Category Archives: Laugh

Thank You and Amen, Day Two

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I am grateful for so much right now that I almost can’t be reasonable. It’s just that there is so much good stuff, and when you start actively looking for it, it seems to multiply, and suddenly there is so much good, you can’t get your brain around it, there aren’t enough words or enough time to ever be able to explain. There is enough joy though, and enough love. Seriously, you’ve got to get in on this. There is so much extra, and I’d hate to see it go to waste, for you to miss out.

I am grateful for my students. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” ― Pema Chödrön It is that point in the semester when my students are feeling tired and overwhelmed, just when their classes are asking the most of them, demanding that now they ramp things up, really show what they’ve learned.  I got an email from one of them last night with the subject line “jiiiiiiillllll hellpppp.” Through it all, they make me laugh, allow me to help and support them, don’t act like complete jerks, and let me have my own mistakes without making too big of a deal about it.  We are all struggling, none of us can keep up, but that’s okay.  I think we are managing to learn something anyway.

Picture by Christopher Sessums


I am grateful for Pema Chödrön. She was the teacher that provided my way in to the Buddhist study and practice that have helped me so much in recent years. And you don’t have to be a Buddhist to learn from her, (technically, I am not a Buddhist). She is amazing: funny, wise, compassionate, and kind. She wants all of us to simply make friends with ourselves, to relax and not take things so seriously, to sit with what is instead of running away or getting angry or numbing out (or all the other ways we try to resist who we are and what is), and has made it her life’s work to see that manifest in the world.  She is precious, and teaches us to see that we are too.

I am grateful for the Metta Drum blog.  Right now, especially these two posts: “Your Openness is Your Gift” and “The Truth of Loving Yourself.”

Why yes, that is me as a baby.

I am grateful for the chance to rest, for the choice to rest. I am still struggling with this.  There is so much work to be done, so much to write about, so much to study, so much to read, so much to taste and feel and see and talk about and love…I am not good at knowing when to slow down, or when to quit.  But I know I can, and I am trying to do better.

I am grateful for you, dear reader.To know that you are “there,” listening, allowing me to be heard and seen, is such a gift.  Even when I am not getting direct feedback from you, I can feel the kindness, and it gives me the strength to take another risk.  And when I do get direct feedback from you, it is so filled with love and generosity and knowing and empathy, I am filled with gratitude and joy.

May you be peaceful.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you awaken to the light of your true nature.
May you be free.

a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants

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One of my core values is silliness: ”a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants,” joyous, giggly, loving.  I grew up adoring women like Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Barbara Streisand, and Mary Tyler Moore.  People who can make me laugh are my favorite.  I love stand-up comedy, funny TV shows, and movies that make me laugh.

Photo by Wonderlane: Lama's Laughing

What I don’t like is when a laugh comes at someone’s expense, comedy that depends on someone being the butt of the joke.  It makes me uncomfortable, and sad.  I can’t watch shows like Punk’d and I have never seen the movie “Borat.”  I cringe at that kind of humor, not laugh.  I can’t stand to think that someone is being mean, and someone else is being hurt, and an audience of other people are laughing about it, finding joy in it.

I had mentioned in my post yesterday that I rented the movie “Bridesmaids.”  I really needed a good laugh, and I had heard such good things about it.  And it was good, in a way.  There are a few scenes in the beginning–the two main characters working out at the park together and then going to a cafe–that were so good, and if the whole movie had been like that, I would have loved it.

But too much of the movie’s humor depended on at least one person’s failure or trouble or suffering.  I got so stressed out, I spent the last half of the movie eating cheese and crackers, trying to comfort myself.  I wanted to love it, because so many of the actresses are some of my favorites, and I did like it, and there were a few really funny things, it just didn’t do for me what I was hoping–give me that fix of pure joy, allowing me to laugh off all the stress and yuck.  I wanted a movie that made me laugh like “Away We Go.”

And because I’d rented Bridesmaids at Redbox–there was no gag reel!  Just ask Eric, there’s nothing that bothers me more than no movie bloopers included in the special features, especially when the movie is a comedy.  Gag reels and bloopers are one of my favorite things.  In fact, if I wrote a list of my ten most favorite things, gag reels would be on it.  I went online and found the one for this movie, and spent another half hour searching for and watching ones from other movies and TV shows–and I laughed!  It felt so good.

I like self-deprecating humor, or physical comedy. I like comedy that points out how ridiculous we all are, “ha, ha aren’t we silly? but hey that’s okay, because we are all in this together, and we can laugh about it, so that makes it okay.”

This is one of my favorite comedy bits, from Brian Regan (a comedian who is hilarious without ever saying a bad word) about dogs barking at nothing.  He does another funny bit about Pop Tarts.

  • What makes you laugh?