09.20.09
Posted in Humor~General at 2:11 am by Dr. Trina Hess
I’m in the process of adding more articles to my Ezinearticles site at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Trina_Hess
I’ll be sharing tips on how you can use your own, personal style of humor to–
1. improve your life and relationships
2. decrease your stress level
3. boost your mental power and creativity
4. make your message, letters, speeches heard and remembered
5. entertain, enliven, and encourage any audience–and especially yourself!
If you have any humor strategies you’d like to see, please share your requests here or at my Facebook fanpage.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trina-Hess/53578889842?ref=ts
Be on the lookout for more ways to, “Get Your SHINE Together!”
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09.19.09
Posted in Humor~General at 6:37 am by Dr. Trina Hess
Why do I love Alice Cooper? Let’s count the ways–using my SHINE System of Communication:
*Alice Cooper’s concert tonight went quickly. His theatrical maneuverings took him through several different life stages and events. But they were fast-moving. We didn’t get bored. At all!
*There was a cross-section of humanity at the show. I saw a 12 year old girl with her parents. There were couples in their 50’s. Some Gen-X’ers just starting to become fans. Everyone was included in the night’s event. Everyone was welcome.
*One of the hallmarks of Alice Cooper’s success has been his risk-taking. He never took himself too seriously, so he didn’t fear taking risks. The world of music has benefitted from his ground-breaking work.
*Alice Cooper wanted to stand out from the other bands he’d heard. So he wore make-up. Took on a bad-boy image. Kept his hair long. Scared kids’ parents. Gradually people wanted to hear this new band solely BECAUSE it was so different from anything they’d ever seen or heard.
*The music, the career, and the person of Alice Cooper serves as an example to his many fans. He took a risk and it paid off.
What risk will YOU take today to, “Get Your SHINE Together!”
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09.18.09
Posted in Humor~General at 2:58 am by Dr. Trina Hess
One of the best benefits of creating a humorous atmosphere is that it beats stress. Right into the ground.
I remember one of the many times I was at Staples. Normally they turn off all the lights and pretend they’re closed. That’s because I usually show up 1/2 hour before I need to have 300 page documents printed and bound and shipped before the UPS truck leaves the premises.
On one particular mission, I had the misfortune to have to wait in line behind another customer. He needed his pages separated and placed in a box again. The clerk couldn’t help me until she had finished his task.
I knew I was running out of time. I had to think fast. “Why don’t I help him separate the pages, and that way you can start on my order.” Reluctantly she agreed.
So while I was separating a stranger’s pages and placing them into a box, the other customer started talking to me: “I can’t believe I paid $30 for this and I have to do all the work!”
I said, “You? I’m working on this and it’s not even MY order!”
“That’s what you get for bucking the line.”
You know what? As stressed as I was by the time crunch, I could feel my body relaxing. I wasn’t as tense as I was when I walked in the door, and my order was far from being ready for UPS.
That’s the magic of humor: Once we break down that stranger-wall, then we have nothing to lose. We have nothing to prove.
You can practically feel the weight melt off your shoulders.
Because you’ve already shown you’re not perfect. After all, you are someone who DOES talk to strangers.
You have successfully broken the mold. And within this new mold, there are no rules.
Only freedom.
Who are YOU gonna call the next time you’re stressed?
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09.17.09
Posted in Humor~General at 2:14 am by Dr. Trina Hess
For anyone in the Pittsburgh area, there’s good jazz newzz for you:
Donna Bailey Jazz Quartet……Thursday, September 17th 7:30 PM
Westmoreland Jazz Society on 221 North Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601 Phone: (724) 837-1500
Featuring Jason Hollar on bass, Rick Gallagher on piano and Subha Das on drums!
For more info go here:
Donna Bailey
DBS Jazz Productions
www.donnabaileyjazz.com
For booking info call: 724-469-1246
Thanks for supporting live music and live comedy! It’s supposed to sound like that, it’s called J-a-a-zz~
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09.16.09
Posted in Humor~General at 4:06 am by Dr. Trina Hess
Just read a blog post from Ladies Who Launch founder Victoria Colligan. It was about creating ATMOSPHERE. We do this all the time, whether we’re conscious of it or not. Want to read more about it–go here: http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/magazine/daily-launchtip-september-10-2009/3580
colligan says that when we create an atmosphere, we shift our energy and we impact the energy of others around us.
When we Live Life–Lite! we are creating an atmosphere of:
*Fun
*Openness
*Creativity
*Lightness
“Get Your SHINE Together!” today and start the chain reaction to an atmosphere of Fun!
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09.15.09
Posted in Humor~General at 1:24 am by Dr. Trina Hess
Today I spoke at a Methodist Women’s group. During their business meeting, the director read their mission statement. It included “the freedom to be a whole person.” Something like that is what I heard. Because it’s what HUMOR is all about: Being free and whole.
~Being free means that you are not stressed out.
~Being free means that you do not take yourself too seriously; you have no secrets to hide, either.
~Being free means that you don’t easily take offense; you allow that, “maybe he/she was just trying to be funny.”
Once you are free, you will be whole.
~Being whole means that you are authentic.
~Being whole means that you accept yourself and your sense of humor.
~Being whole means that you have a sense of completeness, lacking nothing; you are free to grow.
And the circle continues: feeling whole enough to become more and more free. And vice versa.
Thanks to Karen, Mary, Mindy, and all the members of today’s group for giving ME a lesson on humor. You know how to, “Get Your SHINE Together!” Congratulations on being a Shining Example to me, of how to Live Life–Lite!
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09.13.09
Posted in Humor~General at 11:58 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
This week’s Comedy Around the World travels to Israel. Tel Aviv, the major city in Israel, is fascinating, interesting, lively, and electric. Although the city is ultra-modern, I noticed something odd on some of the buildings. There was mortar missing, or other ‘mistakes.’
A native Israeli explained to me that this was a common practice in Israel. To leave a bit of the building unfinished. To remind us of the destruction of Israel in past history.
I thought it was strange, but then changed my mind. It’s a brilliant idea, for our own lives, too.
There’s no reason for a building in a major city to be perfect, so why should we? I may even use this reasoning for not fixing the broken shutters in my backyard. I am simply remembering the destruction of Israel.
We spend a lot of time denying, hiding, or fighting our human imperfection. But it is a natural state. We will never reach perfection. This is a fact that we should celebrate!
We should mark it as a reminder every day, just as the citizens of Tel Aviv notice their buildings’ imperfections every day.
That way, we can start to Live Life–Lite!
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Posted in Humor~General at 5:29 am by Dr. Trina Hess
From founder Kelly Johnson:
“SAMUEL J WANTS YOUR LUNCH MONEY!
It’s fitting for me that September was chosen as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month since Samuel J was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor on September 21, 2000. That was my personal Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. In honor of Sam, and all the little ones who have fought or are currently battling cancer, we’d like to ask a favor. We know that times are tough, so we’re not asking for much. We’re asking you to pack your lunch or skip your latte just one day this month, and use the money you save to make a donation to the Samuel J Foundation. Ask other people you know to do it, too. We’ll track our donations on our Twitter page, and see how much all of our lunch money adds up to be. Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 75, Oakdale, PA 15071.
As always, we are so grateful for your support. Have a great day and Pass It On!
Kelly Johnson
http://www.samuelj.org”
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09.11.09
Posted in Humor~General at 11:58 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Nothing. And that’s exactly why we need to look for humor, create humor, support humor, and pass it on to others. “Get Your SHINE Together!” is never more important than during the tragedies of our lives.
Five months after the terrorist attacks in New York, I volunteered at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It’s the only building in the surrounding area that was not damaged from the attacks. It was made into a station for the rescue workers who were working round-the-clock shifts. I served food. I handed out supplies that had been donated from all across the U.S. I put up some of the posters and drawings that school kids had sent to motivate the rescue workers.
There wasn’t much funny going on there. People tried to be light, but we all knew what lay outside the walls of our sturdy building. A world that was not as sturdy as we thought it was. And neither were we.
During tragedies like this, the pressure builds up. We need a comedic release. But from where? How do we create it? Usually we’re too afraid to tread lightly during heavy times like this. So we stay silent, thinking that we are being reverent. But our silence only serves our ego. Keeps us safe. But keeps the suffering person in their pain.
I was lucky to be part of a volunteer group that had a great chemistry together. Several members of the group were from South Carolina. They volunteered to cook breakfast. Southern style. Things I had never heard of, or even read about. But that simple choice led to a brighter morning (even though it was the 2 a.m. shift) for the rescue workers.
Some of the National Guard group were also from the South. They appreciated the homestyle cooking! “This is off the chain!” “This is off the hook!” I laughed and commented on all the southerners and how I didn’t even know what they were saying. I didn’t know what they were eating. But it didn’t matter. We were all laughing.
It doesn’t take much to be that Shining Example to help people to lighten their day. We just need the confidence to tell our truths, our experiences, and our stories. We can learn to communicate just like a comedian, even though we never take the stage.
We are all already funny. We don’t need to have an HBO special to prove it. We only need to have the desire to be that link in the chain to help people to, “Get Your SHINE Together!”
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Posted in Humor~General at 3:20 am by Dr. Trina Hess
Today I wore my new gown–Liz Claiborne, long tan dress with beads and sequins. I’m proud of the dress because it taught me a lesson.
Weeks ago, I went to the new Salvation Army thrift store in Punxsutawney. Always on the lookout for bargains, and willing to shop somewhere that will benefit a charity, I spent the $8 on some clothes. The clerk said that if I didn’t like them, I could return them.
I didn’t like three of the items. So, when I was in town again two weeks later, I wanted to return them. The timing was perfect, and I’d get another task off my to-do list.
But the timing didn’t work out. The store closed before I could get there. I was frustrated. Irate. My ‘perfect’ plan would not be executed!
Focus on perfection does lots of things to us:
* Makes us frustrated.
* Makes us task- and not people-oriented.
* Makes us see absolutely no other possibilities other than the one that we have on laser-focus.
One week later, I was in town again and this time I did get to the store in time. And guess what–lucky for me, it was bag sale day, $3 a bag. I put my math skills to work, and started grabbing all the interesting and name brand items I could find. Lucky for me again, someone had donated new items, exactly in my size and in my favorite brands.
A 1950’s wool skirt suit. In the bag. The Liz dress. In the bag. Some Old Navy yoga-style shirts. In the bag.
After gathering the goods, I learned that I had filled two bags. The 2 videotape movies at $1 each would add up perfectly to the $8 credit I had there.
Perfection does some funny things to us:
* It puts perfect blinders over our eyes and our lives.
* It completely covers over any alternate plans.
* It blinds us to the beauties that are very near.
* It makes us forget that we DON’T have all the answers.
Next time your ‘perfect’ plan has failed, just remember: The universe could have a bag sale in the next few weeks. And you could possibly get even more and better things than what you thought you’d lost.
“Get Your SHINE Together!” no matter what the cost!
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