The Pharmacist is Clowning Around

March 23, 2011 by 3 Comments

I would like to introduce you to Fang Li Yun, a 52-year-old Malaysian pharmacist of 24 years.  She is part of what they call the “Funny Action” project, which helps people learn to laugh and to smile even when there is no good news to smile about.

Like so many other people, Fang Li Yun thought happiness would follow her income, and as a pharmacist she was making good money.

But in 2006 she discovered clowning and discovered there was more happiness to be achieved.  This lead to a mission or pilgrimage of sorts with Hunter Doherty “Patch Adams” and a group of thirty other people from various countries to Mexico last year.  Together they visited patients, the homeless, the elderly, shut-ins and  HIV-infected people while dressed in their best clown attire

What made the biggest difference? In 2008, a friend of hers who was president of a breast cancer  support group, asked her this question: “The happiness a clown brings to people is only momentary. How are you going to make the happiness last?”

Now she teaches people how to laugh: “Everyone is born with the ability to laugh. Laughter is the best medicine and an effective way of fighting illnesses. Based on statistics, babies can laugh up to 400-500 times a day, while adults laugh an average of only 14 to 15 times a day.”

Fringe benefits of clowning around include increased self-confidence and reduced stress. Fang Li Yun discovered that whenever she focuses on making other people happy, she also experiences a surge of joy and forgets all her worries and cares.

And she is still a pharmacist.

This post was included in the That Girl Is Funny Blog Carnival.

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The Value of Value

March 18, 2011 by 4 Comments

I’ll spare you the long-winded intro today.  This is a short message by the former CEO of Coca Cola, very inspirational, that a friend shared with me a while back.  Take a moment to reflect on it, and hopefully your day will be a little more valuable afterward.

This post was featured in the Carnival of Wealth #31, in the Totally Money Carnival #12 and in Cajun Finances Random Thoughts Carnival.

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The 3 “C’s” of Leading with Confidence

March 3, 2011 by 1 Comment

It is the rare human being who can maintain confidence 100% of the time. Even the best of leaders experience dips in confidence from time to time, from context to context and from situation to situation.

 

The key is building your ‘confidence’ muscles.

I believe confidence can be cross-contextual. By that I mean having success in one area of life can be used as a reference point from which we can borrow confidence while we build it in that new area of our personal or professional life.

To raise the bar on your confidence as a leader, I’d like you to offer you 3 concepts to focus that can provide a roadmap for creating higher levels of confidence in whatever endeavor you are embarking on, and especially in your role as a leader:

Certainty – Certainty is defined as the state of being free from doubt or reservation, destined, sure to happen, inevitable, bound to come. Certainty is how confidence is projected by leaders and it’s a skill that also has to be developed along with confidence. Certainty comes from experience and through developing your beliefs and values about yourself, your role as a leader, the world, your organization, the marketplace, etc. One of the key skills to nurture to develop your level of certainty is perspicacity or a keenness of mental perception and discernment, which helps in decision-making and problem solving.

Clarity – Many years ago I attended a workshop by Anthony Robbins and one of the most powerful things he said that day I’ll never forget. His message was “clarity is power.” I’ve learned over the years that is a very true statement. Without clarity its tough to see where you are going and a leader without clarity is not much of a leader.

There are many contexts a in which leader needs clarity, which can be overwhelming.  This is why I want to start at home by having you focus on key areas first to build your confidence and certainty as a leader:

• Your Leadership “Identity”
• Your Strengths
• Your Areas for Growth and Development
• Your Team Strengths and Talents

Capability – This is defined as having power and ability, being efficient and competent. And, there are six fundamental areas leaders need to not just be capable but must master:

• Influencing communication skills
• Visionary thinking
• Decision-making
• Problem-solving
• Delegation
• Emotional Mastery
__________________

This is a guest post by Skip Weisman, The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert. He helps organizational leaders create high performing, positive work environments with teams of employees who communicate effectively, work successfully together in teams, and who love what they do as they contribute to their organization’s overall purpose. His company, Weisman Success Resources, Inc. is based in Poughkeepsie, NY. You may contact him directly with any questions, or for a complimentary Strategy Session at 845-463-3838 or e-mail to Skip@WeismanSuccesResources.com

This post was featured in the That Girl Is Funny.

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Merci pour l’année – Thanks for the year

June 21, 2010 by 15 Comments

When I was in consumer advocacy, essentially a combination lobbyist and public relations function, I used to say that “thank you” is the most important thing you can say to influence people. It’s not when you are approaching somebody for a favor that you win his heart; it is when you are appreciating what he has done.  And this is a universal sentiment that applies to all facets of life, all manner of people and all situations you will find yourself in. Everybody, from the President in his executive suite to the guy whose boot is stuck in the mud a few feet below the oil slick in the Gulf, appreciates being appreciated.

We teach the value of expressing thanks to our daughters, too.  And hopefully some of the message will stick with them over the years.

In the meantime,this is the thank you card my younger daughter prepared for her teachers this year…

Something about the colors and the balance of shapes spoke to me, so I thought I would share it with you.

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Random thoughts about smiles

May 13, 2010 by 22 Comments

Want to improve your face value? Smile more often. Here are four thoughts about smiles, just in case you need motivation to smile a little more often.  read them.  Enjoy them.  You can even smile at them, if you wish.

When they say someone was “wearing nothing but a smile”, that might be bad news for garment manufacturers, but it is wonderful news for humanity. A smile is the most important thing a person can wear. It is somewhat ironic that so many more people wear clothes than wear smiles. Perhaps we have misplaced priorities.

Be your own florist. You know how flowers brighten up a room? Just like a smile? In fact, flowers also brighten up people’s faces…causing them to smile more, too.

Want to brighten up a room? Smile more, and you will be your own florist.

Smiling Poem
Don’t cry when something is over
Don’t cry for the loss.
Smile because it happened,
Smile for what once was.

If you ever doubted the power of a smile, see this testimony as how much easier it is to make a sale when you smile:
http://thesalesblog.com/2010/05/smile-power-an-open-letter-to-tom-peters/

But smiling is not just for making sales.  If a smile can make a sale, imagine how good it can be at making a friend.

Filed Under: Happiness

Pamper Yourself

April 6, 2010 by 9 Comments

OK, time to pamper yourself. I mean, if you’ve been working hard to be a better person, to be friendlier and fitter and more generous and more efficient and make whatever improvements you feel you need, take a few moments to pamper yourself. Find something that is in sync with the changes you have made in your life (If you’ve decided to eat healthy from now on, a triple fudge sundae is NOT the right means to pamper yourself).

Pick something that makes you feel special and worthwhile. Perhaps it’s a spa treatment. Perhaps a few hours in a quiet place away from the chaos of kids and the chores of home. It might just be a hot bath with soothing music.  Or it might be cranking up the volume and playing air guitar.  Whatever it is that makes you feel special, do it.

You are special. You have been working hard and making improvements every day. You do deserve it. So go ahead and pamper yourself.  Your self will thank you with all your heart.

From today’s Daily Dose of Happiness.

Filed Under: Happiness

Do you Personalize?

February 19, 2010 by 19 Comments

Anybody can outsource their greeting cards or birthday cakes. But what a statement of love it is to labor over these symbols yourself, in person, with your own hands!

Do you buy greeting cards for the people closest to you? Why not make them instead? Oh, sure, you won’t create a work of art or make some witty saying like those store-bought greeting cards. But it’s not for art or wit that you are giving the card, right?

A hand-made card shows that you took the time to do something special for your loved one. Let me repeat that with the right emphasis: A hand-made card shows that YOU took the time to do something special for your loved one.

You wouldn’t outsource your hugs. You wouldn’t outsource your hand shakes. You wouldn’t outsource your kisses or your smiles or your phone calls. These are all personal expressions of your feelings toward other people and they are the very last things you would outsource.

Greeting cards are also supposed to be personal expressions of your affection for somebody else. Don’t outsource your greeting cards to some factory somewhere. Make your own and show that they really do come from the heart. From your heart.

Taken from today’s Daily Dose of Happiness.

Update June 2013: It’s not just the greeting cards. It can be any token of your appreciation, love or esteem for a person. A week ago, we set this cake on fire for our eldest daughter:

Campfire cake - a cake on fire!

It was not the first time we went all-out on cakes. We’ve done castles and waterfalls and once we did the Sorting Hat of Harry Potter fame. But it does not have to be so fancy; it just has to be personal.

Filed Under: Happiness

ENERGIZE!

October 29, 2009 by 12 Comments

Want to feel more energized and less stressed? Perhaps you spend a lot of time in front of the computer screen, the TV or some other screen. Here are a few ways to feel energized.

The most obvious is to stop spending so much time in front of a screen. OK, not always practical, but worth a try every now and then.

So get up during commercials or every half hour and stretch.  It’s the least you can do, and it will make your screen time more enjoyable, as well.

In fact, get up and do some aerobic exercise, even just for 30 seconds. Jumping jacks. Dance. Fast-paced push-ups. Skip rope. Run up and down the stairs, as I often do. Anything.

Every few minutes move your eyes away from the screen. Roll your eyes up, to the left, to the right, but most importantly, focus them on something closer and also on something farther than the screen.  In fact, roll your head, as well.  Give your eyes a break and your neck a stretch.

Force a yawn. Stretching your face will boost that energy and reduce that stress.  Stretch it wide and – oops – it’s hard to fake a yawn without a real one coming on.

Energize!

Filed Under: Happiness

Happiness on FaceBook

August 25, 2009 by 12 Comments

Have you seen this Facebook app to support the positive psychology  exercise “Three Good Things”?  Participants in this exercise record  Three Good Things, and the reasons why they happen, every day. There  are some other versions of this exercise out there (including an  iPhone app and one on happier.com), but this is a way to make these exercises more effective using social interaction.

This app is at http://apps.facebook.com/threegoodthings/, but the page with  more info is at http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=119352832576&v=info. It is free to use, but because it is research, they ask participants to complete very brief surveys after 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6  months of use.

This could be a great way to spread your own happiness. 

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