Be There or Be Square - Keeping Your Brain Healthy & Active With Humor comes to Philly!

It is not too far off to start making plans to attend the Association for Applied and Therapeutic's 2015 Conference in May, 2015. I KNOW I need to do as much as possible to keep my brain healthy and active as I stalk 60 - so I will be there!

I Take the Ice Bucket Challenge and Call Out fellow Laughter Yoga Leaders, AATH Members and Humor Writers, including you, Dave Barry!

Having once appeared on the same newspaper page as Dave Barry, and getting a nice note from him after I thanked him for sharing his audience with me, and subsequently getting a signed book from him that he addressed "Noreen - to my idol, " I feel like we are close enough best buds to call him out by name. Plus, he may very soon get some "read my book" correspondence from me that I will prepare according to his detailed and helpful writer instructions in his new book, "You Can Date Boys When You're 40."  So, I am challenging you, Dave - all other professional humor writers, my fellow members of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, as well as Laughter Wellness instructors and Laughter Yoga leaders to join me in laughing at ALS, with smiles, ice water and money. #LaughatALS

No Peace, No Happiness

 

There are so many places in the world that need lasting peace, right now, today. Let's hope that somehow, the parties involved will come to realize it is the only way to lasting happiness.

Happiness Happens Month August 11, 2014

#Happinesshappens when I go to the beach with the love of my life.

Happiness Happens - Celebrating What Makes Us Happy

Even here in the good ol' USA, happiness is not a right, only the "pursuit of happiness." And, in that phrase is a golden nugget of wisdom. Happiness IS something to be pursued, to be sought, to be created and to be shared. It is not going to fall down from the sky like smiley face snowflakes. Sometimes when world events, local events, personal events and internal events seem to be conspiring to snatch that happiness goal further and further away, it is them we have to step back and assess where our happiness is, and how we can breathe it in. 

Today is Happiness Happens Day, part of Happiness Happens Month, a period of time chosen by the Secret Society of Happy People for focusing on happiness — what it is, and how we find it.  Skip on over to their website and find some great smile starters, happiness challenges and words of wisdom. Find out about 31 types of happiness, and track your own happiness progress for a day, a week or a month. And, if you do nothing else today, share a smile with someone else. It will make both of you happy.

Not in Turkey - Not Anywhere! #direnkahkaha

Who would want to suppress this? Laughter is life! Found this on Pinterest, the original link is gone. Would love to link to the original if anyone can find it. Thank you Dr. Akin for sharing this with the world, especially in light of the recent ridiculous comment in your country that women should not laugh in public.

 

I Can See Clearly Now That You Don’t Care if I Can See

Finding a great pair of glasses is almost as difficult as finding a bathing suit that fits. Those of you who have searched for either know what I am talking about.  When I spotted a particular pair of glasses on the web, I just knew they were for me. Of course, they might look terrible when tried on, but I just had to find them.

It took trips to three stores and calling of others to finally track them down. When I put them on, I was sold. Put my prescription in these babies! Unfortunately for me, my recent eye exam result was “no change,” and I didn’t have a new prescription. My prescription was right there in the eyeglass store’s computer, but they couldn’t use it. Apparently, eyeglass prescriptions expire in two years. I needed a new copy of the prescription straight from the eye doctor.

No problem, said the eyeglass store, we will just call the eye doctor and have it faxed over. But, it was a weekend, so they promised me they would call on Monday.  Apparently, I have the most popular eye doctor in the world, because the line was busy for days. I decided to call myself, and got voice mail. I left a very polite and detailed message, indicating what I needed to be faxed, and a call back number in case there was an issue.

Today is Friday. The eyeglass store is patiently saving those hard-to-find specs for me.  And the prescription has not yet materialized. So, I called again, and miracle-of-miracles, after an extended hold, spoke to a live person. Sure, she said, she would have the doctor sign off on the prescription and fax it over to me.

Two hours later, no fax had arrived. I called back – sorry to nag you, but I want to get to the eyeglass store. I am told that yes, the doctor signed off, and the prescription was given to the “Clinical Desk” who will fax it by the end of the workday. I explain that it is the end of my workday, and I am getting ready to leave the office for the weekend, and could they maybe fax it now?

She puts me on hold for five minutes and then comes back to say, yes, it will be faxed  over shortly. That was an hour ago.

So, I just called the office again, just to make sure they have the correct fax number. This is what I hear: “Thank you for calling. The office is now closed.”