Mindfulness and Laughter: Gaining Clarity While Giggling

Written by Maya Talisman Frost


Life is funny. Throughoutrepparttar day, there are plenty of humorous moments that we tend to ignore. We get so caught up in being earnest that we miss opportunities to gain clarity while giggling.

Sure, there are times when it is considered inappropriate to laugh, but if we're honest, we'll see that if we're suppressing a smile it's a sign that we're fully present.

Not only that, but these are times when we could most use a little laughter to bring levity to an overly-serious situation. The best business meetings--and funerals--I've ever attended included plenty of bust-a-gut moments.

Years ago, during a two-week silent meditation retreat, I gotrepparttar 118090 giggles. Oh, I know, you're supposed to be *serious* about meditating for five hours straight, but I couldn't help it.

It all started when I was roused from my peaceful posture by a certain "KLUNK!" from acrossrepparttar 118091 room. I opened my eyes to see that one of my retreat buddies had fallen asleep and landed with his head againstrepparttar 118092 wall. Momentarily unnerved, he quickly straightened up, closed his eyes and put on his best meditator's face.

I, onrepparttar 118093 other hand, completely lost it.

I managed to stiflerepparttar 118094 first few giggles, but then they started escaping in little bursts. I triedrepparttar 118095 ol' coughing technique, hoping to disguise my snorts as expectoration, but I wasn't fooling anyone.

Pretty soon, I saw (well, I did have my eyes open) others looking my way. Nobody else was laughing. In fact, nobody else was even smiling. Clearly, I wasrepparttar 118096 only one who had allowed myself to get caught up in that unexpected moment of hilarity.

A Faux Pas Is A Mistake In A Tuxedo

Written by Rev. James L. Snyder


Everyone who is anybody has a hobby or at least entertainsrepparttar idea. Hobbies range from sports to crafts to reading and even traveling. Some hobbies don't make sense to me like collecting dead insects.

My long established hobby has earned me a membership inrepparttar 118089 POP (People Observing People) Culture. The rules specify that each member must swear not to divulge anything observed.

Being a minister, I'm not allowed to swear, so I am exempted from this rule.

I love to get a nice hot cup of coffee, a local newspaper and situate myself where I can seerepparttar 118090 most people in their natural environment. Nothing is more hilarious than observing people who don't realize they are being watched.

Don't get me wrong here, I love people. All sorts of people. I would never unduly make fun of anyone — well almost anyone. Everybody has something about him or her interesting and worth observing.

One of my favorite authors, F. W. Boreham, made this observation: Leave your house early inrepparttar 118091 morning andrepparttar 118092 first person you meet take him or her aside and write their biography. Of course,repparttar 118093 person will not conceive anything interesting about his or her life, and that'srepparttar 118094 way most people are. We think everybody else is more interesting than our life.

The average person, in my opinion, leads a more interesting life than almost all celebrities, except for Elvis who is more popular dead than alive.

As an expert inrepparttar 118095 POP Culture,repparttar 118096 most interesting thing about people can be summed up in one word: mistakes.

Mistakes arerepparttar 118097 common characteristics of all those addicted to oxygen. Other similarities exist among people, but this one thing supercedes culture, time, age and gender. Everybody at some time to some degree makes mistakes.

Two kinds of people populate our planet: those who admit their mistakes and those who don't.

Now, a mistake is not just a mistake. There are categories and degrees of mistakes. Let me list a few categories and see which one fits into your lifestyle.

The first category would be, inaccuracies. It is easy to get something wrong when dealing with numbers, especially dialing telephone numbers. Not long ago my wife, who works as my secretary, dialed a number for me. I can't remember now who we were trying to call, but I do remember who we really got.

My wife dialedrepparttar 118098 number and as soon as it started to ring, she handedrepparttar 118099 phone to me. When I putrepparttar 118100 receiver to my ear, I heard a sultry voice invite me to do things I had never considered before in my life.

Her words sent shockwaves down torepparttar 118101 soles of my feet and back torepparttar 118102 top of my head, only to repeatrepparttar 118103 procedure several times. I had heard of such things but I never heard it personally.

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