Gracie Allen
One of my favorite comedians was Gracie Allen. Gracie Allen was born Grace Cecile Rosalie Allen in San Francisco in 1895 To Margaret (Darraugh) and George Allen Her father toured the vaudeville circuit as a song and dance man, and at the age of three or four she appeared in his act dressed in a top hat and suit. In 1922 she met George Burns and the unique talent of Gracie Allen to be unconsciously funny made the Burns and Allen the greatest husband and wife comedy team of all time. Some of their most famous lines are below:
George: Did you ever hear that silence is golden?
Gracie: No, what station are they on?
George: It's an adage, you know what an adage is?
Gracie: Oh sure, that's where you keep your old trunks.
George: Do you like to love?
Gracie: No.
George: Do you like to kiss?
Gracie: No.
George: What do you like?
Gracie: Lamb chops.
George: A little girl like you, can you eat two big lamb chops alone?
Gracie: No, but with potatoes I could.
Gracie: Did you know my brother was held up by two men last night?
George: For how much?
Gracie: Oh, all the way home!
George: You're absolutely brilliant. I'm beginning to think you are a wizard.
Gracie: I'm a wizard?
George: Yes. You know what a wizard is.
Gracie: Yes, a snowstorm.
George: Well, if that's a snowstorm, then what's a blizzard?
Gracie: A blizzard is the inside of a chicken. Anybody knows that.
George: Then if that's a blizzard, what's a lizard?
Gracie: A lizard is a man that's smart... A genius.
George: Did something happen to you when you were a baby?
Gracie: When I was born I was so surprised I couldn't talk for a year and a half.
George: Gracie what do you think of television?
Gracie: I think it's wonderful- I hardly ever watch radio anymore.
Gracie: I'll never forget the night I had to call the doctor for my cousin Marie...she got up in the middle of the night and gave the biggest scream you ever heard.
George: What happened?
Gracie: We looked down and her feet had turned black.
George: What did you do?
Gracie: We sent for the doctor.
George: What did the doctor do?
Gracie: He took off her stockings and we all went back to sleep again.
Gracie: Blanche, I heard some gossip about you from a woman.
Blanche: Oh, what was it?
Gracie: I don't remember- I forgot it the minute I told it to her.
Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Funny Quotes
I'm apathetic and I don't care.
Graffiti
I'm marching to a different kettle of fish.
Graffiti
The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing, and then marry him.
Cher
The surest way to be alone is to get married.
Gloria Steinem
The difference between owning a book and borrowing a book is that when you own it you can get food on it.
Susan Catherine
Life is a glorious cycle of song.
A medley of extemporania:
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
And I am Marie of Rumania
Dorothy Parker
You should always believe all you read in the newspapers, as this makes them more interesting.
Rose Macaulay
It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.
Dolly Parton
There's not much good in the worst of us, and so many of the worst of us get the best of us, that the rest of us aren't even worth talking about.
Gracie Allen
Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
Lily Tomlin
Love conquers all things except poverty and a toothache.
Mae West
Before the Iraq War started, a friend of mine proposed that Bush and Hussein go off to a small room together. I figured she'd say that the two of them should just slug it out. But no, she suggested that they go into the room, close the door, pull down their pants, and compare penis sizes. Whoever's was bigger, would be declared the winner and everybody could go home.
Ellen Orleans
Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas.
Paula Poundstone
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogstop.com
I'm apathetic and I don't care.
Graffiti
I'm marching to a different kettle of fish.
Graffiti
The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing, and then marry him.
Cher
The surest way to be alone is to get married.
Gloria Steinem
The difference between owning a book and borrowing a book is that when you own it you can get food on it.
Susan Catherine
Life is a glorious cycle of song.
A medley of extemporania:
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
And I am Marie of Rumania
Dorothy Parker
You should always believe all you read in the newspapers, as this makes them more interesting.
Rose Macaulay
It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.
Dolly Parton
There's not much good in the worst of us, and so many of the worst of us get the best of us, that the rest of us aren't even worth talking about.
Gracie Allen
Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
Lily Tomlin
Love conquers all things except poverty and a toothache.
Mae West
Before the Iraq War started, a friend of mine proposed that Bush and Hussein go off to a small room together. I figured she'd say that the two of them should just slug it out. But no, she suggested that they go into the room, close the door, pull down their pants, and compare penis sizes. Whoever's was bigger, would be declared the winner and everybody could go home.
Ellen Orleans
Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas.
Paula Poundstone
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogstop.com
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Tis The Season to be Blue
This is the time of year, where many of us feel blue. This is the time of year, where many of us feel depressed. This is the time of year, where many of us feel frustrated. This is the time of year, where many of us feel disappointed.
We are told that we should be happy. We are told that we should feel joy. We are told that we should feel grateful. We are told that we should feel like giving to others. We are told that we should feel excited.
Too often we are tired. Too often we spend too much money. Too often we don't have the energy. Too often we spend too much time, energy and money, in two months, and we spend the next ten months trying to make it up.
I have to ask WHY? What is the reason we do these things. Why don't we make things simpler. I remember my Mom would run herself ragged for the holidays and than feel very disappointed after it was all over.
It is getting so bad that we have Christmas music on the radio now even before Thanksgiving. So what can we do to be less stressed during the holidays. Below is my top ten list.
1. Lower your expectations
2. Keep it simple
3. Laugh
4. Get extra sleep
5. Set a realistic budget and stick to it
6. Laugh
7. Spend more time with family and friends instead or shopping for presents for family and friends
8. Set a limit on what you spend on each gift
9. Laugh
10. Make up your mind to have fun, no matter what
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogstop.com/
This is the time of year, where many of us feel blue. This is the time of year, where many of us feel depressed. This is the time of year, where many of us feel frustrated. This is the time of year, where many of us feel disappointed.
We are told that we should be happy. We are told that we should feel joy. We are told that we should feel grateful. We are told that we should feel like giving to others. We are told that we should feel excited.
Too often we are tired. Too often we spend too much money. Too often we don't have the energy. Too often we spend too much time, energy and money, in two months, and we spend the next ten months trying to make it up.
I have to ask WHY? What is the reason we do these things. Why don't we make things simpler. I remember my Mom would run herself ragged for the holidays and than feel very disappointed after it was all over.
It is getting so bad that we have Christmas music on the radio now even before Thanksgiving. So what can we do to be less stressed during the holidays. Below is my top ten list.
1. Lower your expectations
2. Keep it simple
3. Laugh
4. Get extra sleep
5. Set a realistic budget and stick to it
6. Laugh
7. Spend more time with family and friends instead or shopping for presents for family and friends
8. Set a limit on what you spend on each gift
9. Laugh
10. Make up your mind to have fun, no matter what
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogstop.com/
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Lessons from the Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz has some wonderful lessons on how to live a happy and productive life. Let me explain. Dorothy and Toto find themselves due to a tornado in a strange land. Dorothy immediately has a long term goal. She wants to get back to Kansas. And because she does not know how to achieve it, she starts asking questions, and for help to get back to Kansas. We all need long term goals for our life, and a life purpose. Once we have that, we need to do as Dorothy did and ask questions and ask for help. By asking the questions she found a solution to her long term goal. The solution became her short term goal and that solution was to see the Wizard of Oz, who she was told, could help her.
So she set out down the "Yellow Brick Road." Almost immediately she meets the Scarecrow, and helped him get off the post he was on. His long term goal was to get a "brain," and Dorothy invited him to join her to see the Wizard. Now they could help each other and they both had the same short term goal to go to the Wizard. In life, we meet people who we can help and in turn they can help us. So Dorothy, Toto, and the Scarecrow, set off to see the Wizard.
They hadn't gone far down the "Yellow Brick Road," when they ran into the Tin Man. They helped oil him so that he could move again, and his long term goal was to get a "heart." His short term goal was the same as Dorothy, and the Scarecrow, to go to the Wizard. Now there support group, and network was increasing.
A little further down the "Yellow Brick Road," they ran into the Cowardly Lion. The Cowardly Lion tried to scare Toto, and Dorothy hit the Cowardly Lion in the nose, and he started to cry. It turns out his long term goal was to have courage, and so he joined the group to obtain his short term goal of going to the Wizard. Now the group was complete.
The group set off to visit the Wizard, who would help them with their goals. But immediately, they ran into an obstacle or barrier. The Wicked Witch caused the poppy field that they were going through to be poisonous, and they fell asleep. Now in life, we will run into barriers, and we will need help in the form of mentors (or femtors) to help us, as Glenda. the Good Witch provided. Glenda, the Good Witch made it snow and therefore woke up Dorothy, Toto, and their friends.
Because of this obstacle or barrier, Dorothy and her friends could have decided to give up, but they didn't. They still wanted to reach their long and short term goals, so they set off down "The Yellow Brick Road."
How many of us give up on our dreams when we ran into a obstacle or barrier?
They reach the Wizard and he tells them that he won't grant them their wishes until they bring back the Wicked Witch's broom. Well, now their goals have changed. They still have their individual long term goals, but their common short term goal has now changed. It is to get the Wicked Witch's broom. They are not really sure how they are going to do this. Dorothy thinks that if they just ask, maybe the Wicked Witch will give it to them. The others think that Dorothy may have smoked some of the poppies they went through. They know the Wicked Witch will not give up her broom without a fight.
After all, the Wicked Witch is not too happy about the fact that Dorothy and her house fell on and killed her sister. And the Wicked Witch wants the Emerald Slippers, which Dorothy stole off her sister's feet. Along the way to the Wicked Witch's castle, the Wicked Witch sends her Winged Monkey's who tear the scarecrow apart, and take Dorothy and Toto to her castle. The Wicked Witch has an hour glass and she warns Dorothy that she will kill her and take the slippers within the hour if Dorothy doesn't give them to her. Toto escapes and runs to find the others and leads them to Dorothy.
In the meantime the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion have put the stuffing back into the Scarecrow and he is all better. About that time Toto finds the three friends and leads them to the castle. The three work together and plan their rescue of Dorothy. They knock off some of the guards that are marching in front of the castle and slip in as guards. The Cowardly Lion has to hide his tail under his uniform.
As a child watching the movie I always thought they took too much time hugging and kissing Dorothy, when they found her. And sure enough in their reunion celebration the Wicked Witch founds them. She is not a happy camper, or even witch, and takes her broom and puts it in a fire and is going to kill the Scarecrow by putting him on fire. Dorothy in an act of courage, grabs some water, and tosses it on the Scarecrow and the Wicked Witch, and she starts to melt, and says very dramatically, "I'm melting, melting." It was very cool.
Now this unlikely group of friends or support group, had accomplished their short term goal of getting the broom. Their individual long term goals are still all in place. Getting the broom back to the Wizard, becomes their short term goal. Since the Wicked Witch is dead that is a easy goal to achieve.
They take the broom back to the Wizard and this is where they find out that the Wizard is a fake. However, from him they learn some important lessons. The Scarecrow is given a diploma from the Wizard, but learns that all along he already had a "brain" and was smart. He just needed someone to believe in him, or tell him so that he could believe in himself. The Tin Man is given a clock, shaped like a "heart," and he discovers that he always had a "heart." He just needed the Wizard to point this out to him. The Cowardly Lion was given a bravery medal from the Wizard, and like the others he always had "courage" within himself, he just needed someone to point it out.
Dorothy then says, "What about me." The Wizard says, "I am an old Kansas man, and now that I am found out, I want to go back to Kansas. And I just happen to have a balloon that will take us there." After all the speeches and crying and hugging, Dorothy and Toto get on the balloon with the Wizard, and right when the balloon starts to go up, Toto runs off the balloon, and of course Dorothy, won't leave her beloved Toto.
The Wizard can't stop the balloon, and he leaves Dorothy and Toto. Dorothy now is very upset and believes that she will never get home. At this time Glenda, the Good Witch, comes to the rescue. She tells Dorothy that she always had the power to get home; she just needed someone to tell her. Glenda, the Good Witch tells her to click her heels together three times and say, "There is no place like home." Dorothy does that and she wakes up in her home with her Auntie Em and Uncle.
So the lessons of the Wizard of Oz are:
- Have short term and long term goals and change them to meet your needs
- Ask questions and for help
- Have a strong support group of people who support you and who you support
- Know that you will encounter barrier or obstacles and still believe in yourself and your goals
- Have mentors and femtors that help you
- Know that all the skills, knowledge, and talent that you need is already inside of you
- Believe in yourself and your dreams
- Have a purpose for your life and write it down
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Monday, October 29, 2007
Some Comedy Quotes
OK, every time the president comes up with a new secret tactic to take down al Queda, the media blows its cover: torture, monitoring our e-mails, secret prisons, all perfectly reasonable, temporary concessions of freedom that will only be in effect as long as our never-ending war of terror.
- Steve Colbert
Ladies and gentlemen, the face of evil, the Hitler of our generation. Let's hear his terrifying words (on screen: Ahmadinejad claiming that there are no homosexuals in Iran)... That's so interesting that there are no homosexuals in Iran because in America, there are no homosexuals in our conservative movement either.
- Jon Stewart
If I had known this would have made you so happy, I would have told you years ago.
J.K. Rowling- author of the "Harry Potter" series, on the gasps and giggles that seized her audience at an event in New York after she casually revealed that Dumbledore, the fictional headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.
Every family has a black sheep.
Bill Burton, spokesperson for presidential candidate Barack Obama, on the revelation that Vice President Dick Cheney is a distant cousin of Obaam's.
New Rule: For the next 18 months, let Brush be Reagan. A completely dissociative personality who lets the real work of the nation go on elsewhere, while he sits behind his desk and hums. I don't think the problem is that Bush lives in a bubble. I say make the bubble thicker. Use the armor we can't get to the troops. For example on this whole "bomb Iran" thing. Let's not, and just tell him we did. Who's going to tell him the truth? Rove? Gonzales? Rummy? Scooter? Harriet Miers? It's like a haunted house. The douche bag cupboard is bare. According to the Times of London, the Air Force has drawn up plans for massive strikes against 1,200 targets in Iran. The plan doesn't just call for eliminating Iran's nuclear program, but for taking out its entire military in one blow. Can Brush destroy another country's whole army? Why not? He did it to ours. We'll get Condi to slip him a note. "Mr. President, Iran is free!" And he'll scribble some garbled bullshit on it. like "let freedom Purple Rain" and that will be that. Mission Accomplished. Oh, and the astronauts you sent to Mars just called. They said to say, "hi."
- Bill Maher
I stay away from the miserable people, because misery does love company. Just look at a fly strip. You never see a fly stuck there saying. "Go around." Go around."
- Margaret Smith
OK, every time the president comes up with a new secret tactic to take down al Queda, the media blows its cover: torture, monitoring our e-mails, secret prisons, all perfectly reasonable, temporary concessions of freedom that will only be in effect as long as our never-ending war of terror.
- Steve Colbert
Ladies and gentlemen, the face of evil, the Hitler of our generation. Let's hear his terrifying words (on screen: Ahmadinejad claiming that there are no homosexuals in Iran)... That's so interesting that there are no homosexuals in Iran because in America, there are no homosexuals in our conservative movement either.
- Jon Stewart
If I had known this would have made you so happy, I would have told you years ago.
J.K. Rowling- author of the "Harry Potter" series, on the gasps and giggles that seized her audience at an event in New York after she casually revealed that Dumbledore, the fictional headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.
Every family has a black sheep.
Bill Burton, spokesperson for presidential candidate Barack Obama, on the revelation that Vice President Dick Cheney is a distant cousin of Obaam's.
New Rule: For the next 18 months, let Brush be Reagan. A completely dissociative personality who lets the real work of the nation go on elsewhere, while he sits behind his desk and hums. I don't think the problem is that Bush lives in a bubble. I say make the bubble thicker. Use the armor we can't get to the troops. For example on this whole "bomb Iran" thing. Let's not, and just tell him we did. Who's going to tell him the truth? Rove? Gonzales? Rummy? Scooter? Harriet Miers? It's like a haunted house. The douche bag cupboard is bare. According to the Times of London, the Air Force has drawn up plans for massive strikes against 1,200 targets in Iran. The plan doesn't just call for eliminating Iran's nuclear program, but for taking out its entire military in one blow. Can Brush destroy another country's whole army? Why not? He did it to ours. We'll get Condi to slip him a note. "Mr. President, Iran is free!" And he'll scribble some garbled bullshit on it. like "let freedom Purple Rain" and that will be that. Mission Accomplished. Oh, and the astronauts you sent to Mars just called. They said to say, "hi."
- Bill Maher
I stay away from the miserable people, because misery does love company. Just look at a fly strip. You never see a fly stuck there saying. "Go around." Go around."
- Margaret Smith
Monday, October 15, 2007
Laugh. Just Laugh.
We possess one of the most powerful ways to stay happy and healthy and it is laughter. Children know this. They laugh about 300 to 400 times a day. We, as adults have forgotten how to laugh. We laugh about 8 to 15 times. Laughter is physical. Humor is mental. You do not have to have a reason to laugh. Let me repeat that. You do not have to have a reason to laugh.
If you look for laughter it will find you. William James, considered the father of modern education said, "We don't laugh, because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh." If some of us waited to be happy before we laughed we would never laugh. Or as Oscar Wilde said, "Life is too important to take seriously."
I totally believe in the Law of Attraction, which tells that what we focus on we get. If I focus on my life being serious, it will be serious. If I focus on my life being happy, and fun, and full of laughter. It will be happy, and fun, and full of laughter.
I don't know about you but I want happiness, fun, and laughter in my life. So, what are some things you might do? Try doing the following, which come from my book, Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life:
- Pledge to yourself that every person you run across during the day you will help smile or laugh.
- Use exaggeration to help get perspective. Jokingly expand the situation to life and death proportions.
- Be more playful. Try being dramatic, silly, and improvisational. Others will pick up your spirit and laughter.
- Remember personal stories from your own lives that, in retrospect, are humorous. Offer these anecdotes as an antidote when others encounter problems,
- When an embarrassing moment happens to you share it with your friends and family.
- Make a list of potential stressful situations and prepare humorous responses.
- Carry a funny picture, cartoon, or joke, in your wallet or purse and look at it when you are feeling depressed.
- Hang out with people who laugh and find joy in their life
Most important Laugh. Just Laugh.
Jana RuthAuthor of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com/
Sunday, October 07, 2007
The Twelve Pathways
In 1972 The Twelve Pathways were created by Ken Keyes, Jr,. author of "The Hundredth Monkey, and "How to Enjoy Your Life In Spite of It All," and other books. The The Twelve Pathways is just as valuable today as it was in 1972 that is why I am sharing it with you and excited about it. These Pathways are a modern, practical condensation of thousands of accumulated wisdom.
Many of the concepts in The Twelve Pathways are similar to the concepts from The Secret. they relate to the Law of Attraction. The concept that you create your reality with your thoughts. Our thoughts create our feelings that create our behavior. You are the creator of your life.
It is highly suggested that you use The Twelve Pathways in interpreting your moment-to-moment stream of consciousness. By doing so it can lead you into higher consciousness and enable you to find the love, happiness, wisdom, and fulfillment that is your birthright in life.
To benefit the most from The Twelve Pathways, memorize them word perfectly. Memorizing them is the best way to have them readily available when you need them. By memorizing them you will not have to paraphrase or put them in other words. Each of The Pathways is loaded with several systematically interlocking concepts that help you create a more harmonious enjoyment of your life.
The Twelve Pathways
Freeing Myself
1. I am freeing myself from security, sensation and power addictions that make me try to forcefully control situations in my life, and thus destroy my serenity and keep me from loving myself and others.
2. I am discovering how my consciousness dominating addictions create my illusory version of the changing world of people and situations around me.
3. I welcome the opportunity (even if painful) that my minute-to-minute experience offers me to become aware of the addictions I must reprogram to be liberated from my robot-like emotional patterns.
Be Here Now
4. I always remember that I have everything I need to enjoy my here and now- unless I am letting my consciousness be dominated by demands and expectations based on the dead past or the imagined future.
5. I take fully responsibility here and now for everything I experience, for it is my own programming that creates my actions and influences the reactions of people around me.
6. I accept myself completely here and now consciously experience everything I feel, think, say, and do (including my emotion-backed addictions) as a necessary part of my growth into higher consciousness
Interacting With Others
7. I open myself genuinely to all people by being willing to fully communicate my deepest feelings, since hiding in any degree keeps me stuck in my illusion of separateness from other people.
8. I feel with loving compassion the problems of others without getting caught up emotionally in their predicaments that are offering them messages they need for their growth.
9. I act freely when I am tuned in, centered, and loving, but if possible I avoid acting when I am upset and depriving myself of the wisdom that flows from love and expanded consciousness.
Discovering My Conscious Awareness
10. I am continually calming the restless scanning of my rational mind in order to perceive the finer energies that enable me to intuitively merge with everything around me.
11. I am constantly aware of which of the Seven Centers of Consciousness ( 1. The Security Center, 2. The Sensation Center, 3. The Power Center, 4. The Love Center, 5. The Cornucopia Center, 6. The Conscious Awareness Center, 7. The Cosmic Consciousness Center), I am using, and I feel my energy, perceptiveness, love, and inner peace growing as I open all the Centers of Consciousness.
12. I am perceiving everyone, including myself as an awakening being who is here to claim his or her birthright to the higher consciousness planes of unconditional love and oneness.
I believe that if we all followed The Twelve Pathways, we would find a happier, healthier, and more Laughing World.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
janabanana15@cox.net
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com/
In 1972 The Twelve Pathways were created by Ken Keyes, Jr,. author of "The Hundredth Monkey, and "How to Enjoy Your Life In Spite of It All," and other books. The The Twelve Pathways is just as valuable today as it was in 1972 that is why I am sharing it with you and excited about it. These Pathways are a modern, practical condensation of thousands of accumulated wisdom.
Many of the concepts in The Twelve Pathways are similar to the concepts from The Secret. they relate to the Law of Attraction. The concept that you create your reality with your thoughts. Our thoughts create our feelings that create our behavior. You are the creator of your life.
It is highly suggested that you use The Twelve Pathways in interpreting your moment-to-moment stream of consciousness. By doing so it can lead you into higher consciousness and enable you to find the love, happiness, wisdom, and fulfillment that is your birthright in life.
To benefit the most from The Twelve Pathways, memorize them word perfectly. Memorizing them is the best way to have them readily available when you need them. By memorizing them you will not have to paraphrase or put them in other words. Each of The Pathways is loaded with several systematically interlocking concepts that help you create a more harmonious enjoyment of your life.
The Twelve Pathways
Freeing Myself
1. I am freeing myself from security, sensation and power addictions that make me try to forcefully control situations in my life, and thus destroy my serenity and keep me from loving myself and others.
2. I am discovering how my consciousness dominating addictions create my illusory version of the changing world of people and situations around me.
3. I welcome the opportunity (even if painful) that my minute-to-minute experience offers me to become aware of the addictions I must reprogram to be liberated from my robot-like emotional patterns.
Be Here Now
4. I always remember that I have everything I need to enjoy my here and now- unless I am letting my consciousness be dominated by demands and expectations based on the dead past or the imagined future.
5. I take fully responsibility here and now for everything I experience, for it is my own programming that creates my actions and influences the reactions of people around me.
6. I accept myself completely here and now consciously experience everything I feel, think, say, and do (including my emotion-backed addictions) as a necessary part of my growth into higher consciousness
Interacting With Others
7. I open myself genuinely to all people by being willing to fully communicate my deepest feelings, since hiding in any degree keeps me stuck in my illusion of separateness from other people.
8. I feel with loving compassion the problems of others without getting caught up emotionally in their predicaments that are offering them messages they need for their growth.
9. I act freely when I am tuned in, centered, and loving, but if possible I avoid acting when I am upset and depriving myself of the wisdom that flows from love and expanded consciousness.
Discovering My Conscious Awareness
10. I am continually calming the restless scanning of my rational mind in order to perceive the finer energies that enable me to intuitively merge with everything around me.
11. I am constantly aware of which of the Seven Centers of Consciousness ( 1. The Security Center, 2. The Sensation Center, 3. The Power Center, 4. The Love Center, 5. The Cornucopia Center, 6. The Conscious Awareness Center, 7. The Cosmic Consciousness Center), I am using, and I feel my energy, perceptiveness, love, and inner peace growing as I open all the Centers of Consciousness.
12. I am perceiving everyone, including myself as an awakening being who is here to claim his or her birthright to the higher consciousness planes of unconditional love and oneness.
I believe that if we all followed The Twelve Pathways, we would find a happier, healthier, and more Laughing World.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
janabanana15@cox.net
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 21, 2007
The Art of Concentration
I love Emmet Fox (1886-1951), scientist, philosopher, and spiritual teacher, was a leader in the New Thought Movement, and an early contributor to Alcoholic's Anonymous. He is a author of many books and a readership in the million. Anyway, this is Emmet Fox's take on Concentration:
The only subject that matters is getting an understanding of Truth, developing our souls; but in order to develop our souls we must have some knowledge of the power of concentration. If you can learn and practice right concentration, there is no good thing in the universe that you cannot attain. Concentration means literally 'bringing to a common center." Until you can put your attention where you want it you have not become master of yourself. You will have be happy until you can determine what you are going to think about for the next hour.
First make your body comfortable, then tell it to be good until you come back for it. Concentration has nothing to do with the muscles, it has nothing to do with the blood vessels. Concentration means thought control. It is purely a mental thing and if you are rightly concentrating you will find you are actually relaxed.
People imagine that concentration means holding on to one thought. The human mind is so constituted that it is impossible to do that. True concentration is a movement of the mind along a predetermined path. Nineteen people out of twenty people who say they have failed in concentration have been trying to stand still mentally. All people do have good powers of concentration, but not when they want them. You always concentrate on what you are interested in.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
I love Emmet Fox (1886-1951), scientist, philosopher, and spiritual teacher, was a leader in the New Thought Movement, and an early contributor to Alcoholic's Anonymous. He is a author of many books and a readership in the million. Anyway, this is Emmet Fox's take on Concentration:
The only subject that matters is getting an understanding of Truth, developing our souls; but in order to develop our souls we must have some knowledge of the power of concentration. If you can learn and practice right concentration, there is no good thing in the universe that you cannot attain. Concentration means literally 'bringing to a common center." Until you can put your attention where you want it you have not become master of yourself. You will have be happy until you can determine what you are going to think about for the next hour.
First make your body comfortable, then tell it to be good until you come back for it. Concentration has nothing to do with the muscles, it has nothing to do with the blood vessels. Concentration means thought control. It is purely a mental thing and if you are rightly concentrating you will find you are actually relaxed.
People imagine that concentration means holding on to one thought. The human mind is so constituted that it is impossible to do that. True concentration is a movement of the mind along a predetermined path. Nineteen people out of twenty people who say they have failed in concentration have been trying to stand still mentally. All people do have good powers of concentration, but not when they want them. You always concentrate on what you are interested in.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Friday, September 07, 2007
Laugh Just Laugh!
You don't need a reason to laugh. If you just fake a laugh you get the benefits of a real laugh. Don't wait for a reason to laugh. Sometimes in this serious life, a good reason for laughing never comes. William James said, "We don't laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh. Many of us would never laugh if we waited for a reason.
Laughter is physical, humor is intellectual. We can laugh any time we want to for no reason. Children laugh about 300 to 400 times a day. Adults laugh between 8 and 15. What happened?As adults many of us start to take life way too seriously. As Woody Allen said, "You might as well enjoy life, because you are not going to get out of life alive anyway."
Listed below are ways to bring more laughter into your life:
* Read or collect humorous material from your favorite comedy writers and comedians.
* Collect cartoons and jokes you enjoy from the Internet, newspapers, magazine, etc. Share these with your friends, co-workers, and family, and even complete strangers.
* Pledge to yourself that every person you run across during the day you will help smile or laugh.
* Use exaggeration to help get perspective. Jokingly expand the situation to life and death proportions.
* Be more playful. Try being dramatic, silly, and improvisational. Others will pick up your spirit and laughter.
So laugh just laugh. And if you can't do it for real, just say TEE HEE! HOO HOO and give the best fake laugh you can.
Laughter is probably the only thing that faking it is almost as good as the real thing.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com/
Check out the following article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-standup_0407gl.ART.State.Edition1.4499333.html
You don't need a reason to laugh. If you just fake a laugh you get the benefits of a real laugh. Don't wait for a reason to laugh. Sometimes in this serious life, a good reason for laughing never comes. William James said, "We don't laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh. Many of us would never laugh if we waited for a reason.
Laughter is physical, humor is intellectual. We can laugh any time we want to for no reason. Children laugh about 300 to 400 times a day. Adults laugh between 8 and 15. What happened?As adults many of us start to take life way too seriously. As Woody Allen said, "You might as well enjoy life, because you are not going to get out of life alive anyway."
Listed below are ways to bring more laughter into your life:
* Read or collect humorous material from your favorite comedy writers and comedians.
* Collect cartoons and jokes you enjoy from the Internet, newspapers, magazine, etc. Share these with your friends, co-workers, and family, and even complete strangers.
* Pledge to yourself that every person you run across during the day you will help smile or laugh.
* Use exaggeration to help get perspective. Jokingly expand the situation to life and death proportions.
* Be more playful. Try being dramatic, silly, and improvisational. Others will pick up your spirit and laughter.
So laugh just laugh. And if you can't do it for real, just say TEE HEE! HOO HOO and give the best fake laugh you can.
Laughter is probably the only thing that faking it is almost as good as the real thing.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com/
Check out the following article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-standup_0407gl.ART.State.Edition1.4499333.html
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Where are All The Women?
There you are. It is the first World Championship Speech Contest that you have ever attended. You belong to the organization that sponsors this contest and you know that half of the membership is like you, or at least the same gender. You know that there are people in your gender high up in the organization. You know that there are people in your gender in speech contests, because you have seen them, because you have been in contests yourself.
You are excited and looking forward to this. The room is large with hundreds, maybe even a thousand people there. Half the audience is people from your gender. So you sit ready, for the contest, actually more like a show, to begin. The first person to speak, is a member of the opposite gender. The second person to speak is a member of your gender; in fact this person has the same first name as you. This is unusual, but nice, since you have a name, not too many people have.
You look at the program, and the name of the contestants catches your eye. It seems from the names that at the most only 2 people might be of your gender. You find that odd, and wonder if there might some subtle discrimination that no one talks about or is even aware of.
The contest starts and one member after another of the opposite gender than yours comes forward to participate. There are different races and nationalities, and even one disabled person competing, and that is all good. In fact the 1 member of your gender that is a contestant is a member of a minority race.
So in a contest with 10 people, 9 people are from the gender other than yours , and there is only 1 person in your gender. With a 9 to 1 ratio, the person that is from your gender, has a slim change in winning.
In fact the organization that you belong to and who is sponsoring this event has been around since 1932 and has held World Championship in Public Speaking contests since 1938. However your gender was not allowed to join until 1973. Since 1973 there have been only 3 members of your gender that have won, and the last one was in 1986.
For an organization that has a policy of non-discrimination (including based on ethnicity, nationality, and gender), this is a upsetting fact. I think this discrimination in the World Championship Contests is not overt, I think it is unconscious. After all there are members of my gender, who act as judges. This unconscious discrimination I think comes from a belief that still is hold by many in society that members of my gender are just inferior speakers.
This is ridiculous, considering all the research that shows that people of my gender are better communicators. We start speaking at a much earlier age and by age 3 we have twice the vocabulary of the opposite gender. We continue to excel in communications. If there is one area in which my gender has an advantage, it is in public speaking.
In doing some research, I have found that this organization does a very good job of inclusion for ethnicity and nationality, and even disability. Unfortunately, this inclusion only includes one gender and not the other.
A young person, from my opposite gender, and from other country than the U.S. was sitting next to me at the contest, and was confused with my disappointment at the lack of members of my gender. I asked this person if their gender was only represented by a 1 in 10 ratio if this person might be upset. The reply was a resounding, Yes.
So what is the solution? I think that awareness is the first option. I think this is an issue that we need to think about and talk about. By seeing one member of the same gender win year after year, is quite discouraging to the other gender.
The gender that always wins is, of course ,men, and the gender that has only won 3 times in the past 34 years is women, of which gender I proudly belong to.
So the organization is Toastmasters International which has more than 226,000 members and 11,300 clubs in 90 countries, including 73 clubs in Phoenix alone. And each year more than 10,000 members of Toastmasters International compete in this speech contest. The competition begins at the club level with winners advancing to area and regional contest, and it culminates each August during the International Convention where 10 finalist contend for the top honor.
So are you telling me that out of 10,000 members, many of them who I know must be women, only 1 woman is able to make up the 10 finalists? As I congratulated the one woman contestant and mentioned her being the only woman contestant, she mentioned that "we, as women, just need to work harder."
I disagree. No matter how hard we work on speaking, we will never win on a regular basis, or even have more than 1 contestant out of 9, if people aren't aware that they are unconsciously discriminating again women. What would people say if one man of color hadn't won, or no man of disability had won. There would be outrage. And there are many less men of color and disability as members of Toastmasters than there are women, and there are more men of color and disabilities that have won than women.
So I must ask where are all the women? So I must ask when is Toastmaster's International going to live up to it's policy of non-discrimination against gender?
Come on. I know we can do better for the other gender.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com/
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot/
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Are Men Threatened by Funny Women?
There is a thought out there that women are just not funny. As a recovering stand-up comedian I found that many people, especially men almost dared me to make them laugh. They were sitting in the front row of a comedy club with their arms folded, almost saying, "So you think you are funny? I will decide that!" Research came out last year from the scientific journal "Evolution and Human Behavior." And it shows that men, are in fact, threatened by women's humor.
"Men see being funny as a male thing," explained Dr, Rod Martin, who led the project. Hundreds of men and women in their twenties were questioned. Asked if they found a sense of humor to be attractive in women, most men said yes. But when they were asked if they would want to be with a woman who cracked jokes herself, the answer was a resounding NO!
"When forced to choose between humor production and humor appreciation in potential partners, women valued humor production, whereas men valued receptivity to their own humor," said Dr. Martin.
More than half the men who took part in the survey revealed that a witty woman was not what they were looking for in partner. Dr. Martin said the findings suggested that men see themselves as the ones who should be delivering the lines and feel threatened by humorous women.
This study helps me understand the reluctance of the male members in my audience to laugh at my humor. Dr. Martin, who did the study and who is a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario, says the research may shed light on the failure of female stand-ups who struggle to impress some male audiences.
"One of the reasons why men don't life female comedians may be that humor is seen as a masculine thing," he said.
One of Britain's funniest females, Meera Syai, who co-wrote the starred in the BBC comedy show, "Goodness Gracious Me," said: "The idea that men are more interested in having an audience rather than sharing banter doesn't really surprise me. Women see men with a sense of humor is a mark or intelligence. Many men don't really want to be the recipient of a cutting remark in public that will make them look small or stupid."
Comedy definitely mirrors the culture, says comedian Kelley Lynn, who is also an adjunct professor who teaches a comedy class at Adelphi University, in Garden City, N.Y. She says she is amazed at the differences between her male and female students. "The boys just seem to come in with all this confidence, whether their material is funny or not. Whereas the girls come in and say, 'Is this funny?' Almost always the material is just as funny, if not more so, but the girls lack the confidence to deliver it with conviction. There will continue to be progress for woman in the world of comedy as the world changes, but it may take generations."
Certain roles have been acceptable for women since the rise of the mass media: the sexy vamp (think of Mae West), or the ditsy klutz (everyone from Carole Lombard to Lucille Ball and Debra Messing). "These roles aren't threatening to men, " says actress Jennifer Coolidge who has made a career of crafting cunning klutzy air headed females. She adds, "They play into men's stereotypes of women as sexpots or stupid."
Witness the recent column in Vanity Fair, which declared "Women Aren't Funny" (written by Christopher Hitchens) And despite the fact that his ABC comedy employed numerous funny women, comic Drew Carey says the prejudices are real. "It's not so much that women aren't funny, as that men don't want them to be funny. Comedy is about aggression and confrontation and power. As a culture we just don't allow women to do all that stuff."
All of this just goes to show that men are threatened by funny women. And I say, Too Bad! And get over it!
I want to leave you with some jokes:
My parents had a typical Catholic wedding. My father was a repressed homosexual and my mother was sedated.
How do you know if it's time to wash the dishes and clean your house? Look inside your pants. If you find a penis in there, it's not time.
Never trust a man with testicles.
And a Jana Ruth, because that's my name, joke.
Men may still rule the world, but can they fake orgasms?
Material taken from: "Why Men Don't Fancy Funny Women...because it scares the poor dear." by Roger Dobson in "The Independent" August 18, 2007 and "Are Women Allowed to be Funny," by Gloria Goodale in "The Christian Science Monitor," February 2, 2007
Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
There is a thought out there that women are just not funny. As a recovering stand-up comedian I found that many people, especially men almost dared me to make them laugh. They were sitting in the front row of a comedy club with their arms folded, almost saying, "So you think you are funny? I will decide that!" Research came out last year from the scientific journal "Evolution and Human Behavior." And it shows that men, are in fact, threatened by women's humor.
"Men see being funny as a male thing," explained Dr, Rod Martin, who led the project. Hundreds of men and women in their twenties were questioned. Asked if they found a sense of humor to be attractive in women, most men said yes. But when they were asked if they would want to be with a woman who cracked jokes herself, the answer was a resounding NO!
"When forced to choose between humor production and humor appreciation in potential partners, women valued humor production, whereas men valued receptivity to their own humor," said Dr. Martin.
More than half the men who took part in the survey revealed that a witty woman was not what they were looking for in partner. Dr. Martin said the findings suggested that men see themselves as the ones who should be delivering the lines and feel threatened by humorous women.
This study helps me understand the reluctance of the male members in my audience to laugh at my humor. Dr. Martin, who did the study and who is a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario, says the research may shed light on the failure of female stand-ups who struggle to impress some male audiences.
"One of the reasons why men don't life female comedians may be that humor is seen as a masculine thing," he said.
One of Britain's funniest females, Meera Syai, who co-wrote the starred in the BBC comedy show, "Goodness Gracious Me," said: "The idea that men are more interested in having an audience rather than sharing banter doesn't really surprise me. Women see men with a sense of humor is a mark or intelligence. Many men don't really want to be the recipient of a cutting remark in public that will make them look small or stupid."
Comedy definitely mirrors the culture, says comedian Kelley Lynn, who is also an adjunct professor who teaches a comedy class at Adelphi University, in Garden City, N.Y. She says she is amazed at the differences between her male and female students. "The boys just seem to come in with all this confidence, whether their material is funny or not. Whereas the girls come in and say, 'Is this funny?' Almost always the material is just as funny, if not more so, but the girls lack the confidence to deliver it with conviction. There will continue to be progress for woman in the world of comedy as the world changes, but it may take generations."
Certain roles have been acceptable for women since the rise of the mass media: the sexy vamp (think of Mae West), or the ditsy klutz (everyone from Carole Lombard to Lucille Ball and Debra Messing). "These roles aren't threatening to men, " says actress Jennifer Coolidge who has made a career of crafting cunning klutzy air headed females. She adds, "They play into men's stereotypes of women as sexpots or stupid."
Witness the recent column in Vanity Fair, which declared "Women Aren't Funny" (written by Christopher Hitchens) And despite the fact that his ABC comedy employed numerous funny women, comic Drew Carey says the prejudices are real. "It's not so much that women aren't funny, as that men don't want them to be funny. Comedy is about aggression and confrontation and power. As a culture we just don't allow women to do all that stuff."
All of this just goes to show that men are threatened by funny women. And I say, Too Bad! And get over it!
I want to leave you with some jokes:
My parents had a typical Catholic wedding. My father was a repressed homosexual and my mother was sedated.
How do you know if it's time to wash the dishes and clean your house? Look inside your pants. If you find a penis in there, it's not time.
Never trust a man with testicles.
And a Jana Ruth, because that's my name, joke.
Men may still rule the world, but can they fake orgasms?
Material taken from: "Why Men Don't Fancy Funny Women...because it scares the poor dear." by Roger Dobson in "The Independent" August 18, 2007 and "Are Women Allowed to be Funny," by Gloria Goodale in "The Christian Science Monitor," February 2, 2007
Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com
http://www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Plant Joy
I saw this phrase on my co-worker's door and I thought why can't we plant joy? We plant hate, and blame, and anger, and fear? Why not joy? Someone once told me that FEAR stood for F-false, E-evidence, A-appearing, R-real.
I believe that is true. We create our lives. We think about fear, we feel fear, and than we act in fear. Our thoughts, create our feeling, which create our actions, and behaviors, which finally create our lives. We are much more powerful than we know.
So how do we go about planting joy? I have made a list below.
1. Think joyful thoughts
2. Look for joy
3. Surround yourself with positive and joyful people
4. Be more like a child
5. Look for ways to plant joy
6. Commit to living a joyful life
7. Laugh as many times a day as possible
8. Be in the present
9. Be grateful for what you have
10 Forgive others and yourself
Think what a great world it would be if everyone spend a portion of each day planting joy?
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.om
I saw this phrase on my co-worker's door and I thought why can't we plant joy? We plant hate, and blame, and anger, and fear? Why not joy? Someone once told me that FEAR stood for F-false, E-evidence, A-appearing, R-real.
I believe that is true. We create our lives. We think about fear, we feel fear, and than we act in fear. Our thoughts, create our feeling, which create our actions, and behaviors, which finally create our lives. We are much more powerful than we know.
So how do we go about planting joy? I have made a list below.
1. Think joyful thoughts
2. Look for joy
3. Surround yourself with positive and joyful people
4. Be more like a child
5. Look for ways to plant joy
6. Commit to living a joyful life
7. Laugh as many times a day as possible
8. Be in the present
9. Be grateful for what you have
10 Forgive others and yourself
Think what a great world it would be if everyone spend a portion of each day planting joy?
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.om
Friday, August 10, 2007
I see Idiots, I see Idiots, Everywhere!
Idiot in the dictionary is a stupid or foolish person. Well, lately I have been seeing and attracting many people that fit under that category into my life. What worries me is that I totally believe that we are mirrors for each other. So if I am seeing and experiencing many idiot people, what does that say about me? It says that like everyone else I am human and at times I am stupid and foolish. I am idiot! What upsets me is that in this day and age idiots seem to be rewarded.
To me, unfortunately, too many idiots are in power. It seems that the only way to get power is to be an idiot. The biggest example is the present administration. I feel that this county is currently being led by idiots. Because the tone of a family, organization, or government is set by the leader, it seems that idiots are now in fashion.
As a much younger more naive person I believed that people in positions of power, were the most qualified, intelligent, and best people for their positions. Now, I believe that unfortunately it is the opposite. Most people in power are not the best, they just happened to know people, and in many cases other idiots.
I realize that people hire like people, which explains why idiots keep hiring idiots. What can one do to stop this tend? The only reasonable, non serving in prison answer, I think, is to keep your sense of humor and laugh.
My philosophy is that life is funny, and people are even funnier. I have to laugh at life and the idiots or I would be very depressed. What is the most funny to me is the fact that many idiots don't even know that they are idiots.
Most of the time these idiots are people that take themselves way too seriously, and can't laugh at themselves. They view life as a competition to see who has the most toys, not realizing that life could be much more fun, healthful, and joyful for us all.
Daniel Goleman in his book, "Social Intelligence," points out that we are much more connected with each other, than originally thought, and that idiots can literally make us sick. From the book, "Studies in Sweden of workers at different levels and in the United Kingdom among civil servants show that people in the lower positions in an organization are four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those in the top rungs, who don't have to put up with the whims of bosses such as themselves. Workers who feel unfairly criticised, or whose boss will not listen to their problems, have a rate of coronary heart disease 30 percent higher than those who feel treated fairly."
So not only do we have to put up with idiots but their actions can even make us sick. What can we do? Below are my suggestions for combating idiots.
Ideas for Combating Idiots
1. Acknowledge that they are everywhere, so you aren't surprised.
2. Laugh at them. If you can't laugh in their face, laugh behind their back.
3. Remind yourself that you can't control idiots or totally keep them out of your life, but you can choose how to respond to them.
4. Realize that deep down they are unhappy, fearful, and sad people, and have some empathy for them.
5. Refuse to be recruited into their fold. Don't become like them. Don't give up your power. No job, or relationship is worth it.
6. Continue to love and take care of yourself.
7. Surround yourself with positive, support people.
8. Change your paradigm and work on seeing them as capable, intelligent people and not idiots (this is the most challenging)
Good luck and maybe once I stop seeing myself as an idiot at times, I will stop seeing other people as idiots. Anything is possible.
Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Idiot in the dictionary is a stupid or foolish person. Well, lately I have been seeing and attracting many people that fit under that category into my life. What worries me is that I totally believe that we are mirrors for each other. So if I am seeing and experiencing many idiot people, what does that say about me? It says that like everyone else I am human and at times I am stupid and foolish. I am idiot! What upsets me is that in this day and age idiots seem to be rewarded.
To me, unfortunately, too many idiots are in power. It seems that the only way to get power is to be an idiot. The biggest example is the present administration. I feel that this county is currently being led by idiots. Because the tone of a family, organization, or government is set by the leader, it seems that idiots are now in fashion.
As a much younger more naive person I believed that people in positions of power, were the most qualified, intelligent, and best people for their positions. Now, I believe that unfortunately it is the opposite. Most people in power are not the best, they just happened to know people, and in many cases other idiots.
I realize that people hire like people, which explains why idiots keep hiring idiots. What can one do to stop this tend? The only reasonable, non serving in prison answer, I think, is to keep your sense of humor and laugh.
My philosophy is that life is funny, and people are even funnier. I have to laugh at life and the idiots or I would be very depressed. What is the most funny to me is the fact that many idiots don't even know that they are idiots.
Most of the time these idiots are people that take themselves way too seriously, and can't laugh at themselves. They view life as a competition to see who has the most toys, not realizing that life could be much more fun, healthful, and joyful for us all.
Daniel Goleman in his book, "Social Intelligence," points out that we are much more connected with each other, than originally thought, and that idiots can literally make us sick. From the book, "Studies in Sweden of workers at different levels and in the United Kingdom among civil servants show that people in the lower positions in an organization are four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those in the top rungs, who don't have to put up with the whims of bosses such as themselves. Workers who feel unfairly criticised, or whose boss will not listen to their problems, have a rate of coronary heart disease 30 percent higher than those who feel treated fairly."
So not only do we have to put up with idiots but their actions can even make us sick. What can we do? Below are my suggestions for combating idiots.
Ideas for Combating Idiots
1. Acknowledge that they are everywhere, so you aren't surprised.
2. Laugh at them. If you can't laugh in their face, laugh behind their back.
3. Remind yourself that you can't control idiots or totally keep them out of your life, but you can choose how to respond to them.
4. Realize that deep down they are unhappy, fearful, and sad people, and have some empathy for them.
5. Refuse to be recruited into their fold. Don't become like them. Don't give up your power. No job, or relationship is worth it.
6. Continue to love and take care of yourself.
7. Surround yourself with positive, support people.
8. Change your paradigm and work on seeing them as capable, intelligent people and not idiots (this is the most challenging)
Good luck and maybe once I stop seeing myself as an idiot at times, I will stop seeing other people as idiots. Anything is possible.
Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Fun is Not a Four Letter Word!
As we move into the Conceptual Age, which is past the Informational Age, right brained activities will be more important than left brained activities. Daniel Pink, in his new book, A Whole New Mind. Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future explains that the reason for this is the Three A's. Asia, Abundance, and Automation. So many jobs are being done in Asia, at much lower costs, so we Americans will have to be creative and innovative and come up with new jobs for ourselves to do. Abundance deals with the fact that we have so many products and services so much alike that we will have to come up with innovative products and services to gain customers. And Automation means that so many jobs are and will be automated that again we will have to create new jobs and careers.
I can hardly wait for us to move into this new Conceptual Age. As a long time right-brainer (innovative, spontaneous, dreamer, playful) I know how much more fun and productive being in the my right brain is instead of my left. For too long left-brainers (structured, organized, logical) have been in control. They are still in control and holding on for dear life.
Too many left-brained people think that fun in the workplace is a four-letter word. "This is work, no fun or play allowed." This paradigm is from the Industrial Age, that viewed the employee as the enemy by management, who had to be constantly watched. In the Conceptual age, employees are viewed as volunteers, who bring their whole selves to work. As Stephen R. Covey calls it "The Whole-Person Paradigm." Where every person brings their mind, heart, body, and spirit to work. To do this people must be allowed to have fun.
What stops so many managers from allowing people to have fun at work. I think that it is fear, and that people are struck in the old paradigm of the Industrial Age. It is time to get at least to the Informational Age, if not the Conceptual Age, and left-brainers move over, because us right brainers are ready and WE KNOW HOW TO HAVE FUN!!!!!
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
As we move into the Conceptual Age, which is past the Informational Age, right brained activities will be more important than left brained activities. Daniel Pink, in his new book, A Whole New Mind. Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future explains that the reason for this is the Three A's. Asia, Abundance, and Automation. So many jobs are being done in Asia, at much lower costs, so we Americans will have to be creative and innovative and come up with new jobs for ourselves to do. Abundance deals with the fact that we have so many products and services so much alike that we will have to come up with innovative products and services to gain customers. And Automation means that so many jobs are and will be automated that again we will have to create new jobs and careers.
I can hardly wait for us to move into this new Conceptual Age. As a long time right-brainer (innovative, spontaneous, dreamer, playful) I know how much more fun and productive being in the my right brain is instead of my left. For too long left-brainers (structured, organized, logical) have been in control. They are still in control and holding on for dear life.
Too many left-brained people think that fun in the workplace is a four-letter word. "This is work, no fun or play allowed." This paradigm is from the Industrial Age, that viewed the employee as the enemy by management, who had to be constantly watched. In the Conceptual age, employees are viewed as volunteers, who bring their whole selves to work. As Stephen R. Covey calls it "The Whole-Person Paradigm." Where every person brings their mind, heart, body, and spirit to work. To do this people must be allowed to have fun.
What stops so many managers from allowing people to have fun at work. I think that it is fear, and that people are struck in the old paradigm of the Industrial Age. It is time to get at least to the Informational Age, if not the Conceptual Age, and left-brainers move over, because us right brainers are ready and WE KNOW HOW TO HAVE FUN!!!!!
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Laughter is...
Laughter is wonderful
Laughter is joyful
Laughter is exercise
Laughter is playful
Laughter is powerful
Laughter is needed
Laughter is play
Laughter is children
Laughter is healing
Laughter is healthy
Laughter is easy
Laughter is contagious
Laughter is universal
Laughter is forgiving
Laughter is understanding
Laughter is communicating
Laughter is fun
Laughter is creative
Laughter is love
Laughter is me
Laughter is you
Laughter is us
Laughter is revolutionary
Laughter is music
Laughter is dance
Laughter is something I do as much as I can. What about you?
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.com
Laughter is wonderful
Laughter is joyful
Laughter is exercise
Laughter is playful
Laughter is powerful
Laughter is needed
Laughter is play
Laughter is children
Laughter is healing
Laughter is healthy
Laughter is easy
Laughter is contagious
Laughter is universal
Laughter is forgiving
Laughter is understanding
Laughter is communicating
Laughter is fun
Laughter is creative
Laughter is love
Laughter is me
Laughter is you
Laughter is us
Laughter is revolutionary
Laughter is music
Laughter is dance
Laughter is something I do as much as I can. What about you?
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.com
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Play with These Ideas
The following ideas come from "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y. for Life." For more information go to www.laughandlivehappier.com.
- Give yourself permission to make mistakes, lots of mistakes.
- When you make a mistake put your hands above your head and wiggle your hands and then say, "YIPPEE! How fascinating."
- Realize that life is not a dress rehearsal and you need to take risks and not be afraid of failure or success.
- Do Mirror Play every day, in the morning and night go to the mirror naked and exclaim with enthusiasm, "YIPPEE, I am alive, and I love myself exactly as I am.
- When things go right for you during the day go to the mirror and say, "Thank You," to yourself.
- When you mess up after you say, "YIPPEE! How fascinating," go to the mirror and say, "That's okay I love you anyway.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Women Don't Talk More Then Men
Study: Men Talk Just as Much as Women
by Richard Knox
An article in this week's issue of Science blasts the popular myth that women are more talkative than men. It will be interesting to see if jokes about women talking more and being chatterboxes will cease. It seems that researchers outfitted 210 college students — 179 Americans and 31 Mexicans — with devices that automatically recorded them every 12 1/2 minutes, which amounts to 4 percent of a person's daily utterances.
The researchers found that women speak a little more than 16,000 words a day. Men speak a little less than 16,000 words. The difference is not statistically significant.
Psychologist Matthias Mehl of the University of Arizona says the three top talkers in the study — uttering up to 47,000 words a day — were all men. So was the most taciturn subject, who spoke only 700 words a day, on average.
It seems that women are in the middle when it comes to talking or not. Mehl says he and his colleagues were surprised at the outcome. They had tentatively bought into the popular stereotype that women are the more talkative sex.But they were skeptical of the widespread claim that women use three times more words a day then men.
But until the Science study published this week, its authors say, no one had ever systematically recorded the total daily output, in natural conversations, of a sizable number of people.
Mehl says the supposed talkativeness of women is often mentioned in pop-psychology books.
"The typical scenario is — a man comes home from work at night, has used 6,850 words and with 150 left over just wants to relax and not talk," Mehl says. "And the woman welcomes the husband with about 7,856 words left over. And that's where all the problems start."
Mehl guesses that the talkativeness claim "evolved as an explanation for what scientists call the demand/withdrawal pattern." That is, the situation where a woman demands to talk through problems and her male partner withdraws emotionally.
"We use our gender magnifying glass and over-generalize from that," Mehl says. "Instead of saying that men tend to talk less and women tend to talk more, we say 'Women always talk and men never talk.'"Even so, the researchers, based at the University of Texas as well as at Arizona, didn't expect the verbal output between the sexes to be virtually equal. Mehl acknowledges that many will have trouble believing the results, since it contradicts their own perceptions.
"This is the way the stereotype has been maintained in the past," he says. "It is fairly easy to see what you want to see — to jump on the very chatty woman that you certainly find and say,
'See, women talk a lot' and to overlook the very talkative man."
Mehl says the stereotype needs to be debunked. Not only because women are harmed by the "female chatterbox and silent male" stereotype, but because men are disadvantaged by it, too.
"It puts men into the gender box, that in order to be a good male, we'd better not talk — (that) silence is golden," Mehl says. "The stereotype puts unfortunate constraints on men and women – the idea that you can only happily be a woman if you're talkative and you can only be happy as a man if you're reticent. The study relieves those gender constraints."
In general, they found that women tend to talk more about relationships. Their everyday conversation is more studded with pronouns. Men tend to talk more about sports and gadgets, and their utterances include more numbers.
____________________________________________________________________
Study: Men Talk Just as Much as Women
by Richard Knox
An article in this week's issue of Science blasts the popular myth that women are more talkative than men. It will be interesting to see if jokes about women talking more and being chatterboxes will cease. It seems that researchers outfitted 210 college students — 179 Americans and 31 Mexicans — with devices that automatically recorded them every 12 1/2 minutes, which amounts to 4 percent of a person's daily utterances.
The researchers found that women speak a little more than 16,000 words a day. Men speak a little less than 16,000 words. The difference is not statistically significant.
Psychologist Matthias Mehl of the University of Arizona says the three top talkers in the study — uttering up to 47,000 words a day — were all men. So was the most taciturn subject, who spoke only 700 words a day, on average.
It seems that women are in the middle when it comes to talking or not. Mehl says he and his colleagues were surprised at the outcome. They had tentatively bought into the popular stereotype that women are the more talkative sex.But they were skeptical of the widespread claim that women use three times more words a day then men.
But until the Science study published this week, its authors say, no one had ever systematically recorded the total daily output, in natural conversations, of a sizable number of people.
Mehl says the supposed talkativeness of women is often mentioned in pop-psychology books.
"The typical scenario is — a man comes home from work at night, has used 6,850 words and with 150 left over just wants to relax and not talk," Mehl says. "And the woman welcomes the husband with about 7,856 words left over. And that's where all the problems start."
Mehl guesses that the talkativeness claim "evolved as an explanation for what scientists call the demand/withdrawal pattern." That is, the situation where a woman demands to talk through problems and her male partner withdraws emotionally.
"We use our gender magnifying glass and over-generalize from that," Mehl says. "Instead of saying that men tend to talk less and women tend to talk more, we say 'Women always talk and men never talk.'"Even so, the researchers, based at the University of Texas as well as at Arizona, didn't expect the verbal output between the sexes to be virtually equal. Mehl acknowledges that many will have trouble believing the results, since it contradicts their own perceptions.
"This is the way the stereotype has been maintained in the past," he says. "It is fairly easy to see what you want to see — to jump on the very chatty woman that you certainly find and say,
'See, women talk a lot' and to overlook the very talkative man."
Mehl says the stereotype needs to be debunked. Not only because women are harmed by the "female chatterbox and silent male" stereotype, but because men are disadvantaged by it, too.
"It puts men into the gender box, that in order to be a good male, we'd better not talk — (that) silence is golden," Mehl says. "The stereotype puts unfortunate constraints on men and women – the idea that you can only happily be a woman if you're talkative and you can only be happy as a man if you're reticent. The study relieves those gender constraints."
In general, they found that women tend to talk more about relationships. Their everyday conversation is more studded with pronouns. Men tend to talk more about sports and gadgets, and their utterances include more numbers.
____________________________________________________________________
I found this article very interesting and wonder if this will change the jokes being made around woman being such chatterboxes and talking all the time. What do you think?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Ways to Bring Laughter into the World
1. Laugh, just laugh.
2. Your body is stupid and doesn't know the different between fake and real. If you give a fake laugh, the benefits of laughter still happen for you.
3. Take your work seriously, just not yourself.
4. As Woody Allen said, "You might as well enjoy life as you won't get out of it alive anyway."
5. "Fake it Til You Make it!"
6. Look for humor and laughter in the world, it is all around us. As Mark Twain said, "I don't do political jokes as too often they are elected."
7. Celebrate your mistakes. That's how we learn.
8. Forgive yourself and others.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life.
http://www.janaruth.biz
http://onewomanslaughter.com
1. Laugh, just laugh.
2. Your body is stupid and doesn't know the different between fake and real. If you give a fake laugh, the benefits of laughter still happen for you.
3. Take your work seriously, just not yourself.
4. As Woody Allen said, "You might as well enjoy life as you won't get out of it alive anyway."
5. "Fake it Til You Make it!"
6. Look for humor and laughter in the world, it is all around us. As Mark Twain said, "I don't do political jokes as too often they are elected."
7. Celebrate your mistakes. That's how we learn.
8. Forgive yourself and others.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life.
http://www.janaruth.biz
http://onewomanslaughter.com
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously!Some people, no matter how old they get,Never lose their beauty- They merely move it from their faces Into their hearts.Martin Buxbaum (Writer)1912-1991
I love the above quote. Too many times as we age we start to take ourselves too seriously. We forget to laugh, and then are hearts turn cold. Through laughter life looks and is better. If you are miserable and want to stay there or aren't miserable and want to get there, this is the way:
15 Steps to Stay Miserable or How to Get There if You are Not!
- Wait for others to make you happy.
- Blame everyone else for your unhappiness
- Use "if only" whenever you can regarding time, money, or friends.
- Compare what you have with what others have.
- Always be serious.
- Take responsibility for everything bad in the world.
- Try to please everyone all the time, except yourself, and never say "no."
- Help others but don't let anyone help you.
- Consider your own wants unimportant.
- If anyone compliments you, discount it immediately.
- Never laugh or play
- Hide your own thoughts and feelings.
- Resist change at all cost.
- Strive for absolute perfection.
- Always live in the past or in the future never in the present.
Jana Ruth www.janaruth.biz
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Play with These Ideas
- * Jump on your bed.
* Make funny faces at yourself in the mirror
* Get a straw and put it in your mouth to force yourself to smile and wave at passing motorists.
* Dance and sing and play,
* Find a playground.
* Find your baby pictures.
* Play with children or pets.
* Hug and kiss someone
* Take a walk or dance in the rain.
* Watch Singing in the Rain, especially the scene with Gene Kelly dancing in the rain.
* Imitate a well-known comedian or politician, many times they are the same person.
Jana Ruth- Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Jana’s Corner
Albert Einstein said, “The most important decision we ever make is whether we believe we live in a friendly universe or a hostile universe.” I like this quote. I believe how we choose determines how happy we will be in life.
Albert Einstein said, “The most important decision we ever make is whether we believe we live in a friendly universe or a hostile universe.” I like this quote. I believe how we choose determines how happy we will be in life.
About two months ago I was in a car accident and totaled my car, and was feeling like I lived in a very hostile universe. I was feeling very sorry for myself. I had a Toyota RAV-4 and loved my car. My thoughts were not positive ones. “What was the universe trying to tell me?” “What lesson was I suppose to learn?”
Now two months later I am driving a Toyota Prius going 500 miles before I need to get gas, and feeling like the universe is very friendly. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey talks about how we walk around with our own weather, and how we determine whether we see a friendly or hostile universe.
Mentally I know that what is happening inside of me is more important that what is happening outside of me. To blame other people, the weather, the situation, my family, is really just a waste of my time and energy. Don’t get me wrong, it seems easier to blame things outside of me and my control, than to accept the responsibility of my life.
I have to constantly work on practicing viewing the universe as friendly. And when I start seeing the universe as hostile, I know I have to only look inside to see what is going on with me. No person, situation, or event can control my life or attitude, or destiny, unless I allow them or it to.
How I see the universe and my life depends on me. I always have the ability to respond or response ability and so do you. We are unfortunately too quick to give our response ability up to someone or something else. We go for the short term fix, blame, instead of the long term solution, happiness.
Here are three things you can do to practice seeing the universe as friendly instead of hostile.
1. At least 10 times a day repeat this affirmation out loud: I am open and receptive to the good and abundance of the universe and I accept it now.
2. Do something nice for yourself at least once a day. Do not wait for the weekend or when you are finished working.
3. Laugh 15 or more times each and every day.
If we would all make a pledge to each other to take responsibility for our own happiness, and lives, and quit blaming each other, think about how much happier we might all be?
My intention is to choose to see the universe as friendly instead of hostile and know that no matter what is happening outside of me I always have the ability to respond and response ability. As the showing goes, “I may not always be able to control what happens to me, but I can always control how I respond to it.”
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
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