! You are such a bright spot. Thank you for mobi­liz­ing your bright light into the world! I love that you reached out for sup­port and coma­raderie when you had the intu­itive nudge not to do this alone. The whole event was about laugh­ter and com­mu­nity, so it makes sense that you would have col­lab­o­rated to cre­ate a smash­ing, hootin’ and hol­lerin’ suc­cess! :)

  25. Sharmila says:

    What soap is to the body, laugh­ter is to the soul.” ~ Yid­dish Proverb
    I love this quote, Lance! :) what a great post idea! Isn’t it bizarre how it seems like a new con­cept at times in our lives? Really, it is the best med­i­cine!
    ~ To answer this: Is there any­thing spe­cial you notice when you laugh?
    before I was sick, I laughed a lot and was super social! I am still get­ting that back, how­ever, I do remem­ber it! It’s funny because I am a shy per­son by nature, but when I laugh, I laugh the loud­est! ;) At my last work place; in our break room I’d be with a group of oth­ers and we’d get going and me and this other guy’s laugh would carry and the other cowork­ers who were still work­ing would be envi­ous cause we were hav­ing such a good time! It’s funny how many times my good sensed humor was loud, sup­pos­edly cute and con­ta­gious, but often I was told to hush because I have such a funny loud con­ta­gious laugh ;) hehe. you’d never guess it! ;) I do miss those days,.. it’s funny you posted this because I’ve been light­en­ing up more and more lately and I think soon I’ll be my laugh­ing self again .. I sure hope so! :) Laugh­ter is great! ;)
    .-= Sharmila´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..“I’m on the Strengths Path: Feels Great!” =-.

  26. Wilma Ham says:

    Laugh­ter is indeed con­ta­geous and light­ens us up. Kids do it so whole heart­edly.
    Laugh­ter is release and indeed remove the nas­ties from our mind.
    There are laugh­ing clubs where peo­ple come together to laugh. It is like one per­son says on the video, in the begin­ning it is kind of super­fi­cial but it doesn’t take long before the laugh­ing becomes real and ther­a­peu­tic, the fake it till you make it thing works here too.
    How would it be if every busi­ness meet­ing would start with laugh­ing first, hmm.
    Can we expect a video about that soon, Lance?
    .-= Wilma Ham´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..The ben­e­fits of doing com­ple­tion. =-.

  27. Love this video. I think I would have felt a lit­tle weird at first, but once I got into the moment I would have had a blast too.

    We have to seize laugh­ter by the horns and let it take us where it may. Con­grats on what looked like a great time.
    .-= Karl Staib — Work Happy Now´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..25 Rea­sons Why You Should Pre-order the Hap­pi­ness Project Book =-.

  28. FatFighterTV says:

    I couldn’t get the video to play, even on YouTube for some rea­son. I will try again later.

    The best is when you laugh so hard, you can’t breathe, your stom­ach feels like you’ve been doing 100 crunches, and you have tears in your eyes. It just feel so good!
    .-= FatFighterTV´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..How to learn to love your work – my early years in TV =-.

  29. Hi Lance!
    Laugh­ter rocks!! Watch­ing this video was a joy­ful expe­ri­ence; it was great to see you in the video, too! What a day. It’s great to see the re-cap. Way to go orga­niz­ing the event!
    .-= Jodi at Joy Discovered´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Express­ing Thanks =-.

  30. Caroline says:

    Lance…this was fan­tas­tic! Thank you for shar­ing. I needed to laugh today. There really is noth­ing bet­ter than a good belly laugh…especially when you laugh so hard you cry. The best!
    .-= Caroline´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Bit­ter­sweet =-.

  31. Davina says:

    Hi Lance. Looks like that was a great day… even the weather was smil­ing down on you all. Know­ing you, rain wouldn’t have damp­ened the spir­its. You’ve just reminded me that I’ve been mean­ing to try a laugh­ter yoga class and still haven’t got around to it. But I’ve been pretty good at exer­cis­ing my sense of humour the past while. Even more pow­er­ful though to get a group together to do this.

  32. I think I just might have to try that laugh­ter thing, :) it looks fun! I am usu­ally kind of a glum type : ) so this might be a nice change for me. :)

    No, seri­ously — I want to host this in Austin next year, or come up and join you in Madi­son. Yeah!

    And so FUN to see you bop­ping around in the video, Lance, I think we all feel we’ve known you for­ever now, buddy!

    Chee­rio!
    .-= Jan­nie Funster´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Just Plain What The Heck? — Funny Key­word Searches, 5 =-.

  33. Suzie Cheel says:

    Hi Lance
    Love it and great to see you on video– I love to laugh and today was a lit­tle blue. A red sun­set and a good laugh and now a good glass of red and I am all full of joy again, thanks
    Suzie
    .-= Suzie Cheel´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..What Am I Grate­ful For Today? #138 =-.

  34. Lance says:

    @Joanna — Hey Joanna! And I never would have thought, how fun and laugh­ter could hap­pen so eas­ily even when you’re not face to face. So, I know exactly what you mean — and hav­ing had the oppor­tu­nity to con­nect up via Twit­ter with you and Yum Yucky has been a laugh a minute! Know that it is com­pletely a two-way street — you shine brightly, my friend! Thank you!

    @Lisis — Hi Lisis. Yes, this should become a reg­u­lar occurence! And, Katie IS work­ing on that — look­ing for ways to do this reg­u­larly, plus bring in some other sim­i­lar projects to add some extra lev­ity to the world. I’m telling you, Katie is like a shin­ing goof­ball! She’s the per­fect leader for a bunch of other goof­balls who want to help spread this mes­sage! And def­i­nitely check out Kim and Jason’s site, too. It’s filled with so much fun and lightness…

    @Christy — Thanks much Christy!

    @Sonia — Hi Sonia. Laugh­ter is con­ta­gious. And that was evi­dent in doing this event. While not every­one saw the humor in what we were doing, many did — and sev­eral began laugh­ing just at see­ing us laugh! That was fun to see — the reac­tions of peo­ple as we went along. And you’re right, even when we seem to be sur­rounded by “bad”, there’s still so much good and fun in this world. And we shouldn’t lock our­selves into that spot that’s sur­rounded by “bad”. Find some of that fun, and life is just so much better!

    @Jay — Hi Jay! You know, that’s it — our atti­tude and what we’re por­tray­ing — can rub off on oth­ers. So, what is the mes­sage we want to pass on — that of anger, or that of joy? We have a choice, in how we act our­selves. I choose laugh­ter and smiles, and I know you do, too, Jay!!

    @Caity — Ha!! Yes, that IS me! The “Caity Sparkles” moniker is such a great one, because it does just that — it puts some extra sparkle in everyone’s day! See, even just words can have such a pos­i­tive effect! You do sparkle, Caity! And I hope you’re feel­ing bet­ter quickly… Keep on bring­ing your awe­some sparkle to the world!

    @Positively Present — Laugh­ter sure is awe­some, Dani! This was such a fun event to do, and to relive through the video! Woohoo!!

  35. Lance says:

    @Tim — Hi Tim! Laugh­ter yoga is also some­thing that Katie gets into. And I’m sure it’s very soul-refreshing! I think the dif­fer­ence would be that this event was done out in a pub­lic place, for many oth­ers to see, while laugh­ter yoga is likely done in a stu­dio with just a group of peo­ple at the stu­dio. Both very excel­lent (although dif­fer­ent) ways to bring extra laugh­ter into your life. You may want to check out Katie’s site, or con­tact her — she can pro­vide much more insight on this.

    @Suzen — Hi Suzen! It was so fun! Laugh­ter is def­i­nitely some­thing where more is bet­ter. It just feels so good! And yes, there are heal­ing qual­i­ties to laugh­ter as well. I know Katie has talked to me about this, and how she’s worked with indi­vid­u­als who get so many heal­ing ben­e­fits from laugh­ter. Suzen, there was so much eneergy, espe­cially the more we got into it — and every­one really became com­fort­able laugh­ing! And I will let you know if we get another one going. I hope it catches on too — Katie has come up with a mag­nif­i­cent idea!

    @Lisa’s Chaos — Hi Lisa! This was a great event! If we do this again, I’ll be sure to let you know. Thanks for watching…

    @Keith — Hi Keith! Thanks much! I know there were bystanders whose day was bright­ened because of this. In fact, we had the local NBC affil­i­ate along with us, tap­ing the whole thing too. And they aired it on the local news that night. Here’s a link to that video, if you’re inter­ested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9TBDcGWVNg . So hope­fully, even in the midst of some of the bad news that is shown on the local news, maybe this story also touched a few peo­ple in ways that brought a few extra smiles to their day.

    @Megan — Hi Megan! Thanks for check­ing this out on Katie’s site, too! And I love the story you’ve shared about how your laugh­ter brought such good vibes to your office mates! I’d say that all fits with the “Joy­Girl” moniker you go by, as well. Megan, I agree — I want always be able to laugh, too! It just feels to good! And if that’s the way we end up leav­ing this earth…that would be a very awe­some way to move on from here! Keep laugh­ing and spread­ing your good­ness, my friend…

    @Lynn — Hi Lynn! Thank you. And glad to put a lit­tle extra cheer in your day — even a day that was already brim­ming with goodness!

    @Tess — Hi Tess. Laugh­ing is so good, isn’t it — and espe­cially when we can make oth­ers laugh, that just feels deeply good. More laugh­ter is always a good thing. So, what Katie is up to is filled with awe­some­ness! That I could be a small part of this has been an honor! I’ll keep on laughing…and I know you will too!

  36. Lance says:

    @Nadia — Hi Nadia! It was so much fun to do this, and now to share the video here — thanks for watch­ing! There’s def­i­nitely truth to the state­ment “laugh­ter is the best med­i­cine”! Nadia, it just felt so good to do this, and when we fin­ished — do you think there was any­one in our group who was not filled with hap­pi­ness and joy? No way! It just made every­one feel brighter and more alive!

    @Marelisa — Hi Mare! Thanks so much! When Katie told me she was send­ing a lit­tle sur­prise for me, I was a bit skep­ti­cal. That hat is so fun, tough! It gets passed around and worn around our house quite a bit! In fact, my youngest son was going to wear it to school — except he thinks it has to be rain­ing in order to wear it. And now it’s been dry for weeks. Maybe one of these days we’ll get a rainy day, and he can wear it to brighten everyone’s day he comes in con­tact with!

    @Audra — Hi Audra! Isn’t that umbrella hat fun! As I was telling Marelisa up above, I wasn’t sure what Katie’s was send­ing when she told me she had a sur­prise. What a fun one!! And deal — when we meet — I’ll wear the hat! Audra, thanks so much for watch­ing, and for all your encour­age­ment and sup­port. You make me smile, always…

    @Lori — Ha ha ha ha!! Thanks Lori!! Madi­son is really a fun city (and a place we just don’t get to very much — even as close as we are). And so good to hear — that this brought laugh­ter for you, too! Big hugs right back to you, my friend…

    @Stacey Ship­man — Hi Stacey! Thank you! This was so fun to do — and the fun was really the whole thing — from the plan­ning with Katie and Kim — to the doing on August 22nd. We had a great day, and just a really great time! And through just a few min­utes of laugh­ter together, this group of peo­ple became so much closer together than we would have had laugh­ter not been involved. And that was one of the real amaz­ing things for me — this idea of how laugh­ter can so eas­ily break down the walls that sep­a­rate us, and bring us closer together. So awesome!

    @JenX — Hi Jen. And doing this with other peo­ple made this so much eas­ier than it would have been were I doing it alone. There is power in num­bers! It was a lot of fun to bring some extra laugh­ter and smiles to the world! Thanks much, Jen, for watch­ing, and for your encouragement.

    @Bern — This shift of aware­ness, very well described, Bern. Thank you for walk­ing us through that, and how a joke becomes so funny. And talk­ing of jokes, that’s another great way to make peo­ple laugh! Here’s to telling lots of jokes and bring­ing more humor to peo­ple along the way!

  37. In a class I took enti­tled “Laugh­ter, Joy & Heal­ing” the pro­fes­sor told us in order to stay healthy, we needed at least 10 good belly-laughs a day. That was back in 1992. At that point the num­ber was up from 4 in 1992. I won­der what the num­ber is today. What­ever that num­ber might be, I’m sure we do still need lots of belly-laughs!
    .-= Dr Rus Jeffrey´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Chris­t­ian Per­fec­tion =-.

  38. Lance says:

    @Vered — Yes, that sounds famil­iar to me too. “Laugh­ter is the best med­i­cine” is prob­a­bly a very accu­rate statement!

    @Sami — Hey, all right!! It’s prob­a­bly the hat that started you laugh­ing! Katie’s bright and bril­liant idea…the hat was. I didn’t know what she was send­ing when she said she had a sur­prise for me. Sami, this was so much fun…and Patch Adams rocks!!

    @Laura — Hi Laura! Thanks so much! Yes, I def­i­nitely had that nudge that this wasn’t some­thing I wanted to take on all by myself. And Madi­son was the per­fect venue for this — a huge farmer’s mar­ket right down­town — with so many peo­ple all over the place! And you’re right — and I hadn’t even thought of it that way — this was about laugh­ter and com­mu­nity — and so it was great to con­nect up with Kim and Jason on this — awe­some all the way around!

    @Sharmila — Hi Jen! Isn’t that a great quote! Laugh­ter is so good for our soul, and for our bod­ies. Jen, that laugh that was there, it’s in you. It’s there, and it will be back and beau­ti­ful and so filled with YOU. What a great thing at your pre­vi­ous place of work — to bring out so much fun regard­less of what oth­ers thought. Just lis­ten to that inner voice of yours, and that laugh will come…I’m sure of it, my friend…

    @Wilma — Hi Wilma! Yes, this is so easy for kids to do — to laugh almost spon­ta­neously. And when we do this, when we laugh, it sure does help to clear us of some of the bad stuff that might be float­ing around. It was fake laugh­ter at first — but it quickly became so real and so much fun — even when it was fake. And as Katie has told me, our bod­ies don’t know the dif­fer­ence between fake laugh­ter and real laugh­ter — so it’s all good! Start­ing a meet­ing like this? Hmmm.… I’m not sure I’m quite ready to tackle that video just yet… Speak­ing of video, though, there will be more com­ing later this week…

    @Karl — Hi Karl! It was a lit­tle weird at first, and I think every­one felt just a bit strange, doing this, and fak­ing it to start. It so quickly became real and fun, though, and that was what was so cool. And it didn’t mat­ter what oth­ers thought of us and we went about hav­ing fun (although most peo­ple seemed to be enjoy­ing it!).

    @FatFighterTV — Hi Sahar! Gosh, sorry to hear the video didn’t work. Hmmm… Well, I won­der if it would help if I laughed here. Ha Ha Ha Ha! Not quite the same, although that what there was a alot of. In fact we started our group out by talk­ing about laugh­ter — Ha He and Ho, and how they are the basis for laugh­ter. Yes, when you laugh until your stom­ach hurts, that’s pretty great!

  39. Lance says:

    @Jodi — Hi Jodi! Laugh­ter is way awe­some! And this was such a fun event, being able to work beside Kim and Jason, and have my fam­ily there along­side me — just a great day all around! Thanks much, Jodi, for this — and for every­thing you give so generously.

    @Caroline — Thanks much, Car­o­line! And glad I could pro­vide a laugh! It wasn’t the hat, was it?!?!? And yes, those deep, from the belly laughs — those are great!

    @Davina — Hi Davina! And the weather — geez, we couldn’t have got­ten any luck­ier! After sev­eral week­ends that were just nasty — this was a per­fect sum­mer day — yes, the weather was very much smil­ing down on us! And maybe rain wouldn’t have damp­ened my spir­its because of the fancy head­wear I was wear­ing! (thanks again, Katie!) I hear laugh­ter yoga is a really great expe­ri­ence, and it’s some­thing that Katie gets involved in. I’m sure she would gladly answer any ques­tions you might have. You can find her con­tact info on her site.

    @Jannie — Yes, Jannie…you take life way too seri­ously!!! Ha!! That is so far from the truth! You are a con­stant smile of quirk­i­ness and silli­ness, all wrapped up on a sweet lit­tle music suit (what­ever one of those looks like!)! And def­i­nitely — host one of these. You know Miss Katie…and she’s the ring leader here! And you’re always wel­come here — come on up — maybe we could do one in Jan­u­ary — in snow­suits — while dodg­ing snow­balls! And then I’ll join you in Austin, and we’ll run from fire ants like crazy peo­ple (wait…some of us already qual­ify as this). Cocoa Puffs to you!

    @Suzie — Hi Suzie! Some days are like that, when we’re a lit­tle blue-er than nor­mal. And some­times all it takes is a lit­tle bit of cheer to change that. It’s great hav­ing you here, Suzie! Always! Enjoy the wine, the sun­set, the laugh, and life…

    @Dr. Rus — Hi Dr. Rus! So…the more good belly-laughs, the bet­ter, huh! Okay, I’ll work on get­ting mine in for today! Great stuff!

  40. LOL Lance,

    What a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence you all cre­ated for those who par­tic­i­pated — and now with us.

    Yes, laugh­ter is great med­i­cine and def­i­nitely a good way to brighten a day. Thank you for shin­ing sun­shine on mine. :lol:
    .-= Bar­bara Swafford´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Write Respon­si­bly Right From The Start =-.

  41. Liara Covert says:

    Laugh­ter is heal­ing med­i­cine. It is unlim­ited, uni­ver­sally acces­si­ble every moment.
    .-= Liara Covert´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Reach new dimen­sions of exis­tence =-.

  42. Laurie says:

    Oh what fun! I was think­ing about you dur­ing this time and was laugh­ing here in Texas Lance! I believe the only think I like more than laugh­ing is mak­ing oth­ers laugh too.

    A friend of mine from Israel was with us the day my mom died. He was taken back by our “tra­di­tion”. That evening after she died, we all went out to din­ner together, left an open chair for my mom, shared sto­ries and cel­e­brated her life with laugh­ter. It was so healing…

    Spread the laugh­ter Lance! The hat was great!

  43. BeTrulyHappy says:

    Laugh­ing always puts me in a great mood.

    Sci­en­tists are actu­ally doing research and learn­ing that laugh­ter is good for your health too. It releases some sort of chem­i­cal that helps relieve stress.

    I’m laugh­ing as I write this post…love it!
    .-= BeTrulyHappy´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Top Places to Build Wealth =-.

  44. Evita says:

    This is so great Lance! I just saw it on Katie’s site and loved it. For the most part, that you guys cap­tured this awe­some event for both those of us who weren’t there and sec­ondly for oth­ers to see what is pos­si­ble when peo­ple get together for good­ness and fun.

    It looks like it was such a great event, and def­i­nitely makes one want to laugh even as they watch it :)
    .-= Evita´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..The Win­ner of The Path: After­life DVD & Your Thoughts On Death and the After­life =-.

  45. John says:

    Wow, Lance! You and every­one else sure had a blast. You’re really mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in people’s lives, both on and off the blog.

    Love the video by the way! Take care and keep on laugh­ing :)
    .-= John´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..My First Steps Towards Lifestyle Design =-.

  46. Lance says:

    @Barbara — Ha! Glad to have you laugh­ing with me Bar­bara!! It really was a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence, and so refresh­ing for my soul! Thanks much Barbara!

    @Liara — Hi Liara! Yes, it sure is heal­ing med­i­cine! And to think, it’s read­ily avail­able to us, when­ever we want it — and at no charge. What a great medicine!!

    @Laurie — Lau­rie, it was great to have you laugh­ing with us all the way from Texas! That’s so awe­some!! And when we can make oth­ers laugh, that is such a good feel­ing — and to think about all the good it’s bring­ing them, too — wow!! There’s an author we heard speak this past spring — David Naster — and he’s writ­ten specif­i­cally about laugh­ter dur­ing dif­fi­cult times. And how ther­a­peu­tic it can be. And you, Lau­rie, have done that — and look how heal­ing that was for you and your fam­ily. I’ll keep spread­ing the laugh­ter here…and wear­ing the hat…

    @BeTrulyHappy — Mood…yes, laugh­ter sure has a way of chang­ing our moods. It’s pretty hard to be in a bad mood AND be laugh­ing. So good to have you laugh­ing as you read this — and not only because it feels good, also for your health too (isn’t that awesome!)!

    @Evita — It was great that Kim and Jason brought along their cam­era man — he did an awe­some job of cap­tur­ing the whole event! And it’s great to share that here with every­one. Evita, it’s always great hav­ing you here, and your words are fill­ing me with lots of hap­pi­ness tonight…

    @John — Hi John! It was a com­plete blast doing this. And even though it seemed a bit strange as we were start­ing out, once we all got going, it just plain felt fun! Thanks much for stop­ping by!

  47. Patricia says:

    The health giv­ing virus — laugh­ter
    Thank you for doing this and shar­ing this great idea on your blog…I appre­ci­ated it very much and all your efforts
    .-= Patricia´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..DIY* Health­care Plan: Skin Care =-.

  48. miruspeg says:

    Laugh­ter is the best med­i­cine” Lance.
    Laugh­ter con­nects us, and that alone has health ben­e­fits.
    Aver­age adults laugh around 15 times per day, while stud­ies sug­gest that chil­dren laugh around 350–450 times per day. Laugh­ter ener­gizes us and no won­der chil­dren have so much energy.
    You are a trea­sure Lance.
    Hugs
    Peggy
    .-= miruspeg´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Per­cep­tion and Real­ity =-.

  49. Yum Yucky says:

    HA! I knew you were the ring­leader, Lance. Great video! This would’ve been a lot fun to expe­ri­ence in per­son. I love when I laugh so hard that I can barely breathe.…or is that dan­ger­ous?
    .-= Yum Yucky´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Food Bar­ri­cade Helps Starve You Thin =-.

  50. Jeanne says:

    Fab­u­lous
    .-= Jeanne´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Happy First Birth­day Rome =-.

  51. Lance says:

    @Patricia — Yes, the best kind of virus to have!! And believe me, the plea­sure was all mine in this, it was so much fun. Thanks for stop­ping by today!

    @Miruspeg — Hi Peggy! Laugh­ter is just so good for us, and it was so evi­dent when we were out there as a group hav­ing a great time get­ting our laugh­ter on! Peggy, thank you for every­thing you give…

    @Yum Yucky — Hey Josie! Thanks! You know me and videos — hard to keep a straight face! And as long as you’re not “not breath­ing” for too long…carry on!

    @Jeanne — Thank you!

  52. Laugh­ter is def­i­nitely the cure to may symp­toms of human behav­iors. Laugh­ter can cre­ate a posi­itve mind, reduce stress, increase life span. cre­ate hap­pi­ness and pro­vide a peace of mind. Laugh­ter is truly a gift from god!

  53. Angelia Sims says:

    I hadn’t had a chance to com­ment when I watched it the first time. So GOSH DARN I had to watch it again! I love it. What an awe­some thing to do. It sure made my belly warm watch­ing it.
    I fre­quently play the ha ha game with my daugh­ter. Have you played that?
    HA
    HA HA
    HA HA HA
    HA HA HA HA
    Loser is the one that can’t stop at the right num­ber of HA’s because they start laugh­ing hys­ter­i­cally, but every­one wins because we get a good long laugh out of it. Always enter­tain­ing!
    .-= Angelia Sims´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Who had the right of way? =-.

  54. brandi says:

    well you know how I feel about laugh­ter ;-)

    this is awesome!!

    and I love that quote…
    .-= brandi´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..OOH SHINY! Spot­light on God­dess leonie and god­dess school =-.

  55. E. Thai says:

    I started blog­ging this year and am amazed at how much inter­est­ing and fun blogs like yours are out there. Really enjoyed the video and your post­ing on laugh­ter. I recently watch “Night at the museum” on DVD. Great movie. I haven’t laugh this hard in a long time, and it felt good.
    .-= E. Thai´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Thought of the day: Giv­ing thanks and feel­ing grate­ful =-.

  56. Lance says:

    @Jonathan — Hi Jonathan! Laugh­ter is a gift, yes indeed! And a gift from our Maker. Just look at how good it is for us and how good we feel when we do it — so many, mnay good things!

    @Angelia — Angelia, thank YOU for watch­ing more than once — wow! And no I haven’t played the game you shared, and now I’ll have to try it out! It sounds like a blast, and just a great way to really “get your laugh on”! Thanks so much for shar­ing that!!

    @Brandi — Hey Brandi! Yep…I know your take on this (yahoo!!)… Thanks much for being here, and shar­ing in the moment… Let’s keep on laugh­ing, right!

    E. Thai — “Night at the Museum” is a very fun movie! A great one to watch and really get some great laughs in. Con­grats on start­ing your blog this year, I’ll be over later to check it out!

  57. Sara says:

    Lance — You come up with the coolest videos. This one lit­er­ally made me LAUGH and it felt good, just like you said it would:~) THANKS!!
    .-= Sara´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..How Coura­geous =-.

  58. @lance, Why do you laugh­ter is such an essen­tial part to growth and matu­rity. In addi­tion how can laugh­ter help us in gen­eral?
    .-= jonathan figaro´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..14 Prin­ci­ples Time­less To Achieve Your Dreams =-.

  59. Dr. J says:

    Laugh­ter is the short­est dis­tance between two peo­ple!
    .-= Dr. J´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..The Biggest Loser Sea­son 8: 150-Pound Chal­lenge =-.

  60. Lance says:

    @Sara — Hi Sara! Glad to hear this made you laugh — very cool! Thanks for being here…

    @Jonathan — I think laugh­ing helps just in gen­eral not take things so seri­ously. And as we grow and mature, we hope­fully also see that life doesn’t have to be about meet­ing some pre-defined image. It’s about being our­selves, in what­ever form that is. And it prob­a­bly means that there’ll also be moments when peo­ple think we’re weird or strange. And if we can laugh at our­selves, and laugh with the world — that’s a ther­a­peu­tic form of assur­ing our­selves where we’re at is right and good. And I think it also helps oth­ers to see that life doesn’t have to just be all seri­ous and stoic. And that makes life a lot more fun! Thanks for the questions!

    @Dr. J — Ah yes, it sure is! Laugh­ter really breaks down barriers!

  61. Jennifer says:

    Lance, I loved see­ing and hear­ing this report on your project. I think it’s so won­der­ful that you helped to orga­nize this. I know that it made a dif­fer­ence in a lot of lives and that it made you feel good as well. Hats off to you for stick­ing your neck out once again. Thank you for the sun­shine you always spread wher­ever you are. May much laugh­ter and hap­pi­ness return to you.

    Is there any­thing I notice when I laugh? Yes, I always feel lighter and more free. It’s worth doing many times over!
    .-= Jennifer´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..What Do You See? =-.

  62. Lance says:

    Jen­nifer,
    This was such a fun day! It did make a dif­fer­ence — prob­a­bly in ways I’ll never fully real­ize. It also made a dif­fer­ence in my life — these 15 min­utes changed me — really in how I con­sciously think about laugh­ter. I just feel like I’m much more aware now of if I’m adding some lev­ity to the moment, or if I’m tak­ing away from it. And that, right there — if that’s all that came from this — was so worth it! Keep laugh­ing Jen­nifer. And one thing I always draw from your com­ments, is a level of hap­pi­ness — which is “you”, shin­ing through!

  63. I love to laugh! It is so heal­ing, espe­cially notice­able after years of almost non-stop cry­ing!! What I do to laugh is speak ‘baby talk’ to most of my dear ones, take every­thing lightly and look for the fun in it and appre­ci­ate greatly what I have

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