LAFOLOT

I was blessed with a singing gig at a local assisted living center, this past St Patrick’s Day. While my last gig there on Labor Day had a ‘robust’ audience; this one was subdued. Being a performer, THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

So, I gave it my all! After I was done, I mingled with the senior residents a bit and met a woman named MAXINE. Yes! Maxine! I could have SWORN she was the MAXINE the cartoon is modeled after! What a W.O.W! Woman of Wonder!

I note at the top of my website: ‘A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way …’ Well, MAXINE was not only a spunky, W.O.W. woman; but full of compliments and kindness!

Maxine was just visiting for the day. She had come by to spend time with her husband, who is a resident there, and to ENJOY THE Helen of Lafolot show!

Maxine informed me she had taken piano, and voice lessons for a good many years and later BECAME a voice teacher. So, when I walked over and Maxine FREELY piped up: ‘You have a BEAUTIFUL voice! You have a very BROAD range!’ I was dumb struck!

I said to Maxine – WOW! YOU not only MADE MY DAY – you MADE MY LIFE! She responded with a smile and further affirmation. When she told me her background; I told her about my ‘little kindess goes a long way’ affirmation. I told her I had been feeling doubtful about my talents and struggling with ‘getting gigs’. I told her it meant SO MUCH that she had felt free to TELL ME how she felt about my singing.

Then she said: ‘I TELL IT LIKE IT IS!’ A TRUE Maxine!

I told her of other meetings I had with people where I had only met them for a matter of seconds or minutes; and how they had GREATLY impacted my life. I told her about Mary Cop – the Cart Lady from Harrisburg – another W.O.W.! woman I talk about in my Bea Gaude’ video. I told her about another woman I had met, who recently died of cancer. When I had met this woman months before, she never mentioned she had cancer. She was full of kindess and praise and booked me for an event! I didn’t find out till December that she had passed. I wrote a blog about her. She left a lasting impression on me, just from a few minute meeting!

I let her know I would never forget her. We talked about how we can go through our entire lives not knowing how STRONGLY we impacted another life. I wanted her to know she had made a big impact on me!

Here’s to all the MAXINE’s in the world who TELL IT LIKE IT IS!

May you be FREELY FLOWING with your compliments and have an instant impact on all those you meet, in a positive way! Just like MAXINE!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT.COM
O.S.E. – Outlook Shift Engineer
Living Life in AH! MAZEMENT!
Live Life! Laugh Often!

While at a ‘quick checkout’ at the grocery store, after a young gentleman noted to his buddy that he needed a penny to finish his payment, he said: ‘Pennies don’t have any value any longer, I wonder why we still use them?’

Being openly friendly when out in public, I turned, smiled and said: ‘Ohhh! But they have GREAT value! When you FIND a LUCKY PENNY, and you give it away to someone else the penny becomes PRICELESS!’ The gift is in the giving.

He smiled, agreed with me and repeated as he wheeled his cart out past me, PRICELESS!

Value, worth, of ourselves or an object – it’s all in how you LOOK at it.

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT.COM
Specializing in rePHRESING thoughts and New Outlooks!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
Live Life in AH! Mazement!
www.lafolot.com

When I was getting certified to become a laughter wellness leader; I had some wonderful classmates! One gentleman was retired; and just doing it for the FUN of it! He had found a Buddy in the class to hang out with, at the hotel.

He came to the 2nd day of training and told me: ‘Marvin’ had a problem with his room and we went to the desk for him to get it taken care of. The desk staff weren’t going to help him. So his good buddy ‘Jim’ uses HIS ASSERTIVE, FROM THE DIAPHRAGM voice and states:

DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?

‘Jim’ is laughing as he tells me, THEY FIXED MARVIN’S PROBLEM! LOL!

‘Jim’ said, I ACTUALLY had NOTHING to say after the phrase: DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?

I was just going to say: uh, Jim Smith *grin (I think ‘Jim’ discovered a new personal power within himself, at that moment!)

He had said it with SUCH AUTHORITY – the hotel staff MUST have felt he was SOMEONE IMPORTANT – or – someone associated with the hotel! LOL!

So, I am asking you, today (2/2/2011 a day filled with 2s), WHO ARE YOU?

Interesting question?

What is YOUR VALUE? WHO, WHO, WHO ARE YOU? Do you really wanna know? (to quote THE WHO).

I know I have FOUND parts of myself, I’m continuing to look as I grow, learn and discover –

WHO I AM!

Helen of WHOVILLE! a.k.a. Ha Ha Highlighted Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT

Living Life in AH! MAZEMENT!

Living BOLD and in ITALICS!

A HA HA Helen – healthy socialization outing event. HA HA!

Once again, because I dislike crowds and grocery shopping (especially around holidays) – I made the statement as I started to MANEUVER through the post-holiday grocery shoppers:

I AFFIRM I AM GOING TO HAVE A FUN SHOPPING EXPERIENCE! (in my head – not out to the crowd! ) ;o)

I saw a man trying on sunglasses at the display. I picked up some items and he was still there as I was passing by. He had a pair on with a big, blue, cardboard tag hanging off to the left side.

I looked at him and said: ‘THEY LOOK GREAT! I ESPECIALLY like the BLUE Tag hanging off the side! It BRINGS OUT the COLOR in YOUR EYES!’

He took them off, smiled and THANKED ME! He started to tell me how he was bummed that he had sat on his sunglasses in his truck, this morning. I said: ‘Oh, I know, your FAVORITE pair!’ He said: ‘These will do’ and we went on our merry ways.

I am A-MAZED at how total strangers not only respond but get into conversations with me, openly sharing!

Then – in my car – I was at a long intersection stop light. BECAUSE I’VE BEEN in a buggy, stressed out mood lately – I decided to SNAP OUT OF IT – Put on My Clown Nose – and held my stare pose at the woman driver in the car to my right (another turning lane – where you sit for about 4 minutes). I do this as part of my Drive Yourself Happy and Smile Campaigns – as a stress reliever; and to get people ‘out of the driver fog’ and more attentive once the light changes.

She looked at me -
I smiled –
I waved (due to tinted windows)

She kept a set look on her face and turned away.

WONDERFUL! I thought! It’s what I teach! BE who YOU need to be!
I smiled to myself – thinking –
isn’t it wonderful!
Making the offer – and the other soul can make their own choice on how they want to interact or not – the other driver shouldn’t have felt she HAD to smile or acknowledge me. We all have choices in life. I teach a concept called PEER POSITIVE – living your OWN life and not allowing OTHERS to DICTATE how you live it.

TWO examples of HEALTHY SOCIALIZATION –

not forcing feelings on anyone and not allowing anyone to force feelings on me.

LIVE LIFE! LAUGH OFTEN!
and feeling good about my HA HA happenings ….

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT.COM
Live Life in A-MAZEMENT and be the best YOU you CHOOSE to be!

It’s not only OK to be a ‘Charlie in the Box’ it’s GREAT! Be YOU and be Proud of It! re: Land of Misfit Toys – Rudolph the Rednosed Rheindeer – story. WEAR YOUR RED NOSE PROUDLY! Be a PICASSO Painting! Be a PEER POSITIVE no need for Peer Pressure – let the ‘air out’ of the pressure… *whoooosh!

Coming from a ‘challenged’ family with 7 children and being ‘kid number 6′, I had the freedom to ‘be me’ early on. No one was really paying attention. As a result, later in life, I had a few very good friends tell me: ‘I admire that you dare to be different, to be yourself.’ I always remembered those compliments as PRICELESS GIFTS!

I call folks that dare to be different: PICASSOS! Whenever I get to personally know and talk ‘deeply’ with a person who life ALLOWED to be different – for whatever reason – I PRAISE THEM for their PICASSO-nature! re: physical or mental differences – their INNER-SPIRIT daring to ride agains the NORM!

I wrote about this in my ‘Life is a Song in the Key of Love’ Book and continuously bring this to my own attention as well as others. I coined a phrase: PEER POSITIVE as a result. I am very much against going along with the PRESSURE of ADs and MARKETING to ‘BE SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT YOU ARE COMFORTABLE.’

Personally, I feel my eyelashes are long enough, thank you. I’m OK as I am – and if I choose to BE A PICASSO rather than the STANDARD LANDSCAPE OR FRUIT BOWL painting, than so be it. I don’t give in to Peer Pressure, I’m a PEER POSITIVE.

There’s no need for a LAND OF MISFIT TOYS – No Need for a Sad ‘Charlie in the Box’ –

I SALUTE the differences and let out a SIGH OF RELIEF for the REFRESHING NATURE of these beautifully, daring expressions of LIFE SPIRIT!

WOO! HOOOO! FOR YOU! and ME! *weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Have fun on this RIDE OF LIFE!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT.com
Living Life in A-MAZE-MENT!
Living BOLD and in Italics!

Meet my alter ego and distant distant Hungarian cousin: Ilonka Szollosi (pronounced: Szeu-leu-shee)

I didn’t start singing until age 40. I have a lower, torch singing voice. When I would go to church or other events; the key of the music didn’t fit my voice. I thought I sounded odd when I heard the higher female voices around me. One day, my church announced they were performing GODSPELL and needed ‘players’. I got brave and showed up! Due to a fluke, I got the role of Sonia. LUCKY ME! Sonia sings a saloon-style, lower range song called: Turn Back Oh Man!

A star was born! The song range fit my voice perfectly! My vocals came out clearly, without strain! WOW! I thought, I can sing! The rest is history! I got fellow, piano playing church members to use the electronic keyboard to adjust the key to fit my voice. These folks played and recorded to tape, music I could learn in MY KEY! I eventually performed a torch singing show at our church coffee house.

Yes, I was ‘rusty’, and the audience was loving and forgiving. I went on to take voice lessons to hone my skills. I also started to collect songs that fit my voice. Thank goodness for karaoke machines with key/pitch adjustments, I was able to start singing a wider variety of music! Thanks to a friend named, Vicki, I got to practice my singing by going to nursing homes and singing! The folks loved my voice and ERA of music that fit my voice. I found the silver screen era music fit beautifully!

I evolved into singing on stage in the role of DOMINA (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). The music for this character fit my voice! I got to sing: Dirty Old Man (what a thrill!)

So if anyone has ever told you, YOU CAN’T SING! Step away from the PEER PRESSURE and JUDGEMENT. Step away from that label. Tell your friends to be: PEER POSITIVES and be supportive.

As my friend Ilonka Szollosi says in her youtube video: REPEAT ME! YOU, TOO, CAN SING! LET ME HEAR YOU!

Seriously! Make your soul happy! ‘Sing out loud, sing out strong – don’t worry that it’s not good enough, for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song!) Neil Diamond

In laughter clubs, we PURPOSELY SING BADLY because it’s more fun. So sing along – BADLY IF YOU WISH – with Ilonka Szollosi as she encourages you to make your soul happy and SING!

http://www.youtube.com/Helenoflafolot#p/a/u/0/ByEz_H3uUR0

Have a beautiful, song filled day!
Put a song in your heart, a smile on your face and a glimmer in your eye!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
Live Life in Amazement! and be a PEER POSITIVE not a PEER PRESSURE NEGATIVE
ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO BE ALL THEY CAN BE – WITHOUT JUDGEMENT!
Highlighted Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
www.lafolot.com
[this blog can also be viewed at Vibrant Nation under blog circle name: Helenoflafolot]