LAFOLOT

Feeling stressed or frustrated with a situation; maybe it’s TIME 2 LAUGH?

I couldn’t sleep (as menopausally usual); and my Alpha Male cat ‘Buddy’ has taken advantage of the situation!

He now sees any time after 2:00 AM as feeding time!  If I am not awake, he knows that by whacking at the shower curtain in the bathroom off my bedroom; or using his paw to slightly open and slam the under sink cabinet, will awake me!

His partner in crime, ‘Fonzie’ (the formerly ferel cat  - but now a friendly cat) mills around and mews, also.  It’s a tag team event to AWAKE the BIG ‘HAIRLESS’ CAT to get her to put out the moist food.  What a BROOD!

Yes, this can be quite annoying and frustrating.

Yes, I fall for the ‘using human language to yell at them to stop’.  ”What kind of fool am I?”  ha ha

and – the LAUGHABLE part of the  ’combined/planned method’ by my two cats, this morning arrived at the MOST HILARIOUS time!

2:43 AM!   Why?

I developed a method called: TIME 2 LAUGH    - it involves looking at life from a PHresh Perspective, a new angle.  If you need a little help, I encourage you to look at the digital clock numbers as LETTERS, to spell words.  I invite you to look at them UPSIDEDOWN and BACKWARDS for a PHresh Outlook!

As I’m awakened by these fluffy, furballs being totally annoying – waking me out of a sound sleep … I see the clock … 2:43 AM!

I start to smile and laugh:   Eh2  (Eh 2)  which remind me of ET TU BRUTE’?   

I instantly thought of:  It’s CAESAR TIME!   

Not only was I being swindled by ONE cat, but by the OTHER as well!  

So, from now on, I declare:  2:43 CAESAR TIME!  Hear ye! Hear ye!   

Hear! Here!  Life isn’t always fare.  Sometimes we feel like we are being ganged up on by an organized team.   So it may seem.

What to do?  Relieve the stress with a smile or some laughter or a nod and smile, knowing – I’M THE BIG, HAIRLESS CAT!  I’ll just let them think they’re in charge.  *hee hee hee    They’re cut, fun and friendly and they get me up off the chair for cat toy exercise toss!

Laugh out loud.    Everything has a purpose.  Sometimes, we don’t see it till later.  Sometimes we’re stuck in the muck.  Sometimes we need a couple cute cats to change our PURRRRRRRRspective.

Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT

Looking at life from a PHresh purrrrspective

Live Life! Laugh Often!  Oooh! Oooh! Cat toy! Cat toy! Oh boy!   POUNCE!

I DARE you!
I CHALLENGE you!
I ENCOURAGE you!
I INVITE you!

to BE! To FREELY Be! WITHOUT the use of STIMULANTS – chemical or additive, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, white-flour, caffeine .. the list goes on.

to BE! to truly BE Free … WITHOUT being concerned what OTHERS may THINK of YOU!

to ALLOW your SPIRIT, your SOUL to fly FREE!

to STEP IN A PUDDLE – during a rain storm – just for the fun of it – at ANY AGE. (I do this.)

to lie on the cool grass of a park or field and look up at the sky or trees (I’ve done this at Central Park New York).

to laugh with the ducks and geese or seagulls as they fly or float around you at a lake or shore. (I’ve done this.)

to make YOUR OWN LIST of B.S. … BEING SILLY – without caring what others think – without USING something to numb your mind or your brain – in order to GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION.

I say: STAND UP and BE … BE FREE to BE … to ALLOW your SOUL and SPIRIT to FLY FREE …

without having to give your MONEY, TIME, or FREEDOM to an ENABLER that tells you:

YOU CAN ONLY BE FREE IF YOU PAY ME TO GIVE YOU AN ADDICTIVE PRODUCT that ‘HELPS’ you to let go.

Just think of all the FUN PLACES YOU CAN GO – to BE – to just HAVE FUN and ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE – with ALL THE MONEY you would be SAVING!

With all the SUPER HEALTH you’ll be experiencing -

as your INNER-CHILD says: YES! LET’S GET OUT AND PLAY! It’s OKAY! No matter what THEY say!

PLAY BALL!
HAVE A BALL!
Hang out with a noisy crow and CAW CAW CAW!

I’M FREE! I’M UNLIMITED! I CARE ABOUT ME! I DESERVE TO BE FREE!

HELLO! NEW, HEALTHY, YOU! WOO! HOO!
COME OUT AND PLAY!
HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT.com
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ on the GREEN LAWN and GIGGLING as she goes!

We are born with the natural ability and tools to live a healthy life. Of course, some are challenged with physical, mental, emotional blocks – at birth – so they require the love, understanding, assistance and patience of others.

What are some of these tools?

Breathing
Visualizing
Laughing
Smiling
Physical Movement
Analysis

These tools help us to:

Discover
Ponder
Learn
Relieve Stress
See situations in a new light
Get physically and mentally healthy

We have these tools within us from the day we are born, they came with this amazing package born into this world.

Do you struggle with the USE of Addictive or Body, Brain, Mind harming chemical dependence? This can come in the form of sexual addiction, shop-a-holic syndrome, overeating, addict eating, chemical or substance abuse, tobacco abuse, recreational drug use, etc.

There are self-help and group support programs available for all these challenges. They are as close as a phone call to a local resource with a list of privacy-respected meetings.

HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES TO RELIEVING STRESS or DEPRESSION:

WALKING
TALKING
SLOW – MEDITATIVE BREATHING
TAKING A MOMENT – PAUSING
PICKING UP A PHONE TO CALL A HEALTHY FRIEND
WRITING
LAUGHING
SMILING
HEALTHY SOCIALIZATION (get out and PLAY BALL! DANCE! SING! JUST PLAY! Become a Big Brother or Sister! )

Honor YOURSELF! Honor the BODY, MIND, and SPIRIT! No need to beat up on yourself, it’s all part of being HUMAN!
YOU, MAN – HAVE THE ABILITY TO TURN IT AROUND!

Now LET OUT THAT LAUGHTER SOUND …. CRY and SNIFF like a SOBBING HOUND …
RELEASE and LET GO … ‘CAUSE, YOU KNOW …
YOU – YES YOU! ARE A BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSION OF LIFE – DESERVING OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD!

KNOW THE MAGNIFICENCE THAT YOU ARE -
YOU ARE BETTER THAN ANY SUBSTANCE you may want to USE to temporarily fix stress or depression or anger or frustration.

YOU, YOUR FAMILY – YOUR CHILDREN – ALL DESERVE the BEST that LOVE and LIFE have to offer!

Take this moment – and turn it around. YOU CAN DO IT!

Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT.COM
Check out my www.lafolot.com website – for healthy trigger tools tools to help you heal!

There is a lot (I mean A LOT) of mega, road, sewage, water-line work being done on the roads in the area where I live. Much of it is occurring directly outside my living development; as well as a quarter mile up the road. The community was notified and pre-warned of long delays. Sometimes, it’s a 10 minute wait while traffic is slowly allowed through one-lane driving.

Being human, not everyone deals with it well from day to day. I am human. I can honestly say I got annoyed twice, during the process. Then, I have to laugh at myself. I have used different Outlook Shift Engineering (LAFOLOT.COM Style) processes to help me adapt. One of the highlights was riding down the road (having to drive slowly, anyway) – and holding one of my PINWHEEL STRESS RELIEVER TOOLS out the window as I drove. This helped me, and may have helped folks waiting in in the long, stopped line of traffice, heading in the opposite direction.

TODAY! As I turned a corner to pass the 2nd of two roadworkers who hold the SLOW and STOP signs on a pole – the TIMING WAS PERFECT!

I happened to be the last car through the line that was being let through the single lane of traffic. The temperatures have been in the mid-40s (fahrenheit) – so it’s been chilly for the road workers to stand outside.

As I turned the corner to encounter the 2nd road worker – STOPping the traffic coming in the opposite direction; I saw him standing with his head down and back to me.

THE TIMING allowed me to:

1) Roll down my car window
2) Quickly call out: ‘AWWW… DON’T CRY.’
3) The road worker heard me, LIFTED his head, SMILED as he said: ‘IT’S A BAD DAY.’ (But, the break in his routine from my comment and noticing, allowed him to put a SMILE on his face.)

About an hour and one half later, I was heading back in the opposite direction to return home.

THE TIMING WAS PERFECT! There was no one in front nor behind me on the road!

1) I was able to electrically roll down my PASSENGER side window, this time.
2) Driving slowly through the construction zone; I was able to PUT ON MY CLOWN NOSE!
3) I ‘JUST HAPPENED’ to have 2 PINWHEEL STRESS RELIEVER TOOLS on my passenger seat!
4) I HELD THE PINWHEEL OUT THE WINDOW – wearing my clown nose – and handed it to the road worker!
5) HE REMEMBERED ME … HE TOOK THE PINWHEEL … HE GOT A BIG SMILE ON HIS FACE …
6) As I continued on and looked in my rearview car mirror – I SAW HIM HOLDING IT, BLOWING THE PINWHEEL, WITH A BIG SMILE ON HIS FACE!

WHAT TIMING! PERFECT TIMING! A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY to be able to ‘take the TIME to TURN someone’s day around!’

HA HA Helen of LAFOLOT.com – happy to be able to make-up for the TIMES I wasn’t smiling going through the construction zone.

SUNSET & EVENING Star – I was showing my mom the beautiful sunset outside her Rehab/Hospice room window last evening. She said: ‘Sunset and Morning Star … a good time to die’ … I searched the words on the net and found this Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem. I think this is what she was referencing.

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

MEMORIZED Childhood memories carry with us into our twilight years. I’ve found this when doing laughter wellness programs for dimentia units. I just focus on their MEMORIZED Childhood rhymes and they ‘flow and glow’ right along with me! NO STRESS!

A doctor told my mom she had 3 hours to 3 days to live, A YEAR AND A MONTH ago. Gotta laugh! It all worked out, because she was clearheaded and able to make all her requests and plans – one being that she go into Hospice. She tends to ask – what am I doing in here? When I refresh her memory – we have a good chuckle over DOCTORS! *What do THEY know! EveryBODY doesn’t follow what is ‘BOOK-LEARNED’. LOL!

She can chuckle, because she was a nurse trained around World War 2. A tough cookie, with a sense of humor, who always wanted to be the next Shirley Temple! She always talked about the fact that ‘others would stay away’ from the hospital residents that were dying … but she chose to sit with them. She wasn’t afraid of death.

So it’s easy to visit, because she knows and feels death is a part of life – and in the end – you JUST GOTTA LAUGH at the way it flirts with you and says … nope – NOT YET! … you’ve got another SUNSET!

Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT.com
Outlook Shift Engineer! Hear! Here!
… looking at LIFE and DEATH … as ALL A PART OF LIFE! … same thing … just like the tides … in and out …a process…

I think we need to find a LESS MESSY way to BIRTH into this world and MAKE OUR STAGE EXIT … maybe if we put the question out on Facebook? *ba dump bump …

It’s been a bit rough the past two weeks, with my being POA and nursing home rep for my 63 yr old sister who is now in a nursing home (she was hit by a drunk driver at age 19 resulting in permanent brain damage.) As well as, a mom (my younger sister is her rep/POA) coming down with pneumonia, just after another older sister assisted with getting my mom to assisted living.

I stopped into my favorite, local, family-owned THAI Palace restaurant Sunday evening. I like to sit at a booth in an inner room away from the cold windows and doors. Another couple was seated in that room, who had brough their (approx 8-10 month old) baby in her carrier.

As I was eating, they were trying to figure out what they wanted off the menu … I suddenly realized ONE EYE was staring at me from across the room – around the baby carrier handle edge. I looked over, it was a good 12 feet distance, and I smiled. SHE SMILED! (what GREAT EYE SIGHT!)

This quiet, casual play went on … and then the mom put down the handle. The litte baby SMILED big and giggled! I giggled/laughed/smiled back – just because I couldn’t help myself! She was PLAYING with ME from across the room! The mom looked over. I said, WOW, what great eye sight and a great laugh! She’s been ‘giving me the sneaky eye’ the whole time!

Well, then the little baby purposely shook her head side to side quickly back and forth and laughed out loud – as if performing for me! I had to laugh even more, it was hysterical! MY BLUES were starting to MELT at the interaction of this LITTLE LAUGHING ANGEL who had been sent to help me find my smile!

Then, she PULLED herself into a seated position and looked over and smiled and laughed easily. It was such a JOY! I was laughing harder now, it was amazing!

After about 10 minutes, I was done with my meal and I took one of my LAFOLOT Smiley Face bookmark business cards over. I said: ‘This isn’t for the baby – but I want you to know I’m a certified laughter leader, I’ve been having a rough time lately with family needs and I think this LAUGHING ANGEL was sent to help cheer me up; so I want to THANK YOU! I really needed it!’

The mom thanked me, the baby continued to smile and I left with laughter and a smile inside.

I think when we are down and out, if we pay a little attention – we may find a Glimmering, Glistening, Peek-a-boo eye, peering from around a corner or space, ready to help lift our spirits. Mine came in the shape of a rolly, polly bundle with a great giggle, glimmer and laugh.

Thanks to that Laughing Baby Angel -

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT.com
Live Life! Laugh Often!

‘A Little Kindness goes a Long way …’ as well as a little giggle …

I got a call from a woman representing PA Retired State Employees (PARSE), yesterday. I am scheduled to give a talk on Laughter Wellness in February.

The woman introduced herself and said: I don’t know if you know this, but Betty Hummel – who originally talked to you about our February meeting – died in December of cancer.

WHAT A SHOCK! I had just met Betty at a Business Womens’ meeting a few months ago. Betty approached me after I did my laughter wellness talk; loved it and asked if I’d come to a PARSE meeting (it paid decently). She had a great smile, was easy to talk to and MADE ME FEEL SPECIAL and PRICELESS! I had talked with her on the phone and exchanged a couple e-mails to coordinate the event. She MADE IT EASY.

Well, the woman who called me had found out by accident when she called the Betty’s number. This woman then worked with the family to pass over Betty’s notes. This woman said Betty had kept detailed notes and all the items we discussed were in a folder.

While I only met Betty for less than 5 minutes – she will be remembered by me as long as I have memory. Just like Mary Kopp, who I meantion in my Bea Gaude’ Youtube video – Betty was a BRIEF BLIP OF A PASSING in my life – but made me feel like a MILLION by appreciating, approaching and SMILING her way into my heart – for that moment.

I will dedicate that PARSE presentation and her POSITIVE PERSONALITY and Winning Smile.

I posted a longer note about it on Facebook. I was bummed when I thought no one had read it. I got up this morning and saw a note from a FB connection who said: ‘I was meant to read this. I have stage 3 breast cancer and I leave everyone I meet with a SMILE…’

I work with a lot of seniors in this Laughter Leader/Motivational Speaker and Singer profession. While it is difficult finding out that a new ‘friend’ has passed; I am grateful for having met them for the blip of a moment out of their lives.

GRATEFUL for having met BETTY HUMMEL!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT.com
LIVE LIFE! LAUGH OFTEN!

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!

BEWARE! I’ve got a SMILE and I KNOW how to USE it!

This is HA HA Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT – making a suggestion to help your daily people passing experiences (PPEs) by FLASHING a SMILE!

For health reasons: A SMILE works better than a HANDSHAKE because it doesn’t spread germs or colds!

For confrontational meetings: It softens the expectations of the recipient of your request!

For Healing Reasons: A SMILE can instantly warm a heart/soul and make a person’s brain respond in a happy, healthy way – sending warm/fuzzy healing feelings within and without!

A SMILE warms the giver and the receiver!

Watch my latest mini HA HA Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT motivational/inspirational moment called: ‘SMILE at the OK Corral!’

I’ve got a SMILE BADGE and I KNOW how to use it!

SPREAD THOSE SMILES BY THE MILES!
DRIVE YOURSELF HAPPY!
LIVE LIFE! LAUGH OFTEN!
Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT
www.lafolot.com