The ability to step outside yourself and get a chuckle or even a bellyaching laugh at your own expense may one of the most overlooked positive personal characteristics. I bet you know a few people who are so wound up they just cannot appreciate their own silly mistakes. That is sad because laughter, smiles and silliness will lower your stress and make you a more complete person.
What is the funniest thing you ever messed up? Could you laugh at yourself? My ex-wife and I were on a cruise in the mid nineties. The day we were to disembark, a letter and a luggage tag was left at our door. Printed on the tag was the word Amarillo, the city in Texas. We were dumbstruck because at the time we lived in Concord, New Hampshire. Why would they think we were heading back to Texas? So we marched down to the customer service desk to get this straightened out.
We get to the desk and explain the problem. The clerk looks at us for a moment and calmly points out that the tag, which happens to be yellow in color is not specific to a city. It is telling us that we put our luggage in the "yellow area". Then she points out that Amarillo is the Spanish word for yellow. My wife and I look at each other and start laughing. We look back at the clerk and she starts laughing. We thank her in between bursts of laughter and we turn around and head to a bench where we sit down and begin to laugh hysterically. Tears are rolling down my face as I look up and see the clerk pointing to us as she explains to the next people in line what happened. They start laughing too. We all enjoy this moment for a good while. I am laughing now just thinking about it. I’ll never forget how funny that moment was and how much I laughed at myself.
Can you laugh at yourself? If not, maybe you should lighten up and enjoy life. You'll live longer as you laugh your stress away.
Peace and Love
JohnnyO
Category: Laughter
Open Mic Night
Living a good life over fifty is a jigsaw puzzle of varied shapes and sized pieces. Each piece represents something important to us, a person, activity or belief. These are the things which fill our lives. If you look around my little webpage you will see I have broken these down into five basic areas. Love, laughter, security, health and creativity. Each of us will weight these differently but I absolutely believe that a good life over fifty has some attention to each of these subjects.
For instance, you could be an amazing cake chef, turning out incredibly detailed cakes that blow the mind, but if you don’t take care of your health you won’t be feeling much like baking. In turn, you could be the greatest money manager of all time, chocking up record returns that beat all estimates, but if you don’t pay attention to your significant other, you could soon be counting the returns of loneliness.
I have a passion for music that has kept my creative life full of positive vibe. (get it…”vibe”) I play multiple instruments including guitar and piano, I write songs and sing. Although I have tried to make money in music over the years I have long given up the money making drive in return for the “filling the soul” drive. Music makes me smile, gets my blood moving and helps me be creative when I write and perform my own music. Plus, it is just plain fun. Every Thursday night I meet up with a herd of musician friends, and some other great friends who just come by to listen. It is an open mic format where each person who signs up gets to perform three songs. Without a doubt, this is the highlight of my week. There has to be something really big going on in my life for me to miss open mic.
Another aspect of open mic night for me is that I have marketed myself to my friends as a sideman, or a supporting player. If you are singing and playing guitar, maybe you would like a second guitar or a slide guitar or a harmonica. Since I play a number of different instruments, I can cover a lot of ground. Last night I got to perform eleven different songs with four different people. This is close to heaven on earth for me.
One interesting thing occurred to me several weeks ago. I thought about the friends I have in life, and then I sorted out the ones I see most often and do things with most often. Guess what? You already see it don’t you? The friends I spend the most time with share my creative music hobby. That’s not to say I don’t get together with others, but easily ninety percent of my friend time is with music folks.
What is your creative hobby or passion? If you say you don’t have one you aren’t looking hard enough. My Dad’s creative hobby was woodworking. He loved to make small furniture like bathroom vanities and bookshelves. He made little note clips that sat on the table and he cut out and painted an untold number of those small wooden cats that sit on top of your door frame. My 92 year old mother played the piano well into her 80s and even with her dementia and Alzhiemers she can still bang out Dixie upon request. Amazing that she can’t remember what she had for lunch ten minutes ago but she can still play a song on the piano.
Find your creative passion and nurture it. If you still insist you don’t have one, I’d suggest you pick something and give it a ride. I truly believe it will fill your soul and make you smile and feel good. Finds ways to meet up with others who share that passion. Go to meetup.com and look for groups that share your interest. You soul is calling. How will you fill it?