Laughter Yoga in layers

The last week has been bad…and I mean REALLY bad. What happened and not necessarily in this order was 1. Two of my properties that I own were damaged by cyclonic conditions in Melbourne…while I was in Perth and powerless to help 2. A young man I knew was killed in a motorbike accident…he was on an Around the World Trip to raise money for Prostate Cancer 3. The Sydney Comedy Festival cancelled their involvement with us for World Laughter Day…I had invested six months of time energy and money into this venture 4. My shoulder was giving me problems which hampered me carrying my luggage around…I was in the middle of my busiest month ever in and out of airports 5. I was having trouble negotiating a business contract…the other party refused to take my calls and respond to my emails

I contacted many people with my many issues

So what did I do??? Laughter Yoga…it didn’t work. I couldn’t even crack a smile with my anger and disappointment at an all time high. So I decided to get in touch with some Laughter Yoga friends. I talked to a friend in India, Canada, USA, and several here in Victoria, along with some work associates here in Melbourne. What happened was amazing

I had lots of little problems

What seemed like one BIG problem was in fact a lot of little ones. I broke them down into the five you see above and then worked on progressing the solution and not trying to fix it all in one stage by talking them through with others…and laughing. Within 48 hours it was as if nothing had ever happened. The problems hadn’t been solved but they were now under control and on the way to being solved

I used Laughter Yoga in layers

What I didn’t realize was I was using a layering process with Laughter Yoga. I was peeling back the problem like an onion and attacking it with laughter one layer at a time. This left me in tears of laughter instead of tears of misery that is what normally happens when I peel onions ha ha ha ! ! !

What did I learn???

What I learnt was profound. Never look at negative things that happen in your life as one big problem. Peel back the layers and look at them as a series of smaller ones. Contact others (especially Laughter Yoga friends) to discuss the problems one at a time. Their positivity will enable you to see a way forward to a solution without having to solve it all at once. And finally when you finally have the ability to laugh go for it…don’t hold back. Positivity presents itself in an amazing way

Sydney Comedy Festival Cancelled

As previously mentioned the Sydney Comedy Festival/Laughter Yoga/Camp Quality World Laughter Day has been cancelled by the Sydney Comedy Festival. The whole thing was done without consultation and consideration for the consequences of this action. Jackie Curran will now be organizing World Laughter Day in Sydney. I’m sure she’ll do a GRRREAT job as she always has

This newsletter can also be seen in video format at http://gallery.me.com/mervneal#100474.

Until next month keep laughing

Cheers
Merv