laughter

Laughter helps everything.

There has been a lot going on in life lately, all of it really good stuff but keeping laughter at the forefront of it all helps everything!

For Memorial Day weekend, Mike and I headed up north to be with my family. On Saturday we decided to kayak/canoe/float the Betsie River which runs right by my parent’s house. It was a beautiful day, quite warm for late May in Northern Michigan and it felt great to get out on the river. I always forget how relaxing and healing a nice float down the river is until I am on it.

Mike insisted that I just relax in the front of the tandem kayak and not paddle and that he had it all handled. I trusted him completely and he gave me very little reason not to…at least for the first part of the trip.

We had rented a sit-on-top kayak from Crystal Adventures. The adventure company owners advised that we bring one of their dry sacks with us on the boat and I said “It is nearly impossible to tip one of those things over but we will for sure take one.”

Famous. Last. Words.

Mike did and incredible job (THANKS BABE!!!) at navigating the river until one tricky part. I was so used to sitting back and taking in the scenery that I did not see it coming and I don’t think he did either. A big tree branch was down in the water and in very slow motion, I remember being in total disbelief it was even happening, the kayak got stuck, the current was super strong and tipped us right over. I grabbed the stuff that I could and the rest headed down the river to be retrieved by other family members. We were both soaked in clothes not necessarily planned for dunking in the river but laughing. I am not sure what else there was to do but laugh. Mike felt bad but was also sort of bruised up. I had some scratches and bruises and we just laughed and went on our merry way.

Around the bend, my brothers were whispering to each other “That must really be the right guy for her if she was that calm, cool, collected and both of them were just laughing.” They were pretty shocked at our response to the whole thing.

All the weekends, and weeks for that matter, are spent managing things, handling projects and making things happen. This past weekend was no exception as we framed and wired an entire basement at one of my rental properties. It is a rather large space and a lot of work. We finished the project around 10pm on Sunday and were wrapping everything up, finishing laundry and loading the dishwasher. We sat down in the living room for a few minutes and as we were heading up to bed, Mike put a couple things in the sink. As he stepped up to the sink, something felt strange. Looking down was the view in the picture below!

You see, neither of us has had a dishwasher in our lives for over a year. I am not sure how he did it but mistook liquid dish soap for dishwasher soap and the kitchen was filling up with bubbles. I just start laughing. First off, we are old enough and know better, or at least I thought we did. But secondly, we have both missed having dishwashers in our homes so much it has been something we have looked so forward to!

Here he is standing in ankle deep suds from putting the wrong cleaning product into the dishwasher and bubbles and spewing out the sides and continue to flow. I am laughing so hard at this point that I think I am actually making him a little irritated. Through laughter “BABE!!!! How on Earth did you do this???” both on hands and knees cleaning up the floor. (Side note: our kitchen floor is extra shiny and nice now!!)

We pretty much laughed ourselves to sleep that night.

Laughter helps everything!!! Truly lightens the mood, shifts the tone and make it all better. Mike and I do a lot of laughing together all the time, life is just too short to be any other way.

Look around in your life. Are there areas you can laugh more? Are there things you can laugh about instead of get angry or irritated with? How can you choose laughter more through your days? We only get one chance in this life!!! Let’s have some FUN!!!!

THIS IS WHAT I SEE

So this is what I see…

Many people left the state for spring break. Many people went down south to the sun, sand and beaches and had a blast. All the stresses of ordinary life fall away while out of their normal environment.

I have seen many of these people back in my office, Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic, this week. They say things like: “My low back pain was fine while I was gone but just a couple days before returning home, it started to flare up again.” “I did a 28 hour drive to Florida and back and I was fine, but now that I am back that sciatic pain is back.” “We had a great time, we were swimming and walking on the beach and my shoulder really relaxed. Now that I am home and running around all over for normal life, that shoulder is driving me crazy.”

One of the reasons we LOVE vacation is because we get a break from the grind of the day to day, we get to let go and maybe smile a little bit more, connect with the people that are important and fill our days with conversation and laughter. We become light and live that light and actually enjoy the lightness of being.

I want to know who made the rule that regular life cannot be like that. I have a bone to pick with whomever said we cannot enjoy the lightness of our being while running kids around, taking care of our homes, going to work and whomever is spreading the idea that we shouldn’t smile through the good, bad and the ugly during the mundane-ness of life?

We can…and we should.

If life becomes that enjoyable while we are away from it all, maybe we could be doing a little better job at enjoying it while we are in the thick of it.

I have used this phrase quite a bit over the past week or so…”Life just really isn’t that serious.”

I really mean it when I say that but I don’t mean that it is all rainbows and butterflies either. It just means that your rate of making it through your days so far is 100% and, until you are at the end, I bet that rate stays right up there at 100%;) If you ask me, we are all doing a heck of a good job and that is pretty freaking amazing!!

So let’s think about it. We get up in the morning and of course that part is really important. But what happens if you burn breakfast, run out of eggs and spill your bowl of fruit right down the front of your favorite white shirt as soon as you leave the house. I bet you will find something else for breakfast and make a joke of your outfit to those who ask and go on with your day. I bet you will gracefully figure out all parts of your day and in the end make it out with flying colors!

There can be trauma and drama along the way and I am in no way trying to minimize that, some really bad stuff happens to good people. However when we take a look at the bigger picture, most of it isn’t that big of a deal and isn’t worth much additional energy.

And during the days that we do not get to spend on the sandy beaches in the sunshine, what about creating that feeling of being on sandy beaches and out in the sunshine? I do not mean by creating a literal beach in your life, I mean by finding things to regularly do that bring you to the feelings you feel when you are there, things that make you feel more connected to nature and the Universe, things that connect you more to your community and activities and people that bring you joy.

What about finding more laughter, even if it means taking on a joke-telling hobby? What if you woke up tomorrow and you set an intention of finding out what everyone’s favorite joke is? What if you started just telling the joke “why did the chicken cross the road?” Making other people laugh, will make you laugh. That is just one idea of how to lighten the day. One lighter day leads to 2 lighter days which leads to weeks and months and years of a lighter life.

When life is light, the contrast of vacation will not be quite as much and the settling in of daily life will take on an easier and more graceful feeling. A lighter life leads to a healthier mind, less stress, more joy and in the long run, greater health!!!

As a chiropractor, I see all kinds of ailments, aches and pains and usually they are stemmed from something happening somewhere along the lines in life; physical stresses, mental/emotional stresses and chemical stresses. When we realize that the low back tension, the sciatic pain and the shoulder pain and stiffness are, not always but largely, exacerbated from the heaviness of our thoughts and stress and the anticipation of our normal life, we can really start to let some of the stuff go. Monday will be Monday. Tuesday will be Tuesday. Wednesday will be Wednesday…and so on. They have no real meaning until we place a meaning on them. If we wish them all away in hopes the weekend will get here sooner or vacation will get her sooner, or summer break will get here sooner…WE ARE MISSING OUT ON LIFE!!!

Let’s lighten the days. It starts in our minds and in our hearts. Let go of the pattern of dreading the mundane, that has become a bad habit. Let go and laugh more with your children, cut some slack to the car that just cut you off in traffic and be grateful for every single sunrise and every single sunset you get to experience.

Life is really not all that serious…this is what I see.

FROM SEAT TO SEAT

One of my most favorite things to do is go to a comedy show and laugh. There is so much that shifts in just a few minutes of good, wholesome laughter. Last night, I was lucky enough to see Jerry Seinfeld live and of course laughed and laughed and laughed. He is clever and so funny, and the literal person that I am, I really get a kick out of his humor. He used his time to entertain the crowd however also used it to effectively deliver a couple messages about health which I was pleasantly surprised!

One thing that really caught my attention is he said something like “we spend our entire days going from one seat to another”. He was talking about we get up out of bed and go and find breakfast and sit down. Then we get up and get ready and go sit down in our cars. We drive to work and then we sit down for the morning, get up to go sit back down at lunch, come back to sit back down at work for the afternoon, sit back in our cars to go home and sit down for dinner and spend the rest of our time sitting in front of the TV. Have you ever thought about that? He, of course, added in the joke of “no wonder we are building bigger and bigger seat cushions on our bodies!”

There seems to be a growing trend of jobs that require long, long hours in a seated position. It is just how things are these days which is perfectly fine. The challenge is that the body is designed, and happier and healthier, when it is in motion, when there is movement happening on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the law of inertia states that “a body at rest, tends to stay at rest…” If we sit all day, we tend to want to sit more, which leads to more and more and more…until life is a sedentary experience.

The other half of the inertia law states that “…a body in motion, tends to stay in motion”. People often tell me that it is just too hard to get a workout program started. I will add to that, the longer you wait, the harder it will be! So GET UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spend your workday sitting if that is what your job requires…but after that, GET UP! GET OUT OF THE CHAIR AND MOVE!!! GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY YOURSELF!!! Play, dance, run, walk, hike, go for a swim, go to the park, fire up the grill, shoot some hoops, play catch, do something but GET UP AND MOVE!!! Life is passing by very, very quickly. Grab something and hold on tight for the ride…or just sit there and watch the rest of us have all the fun!! …and remember to laugh along the way since “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter” -E E Cummings.

Make the most of the day and spend more time UP OUT OF YOUR SEAT!! …we only get one chance.

WRITER’S BLOCK

I got it…bad! I made a HUGE shift in the style and format of my blog and my mind has been trying to process it ever since. Change is the only thing constant in this lifetime, however it is amazing how much of a challenge it is at times. I am excited about this new blog and I hope you enjoy it as well!

I have made some really big life changes in this past month also and I have needed a little extra time and space to process all of that. All good things, really good things, but nonetheless it has been a huge shift.

Fenton Chiropractor 1 — Standup Paddleboarding at sunset

It almost feels like if my life was a deck of cards and I threw it all up in the air…the processing sometimes feels like I am picking up each card one by one, and placing them in a orderly pile again.

I have learned a lot about myself in this time. I have a strong awareness that I am a “practical” person when it comes to life and especially when it comes to buying things. I buy things that are useful and necessary, or something that I can use in a couple different areas of my life, or something that I can use now but will fit my life for a long time in the future, or something that I can use and someone else could get some use out of it as well, or something that just makese sense. It would be fun, and I know you would get a kick out of it, if there was a way to record my internal dialogue when I am in the process of making a purchase.

I remember back when I was just over a year into practice and I was out shopping. I came across a sweater that I absolutely loved and I really wanted to buy it. Being a student for so many years, the thought of buying a sweater that costs over $70 (or any article of clothing besides a winter jacket) was not even in question. I saw the sweater, I tried it on, it was (and still is) beatufiul and I knew I would get good use out of it. It took me 5 phone calls to girlfriends and a call to my mother in order for me to rationalize and justify the purchase. So if that was what happened on the outside, just imagine the internal dialogue, I torture myself at times when it comes to making almost all purchases.

What I realize in the midst of the interal dialogue termoil is that it takes some fun out of it, being practical all the time takes some fun out of life. Then add to that the fact that the weeks, months and years are slipping by life going WAY TOO FAST!!!

So my goal is to have more fun. Do more things that make me smile and laugh and not take things so seriously. I will be playing my music loudly and singing and dancing in my car…and at home with Choco (my chocolate lab)…on a regular basis. If you see me, JOIN ME! I will hang out with people that inspire me and look for groups of people to be around that make me laugh. I will spend more time seeing the world through the eyes of litlte ones…my neices and nephew and all the rest of the kids in my practice and in my life. I will spend more time around the water, at the yoga studio, in my kayak, in my running shoes, in my swimming goggles, on my paddleboard, with my family and with my friends, and in front of the computer blogging…because that is what I love to do!

What things to you love to do? Life is so, so short…and we only get one chance.