A Question That Made Me Stop and Think.
I’d like to share a quick story about a conversation I had with a friend a couple of weeks ago. At one point in our conversation he asked me if I remembered any fun things from when I was a kid - you know, the biggest belly laugh that I had. I sat there looking at him with what I'm sure was a blank look on my face before I rolled my eyes.
In fact, I couldn't think of any big belly laughs that I had had as a kid.
He gave me a piece of advice. Every morning to start my day I should look back and think of the biggest belly laugh I had as a kid. Hmmmm! Now what good does that do me?
What Makes You Laugh?
I told him I couldn’t think of any belly laughs I had as a kid, so he offered that I should think of a recent belly laugh I had. I started to think about what had made me laugh lately.
How Does Your Body React When You Laugh?
When I told him what I was thinking about, he asked if I could feel how my face changed. I know this sounds very strange, but I could! I could feel that a different energy came out my face and my eyes. So, I decided to give it a try. Every morning, I wake up a few minutes earlier than normal and I lay in bed and I think about when I was a kid. I try to think of the biggest belly laughs I had as a child.
I think of things like feeding my dog peanut butter and watching him trying to struggle to chew it while his mouth was peanut butter glued. I remember laughing so hard, I had to go to the bathroom. And since that first day thinking of the "peanut butter belly laugh," I have remembered so many other things as a kid that made me laugh that I had forgotten as an adult.
Nearly every day is a new thought. From hot dogs on the wall, to orange juice coming out of my neighbor's nose during lunch one day, to fortune cookies stuck on our noses like crabs, to card playing bouts with my family.
Whether or not these are funny to you, when I think of these in the morning, I remember and I laugh. And then all day long, THAT is the thought that I use right before going into meetings, right before I go to dinner, or I meet somebody for lunch. The moment I push the door open, I think "chinese fortune cookie" or "peanut butter." I think "Orange juice." It not only changes how I am when I enter, it changes how people deal with me.
This has been the most significant lesson that I have learned in the last few months and now I start my day happy. So I wanted to pass it on.
If you're going in for a business meeting, or to get a job, or to sell something, try this little trick – people can really see the difference and they respond to it!
Sending you light and laughter!
