April 8, 2004, Vol. II Issue 8
Dear Friends,
Are funny people just funny or do more funny things happen to them than so-called normal people? What do you think? I think they’re having their own experience of the same situation (funny) because they look for the humor, plus they’re willing to look silly and laugh at themselves.
I often hear from meeting planners, “We’ve heard enough about mammograms and body parts for the day. We just want our audience to have fun.” We hear you loud and clear.
Humor breaks down barriers and fosters connecting with one another at a deeper level. April is National Humor Month, so let’s celebrate our funnybones and those who hone theirs regularly so we can laugh with them.
Yours truly,
Barbara
A Funny Thing Happened . . .
Deb Gauldin, RN, PMS, is a very funny lady, and that extends from the stage to her home life and back again, as you’ll see later in this story. She is another of my guitar-wielding entertainer-speaker friends. She earned a lot of her laughlines as an obstetric nurse and childbirth educator. The others came with stretchmarks! Hence, the title of one of her most popular talks, “From Stretchmarks toLaughlines, A Woman’s Journey.”
Deb rolls with the punches in life. You’ll hear it in the lyrics of her songs, which she calls “Hormone-affirming music for women.” With song titles like “PMS Blues,” “I’m in Love with a Bald-Headed Man” and “Big Legged Woman,” you get the idea.
What women get from her programs is the ability to laugh at things in their lives that may otherwise be causing them distress, like PMS, stretchmarks, laundry, car pooling, etc. She says she comes up with most of her lyrics while folding clothes and vacuuming.
“I think people connect with me because I let them know that I’m imperfect, just like them,” Deb says. “My central message is to encourage women to love and accept themselves just as they are.”
After her luncheon keynote for the Women’s Health Issues and Management Symposium in St. Joseph, Missouri recently, Deb was preparing for her closing song and the ceremonious presentation of, “The Wings Women Deserve.” She was following a speaker who had used a new high tech surface where any item placed across it is projected onto a screen covering the entire back of the auditorium. Unwittingly, Deb placed her prop, a Kotex to which she had sewn gold lame’ wings, on the podium. As the tittering audience broke into waves of laughter at the sight of a gargantuan sanitary napkin on the wall, Deb joined in the fun. Can’t you just see it? And the best was yet to come.
As providence would have it, the event coincided with a special celebration of her husband’s extended family in a nearby town. Deb’s intent, to be quiet and low profile with the very proper in-laws, was quickly foiled when one of the cousins arrived in the social room of the Second Baptist Church with newspaper in hand. There was Deb, featured on the front page of the St. Joseph News-Press with a giant Kotex floating over her head. In no time the room was filled with laughter and no doubt some interesting commentary. I mean, really, how do you explain that one?
Once again, Deb was reminded of her own message, not to take herself too seriously and to celebrate rather than deny her fun-loving nature. In addition to women’s programs, Deb’s talents are perfectly matched with nurses appreciation events (in which she includes the guys!) and any healthcare gathering where the goal is to replenish the overextended and undervalued! The magic of music and laughter brings people together and helps them absorb information as well as release tension, and that’s a winning combination in any meeting planner’s book!
In another timely coincidence, Deb and another favorite funny speaker of mine, Sue Kirby, just recently met each other at an Erma Bomback Writing Workshop. Here were two very talented funny women honing their funnybones. I like that in a speaker! Sue is the author of Men’s Secret Camp, and a comedy queen of stories about family foibles, work and the American lifestyle scene. We’ll share more about Sue in a
future issue.
Learn more about Deb and her programs here.
In the Headlines: Pocket-sized Mindful Motivation
Have you heard about the latest diet aid? It’s not a book. It doesn’t come in a can. It’s not even edible. In fact, it’s hard, yellow and plastic, and it does come in various sizes. It’s mypetfatTM. You read that right. My Pet Fat, like My Pet Rock. It first caught my eye on a television news report. Then I saw it the newspaper. At first I laughed, then I shook my head and then I went to the website and checked it out.
Now, first let me preface this by saying that this is not an unfamiliar concept to me. I’ve seen Zonya Foco use a five-pound fat blob in her presentations. That size is an impressive visual aid, especially when related to the proverbial five pounds I’m always trying to lose!
What lifestyle author Jay Jacobs is promoting, is a small, 1 oz. pocket-sized piece of fake fat that you carry around to remind you of your goal. He says its presence helped him lose 115 pounds.
Actually, there’s more to it than that, if you do a little investigation on the website, and that’s what I found intriguing: “More than a piece of fat, mypetfatTM will help you with the one and only thing that creates immediate, life-changing results…your thinking.”
Now, that I have to agree with. Jay continues, “I’ve come to learn and apply one simple truth that’s indisputable…all actions are preceded by a thought…and all thoughts acted upon produce an outcome. Therefore if I was ever going to produce and maintain the results I desired I had to first realize that, ‘Fat, it’s all in MY head.’”
“You see, we believe what we tell ourselves,” he continues. “The most influential voice in your life, is your own! Before you can make any progress at anything, you must first believe that you can! Get your head right and your body will follow.”
Now, back to the blob. Jay says that the 1 oz mypetfatTM fat replica works like tying a string around your finger to remind you to THINK before you eat. Hold it in your hand when making food choices and it will make you conscious of the fat you want to get off of your body and the fat that you want to avoid putting on your body. The trick is to keep it by your side, handle it often, pet it, love it, you get the picture?
Whatever it takes . . . judge for yourself at http://www.mypetfat.com
It’s worth a chuckle, at the very least.
A Little Comic Relief
My clipping pile this month is different than usual. It’s a pile of cartoons, pretty apropos for National Humor Month, don’t you think? Now, that doesn’t mean I’ve been reading the comics more than the news, although that’s not a bad idea … It means the health news I usually clip has morphed into the funny pages. “Cathy” is doing a great job of documenting the trials and tribulations of low-carb dieting at the office. And lots of the funnies are from the editorial pages. Yes, a sense of humor is a good thing to nourish, especially in the midst of controversy.
According to humorist Dale Irvin, “Laughter is free, legal, has no calories, no cholesterol, no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, and is absolutely safe.”
So, this month, I challenge you to find amusement daily in your ownlife, as well as life in general. Look for the humor, re-frame the situation. Laugh at yourself and enjoy the fun as others laugh with you!
And I’ll sign-off with this chuckle from the internet:
The truth about diets…
1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
3. Africans drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
4. Italians drink large amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
5. Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently
what kills you.
Until next time, be good to yourself, and laugh a lot for your well
being and those you love.
Barbara
================================================================
ABOUT OUR SERVICES
================================================================
My vision for The Speak Well Being Group is to be a connector for speakers I know, love and believe in, with the audiences who will be inspired, motivated, and transformed by their perspectives, knowledge, empathy, compassion, information and, most importantly, capacity to enjoy the process, laughing at themselves and with you along the way.
You’ll find many of our speakers on our website.
http://www.SpeakWellBeing.com
Or please call anytime and let us assist you: 503-699-5031
================================================================
