When Laughter Does Not Come Easily

Written by Abraham Thomas


WHEN LAUGHTER DOES NOT COME EASILY

The surge of emotions.

Duringrepparttar middle ages,repparttar 140619 court jester was often summoned to try and liftrepparttar 140620 monarch out of an angry or melancholic mood. Emotional problems were hardlyrepparttar 140621 choice ofrepparttar 140622 king. Uneasiness was an inescapable load, borne byrepparttar 140623 crowned head. Neither did this burden sparerepparttar 140624 citizen. In more recent times, science has confirmedrepparttar 140625 subversive power of emotions, emanating from a region calledrepparttar 140626 limbic system, buried deep withinrepparttar 140627 brain. Being a more primitive part ofrepparttar 140628 brain, this region is reported to berepparttar 140629 seat of emotions. Electrical stimulation of neurons in this region caused you to feel anger, fear, or shame. More often than not,repparttar 140630 wide range of feelings and emotions, generated by this region, control our actions. Such responses ofrepparttar 140631 mind were reported to occur within a bare 20 milliseconds.

A spontaneous event.

Paul Ekman,repparttar 140632 famous emotions scientist, reported thatrepparttar 140633 evaluation that turned on an emotion happened so quickly that people were not aware it was occurring. "We become aware a quarter, or half second afterrepparttar 140634 emotion begins. I do not choose to have an emotion, to become afraid, or to become angry. I am suddenly angry. I can usually figure out later what someone did that causedrepparttar 140635 emotion." The nervous system processed allrepparttar 140636 available information and drove us to anger, or despair, within just half a second. Paul's window was fully open in half a second. Open to a deluge. The book, The Intuitive Algorithm, describesrepparttar 140637 speed and power ofrepparttar 140638 intuitive process that opens this emotional window.

The stress response.

"I was suddenly anxious." The department was to be “restructured.” Termination notices. Rent payments. Overdue bills. The churning had begun. Emotions had intimate links torepparttar 140639 body. Anxiety and stress triggeredrepparttar 140640 production ofrepparttar 140641 adrenal hormone cortisol. Adrenaline supported bodily functions designed to cope withrepparttar 140642 fight or flight response, including increased heart rate. The production of cortisol also initiated one ofrepparttar 140643 most insidious processes in nature. Its excess production was shown to damagerepparttar 140644 immune system, arteries, and brain cells, and cause premature aging. Acrossrepparttar 140645 ages, philosophers sought to reducerepparttar 140646 impact of this deadly cycle. Couldrepparttar 140647 anxiety be mitigated, so thatrepparttar 140648 emerging crisis could be evaluated calmly? Medieval medicine believed that emotional imbalance could be corrected byrepparttar 140649 court entertainers -repparttar 140650 fool or jester. Laughter was believed to be an excellent medicine.

Benefits of laughter.

Laughter is, more often than not, triggered by a sudden release of tension. The door opens slowly in a dark room. As you wait with baited breath, a kitten walks in. You laugh. The system relaxes. There is much recent evidence that laughter aids emotional well being and health. A belly laugh is said to result in muscle relaxation. The processe is aerobic, providing a workout forrepparttar 140651 diaphragm. The workout reducesrepparttar 140652 hormones associated withrepparttar 140653 stress response. Decrease in stress hormones relieve constricted blood vessels and support immune activity. It is a wholly beneficial response. Unfortunately, belly laughs are hardlyrepparttar 140654 response of normal people when faced with stressful situations. Laughter is not exactly easy, when you are seething with anger, or sweating in fear. Yet, you need a response to stress, which you can produce naturally.

Shortcuts to Eloquence

Written by Larry Tracy


Copyright 2005 Larry Tracy

You have probably hadrepparttar experience of listening to a speaker who, even if you did not agree with that person's message, caused you to think, "this is an outstanding speaker." That speaker was probably using certain rhetorical devices that touched an internal chord, that made him or her sound eloquent.

Normally, such techniques are used by experienced speakers who have honed them over time. Yet you do not need to have delivered hundreds of presentations to developrepparttar 140504 ability to incorporate rhetorical techniques which add grace, forcefulness, vividness and especially eloquence to your presentation.

Eloquence

According to one ofrepparttar 140505 most oft-quoted men ofrepparttar 140506 19th Century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, eloquence is

"the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible torepparttar 140507 person to whom you are speaking."

Note that he said nothing about speaking in polysyllabic phrases aimed less at communicating than impressing. Truly eloquent speakers use short, direct, specific language aimed a their listeners. Winston Churchill's stirring speeches during World War II are prime examples of such language.

Eloquent speakers, like Churchill and John F. Kennedy, realize thatrepparttar 140508 spoken word must appeal torepparttar 140509 ear more thanrepparttar 140510 eye, and nothing appeals more than repetition, rhythm and cadence. The eloquent presentation translates dull and colorless speech into words with punch which will be remembered.

In short, eloquence is where poetry and prose meet, where music and speech join. The means by which this is accomplished is byrepparttar 140511 adroit use of figures of speech, generally referred to as rhetorical devices.

Shortcuts to eloquence

I use this phrase to describe what are normally referred to as rhetorical devices. I do so forrepparttar 140512 simple reason that, adroitly employed, these techniques allow novices to appear as a very experienced speakers inrepparttar 140513 perception of their audiences.

Inexperienced speakers can learn to incorporate into their presentations techniques that provide polish to what may be an otherwise pedantic effort. Below are four of these shortcuts that will let you implant your ideas intorepparttar 140514 collective mind of your audience.

Shortcut one: Repetition

Perhapsrepparttar 140515 most frequently used of these techniques is repetition of key words and key phrases to emphasizerepparttar 140516 presenter's message. An illustrative example isrepparttar 140517 famous 1963 speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. known asrepparttar 140518 "I have a dream" speech because he opened eight consecutive paragraphs with that phrase. Unless you believe you possessrepparttar 140519 oratorical skills of Dr. King, I would refrain from going that far in a business presentation. But a more limited repeating of key phrases does indeed add power to any presentation.

In a written essay, such repetition would be redundant. In a spoken presentation, it is an invaluable asset to hammer homerepparttar 140520 point you want your audience to grasp and act upon.

The King speech shows how repetition can allow a presentation to build to a crescendo. Repetition is frequently used atrepparttar 140521 beginning of a presentation to gainrepparttar 140522 audience's attention.

Shortcut two: The Rhythmic Triple

One again I am coining my own phrase. This technique, a variation of repetition, is generally calledrepparttar 140523 Rule of Three, because it repeats, in threes, key words and phrases. I preferrepparttar 140524 term rhythmic triple because this technique delivers a message with an ear-pleasing rhythm and cadence inrepparttar 140525 beat of three.

The speaker using this technique drives home his or her point with three words, three sentences, three phrases. "Threes" tend to reinforce, because, for reasons no one fully understands, people remember best when they hear repetition in a series of three. Repeating twice is too little, four or more two much (unless you are a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.).

Churchill was a great user ofrepparttar 140526 rhythmic triple, as when he said ofrepparttar 140527 Royal Air Force,

"Never inrepparttar 140528 field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few

He could have said "We owe a great debt torepparttar 140529 fliers ofrepparttar 140530 RAF inrepparttar 140531 saving of Britain." Would this phrase have been as memorable?

In July 2002, Governor Mark Schwieker of Pennsylvania usedrepparttar 140532 rhythmic triple in demanding an explanation about safety procedures fromrepparttar 140533 company that ownedrepparttar 140534 mine where nine miners were entombed before being miraculously rescued. The Governor said, with considerable emotion, thatrepparttar 140535 company owed an explanation "Torepparttar 140536 miners, to their families and to me."

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