Humor Project: Fall (for) Fun

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

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September 2011

Fall (for) Fun!

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

September is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that this month we can celebrate Children's Good Manners Month (please), Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month (thank you), Go Wild During California Wild Rice Month, International People Skills Month (humor is certainly at the top of the people skills list), National Chicken Month (he'll be crossing the road every day), Healthy Aging Month (laugh for life and longevity), and Subliminal Communications Month (you will smile, you will laugh).

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will serve as a humor hotline to lift your (comic) spirit! Feel free to forward this Laughing Matters e-zine to friends, colleagues, and family members and encourage them to sign up for a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook and monthly e-mail newsletter at www.HumorProject.com.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for September 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Delightful Deja Vu Video

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Economic Days and Daze

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Fun with Functuation

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: Tip of the Niceberg

7. Moving from Toxic to Tonic Humor: From "Laughing at Others" to "Laughing with Others"

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from September that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

September 10: Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast. (William Shakespeare)
September 16: Comedy is the most serious study in the world. The best situations... the funniest will be an exaggeration of an action in real life which was not at all funny in itself. (Charlie Chaplin)
September 22: The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. (Voltaire)
September 28: To become conscious of what is horrifying and to laugh at it is to become master of that which is horrifying. (Eugene Ionesco)

To order a copy of the jest-selling (65,000+ copies) Laffirmations, go to HUMOResources on-line bookstore-- please indicate if you would like it to be autographed to you or to someone else as a gift. This book would be an inexpensive way to give the priceless gift of humor.

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from September 7 and September 30 in Laffirmations:

* Get a lot of humor in your life just by going over to the local recreation field and watching five-year-olds play soccer!

* Keep things in perspective by having a poster in your office or home-- like the one showing a galaxy and an arrow pointing to a little speck of light. The arrow says, "You are here."

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Delightful Deja Vu Video

We recently sent out a survey after our 54th International Conference on "Survive AND Thrive: The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" that took place on June 10-12. We are still basking in the afterglow of the fulfilling feedback that was off-the-charts positive. We have loved hearing how the event has made a real difference in our attendees' lives... personally and professionally! Thank you! Keep those cards and letters and emails coming!

Jim Snack gave a delicious taste of the weekend in an on-line video that we mentioned in the last e-zine-- those of you who saw it have passed along your delight. In case you missed it last month (or if you want a deja vu delight), take a look at this six-minute 2011 Conference YouTube Video.

In the video, you will see some of the highlights involving rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena (and a surprise visit by his idol, Elvis Presley). We were delighted to be invited to the grand opening on August 5 of the "Against All Odds" exhibit at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. It was wonderful honoring Edison with the "Survive AND Thrive" Award at our conference... and it's wonderful that the Smithsonian is honoring them, too. To see more on the exhibit, which is scheduled to run until May 2012, visit Against All Odds.

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Economic Days and Daze

No one can feel bad about being a little confused and dazed by the market these days. The school yard see-saw in our office has been replaced by the Six Flags roller coaster... and Dramamine is not enough! (John Colley-- financial advisor)

It is true-- every news report these days seems to contain more information on our dizzying global economy. Stocks are up, stocks take a dive, there is gridlock in Washington about the debt ceiling (and everything else)....

How do you keep your dollars and sense (of humor) in the midst of this economic turmoil? How do you maintain a sense of control over your own life (and finances) in the midst of it all? Here are a few hints to help you do jest that while adding even more lightness to your life:

Identify one area of your life where you will cut back on spending for the next month. For instance, if you usually go out to eat several times a month, cut this number in half. Then try a new recipe for each night you eat at home when you otherwise would have gone out.
Take this as an opportunity to talk with your family (spouse, parents, and/or children) about your concerns and brainstorm at least 5 ways that you could all connect and have fun together without spending any money in the next month-- e.g., take a walk together in a local park, play a game one evening (we love Catch Phrase!), invite friends over for a pot luck dinner with everyone bringing his/her favorite dish.

By being intentional, we can maintain some degree of control over what's happening in the small corner of our world even when the world seems to be out-of-control. What can YOU do to turn economic daze into more relaxing days? What can you do to keep your dollars and sense (of humor)?

Margie is a very successful life coach with clients from coast to coast. Sometimes she meets in person with clients, sometimes over the phone. Margie also offered a unique, very well-received pre-conference workshop on June 10: "Life Coaching: SAT's (Skills, Attitudes, Tips) to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

For coaching to help you make intentional changes in challenging situations, to celebrate life, and to add zest to your life and work, contact Margie at 518-587-8770. Please visit Life Coaching to learn more about Margie's Strengths-Based Life Coaching.

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Fun with Functuation

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Harry Wolnerman from Phoenix, Arizona passed along the following functuation through Aunt Sherle Goodman:

Sign at lake: PRIVATE BEACH NO SWIMMING ALLOWED!

The judge addresses the defendant, "The sign clearly said that there was no swimming allowed. So why did you?"

"I read the sign a little differently, your Honor."

"And how did you read the sign?"

"Private Beach? No! Swimming Allowed!"

Harry dumped and bumped in a couple other goodies:

What did the Lone Ranger say when he left for the landfill? To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump.
Bumper Sticker: "We're staying together for the sake of the cats!"

Send Us Your Fun Stuff... for the sake of other readers... so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of this e-zine can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: Tip of the Niceberg

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2011 and 2012... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

Our Speakers Bureau has been very busy... now, more than ever, individuals and organizations are looking for speakers who are motivating, inspiring, and humorous. We want to give a shout out to the following people who have brought us in to speak these days: Mike Wallner (Health Care Financial Management Association), Carol Ann Giardelli (Safe Kids New Jersey), Tony Czarnecki (Middle Atlantic States Correctional Association), Joy Muller-McCoola (Glens Falls City School District), Connie Herrara (SUNY Council for University Advancement), Lori Shemtob (American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers), Carolyn Close and Chip Devenger (Silver Bay YMCA of the Adironacks Family Week), Bob Volpi and Sharon Marceau for the fifth time (Williams College Dining Services), Julie Teed (Corning Community College), Kim Roberts (New York State Nurses Association), Deanna Walker for the fourth time (New York State Conference of Mayors), etc.

7. Moving from Toxic to Tonic Humor: From "Laughing at Others" to "Laughing with Others"

Over the years, I have really enjoyed writing articles for Toastmaster Magazine, which reaches hundreds of thousands of Toastmasters in 116 countries. Here is an article that may jump-start your thinking about the difference between negative humor and positive humor: From Toxic to Nourishing Humor.

If you have a blog (or Twitter or Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn, etc.), feel free to spread the humor wealth and point folks to our www.HumorProject.com Web site as a valuable humor resource (with new quotes, interviews, humor, and articles every day). Start a Humor Virus!

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

↧

Humor Project: 7 Days and Counting

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

≫ Next: Humor Project: Forward MARCH: 1 Week to Go!

≪ Previous: Humor Project: Fall (for) Fun

May 2011

7 Days and Counting...

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

May is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that this month we can celebrate Creative Beginnings Month, Eat Dessert First Month (now, that's a creative beginning!), Family Wellness Month, More Than Just a Pretty Face Month (hey, I resemble that statement!), National Smile Month (a smile will definitely improve your face value!), National Correct Posture Month, National Salsa Month (Happy Cinco de Mayo!), National Mental Health Month, National Older Americans Month (as George Burns once said, "You can't help growing older, but you can help growing old"-- humor is a wonderful way to stay young in spirit).

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will lift your (comic) spirit! You can give and receive the gift of humor at our 54th international conference on "Survive AND Thrive: The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" that will take place on June 10-12, 2011. "The Early Bird Gets... a Lower Price"-- if you register by May 2. Be sure to see our conference YouTube video (mentioned in last month's e-zine) at YouTube Video of 2011 Humor Conference.

Feel free to forward this Laughing Matters e-zine to friends, colleagues, and family members and encourage them to sign up for a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook and monthly e-mail newsletter at www.HumorProject.com.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for May 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Save Dollars and Sense (of Humor) By May 2

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: One for All, All for One

5. Reader's Di-Jest: April Revisited/PreVisited & Senior Text Messages

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from May that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

May 5: You would hardly appreciate the comic if you felt yourself isolated from others. Laughter appears to stand in need of an echo. (Henri Bergson)
May 16: My advice in the midst of the seriousness is to keep an eye out for the tinker shuffle, the flying of kites, and kindred sources of surprised amusement. (Jerome Bruner)
May 22: To listen to your own silence is the key to comedy. (Elayne Boosler)
May 27: Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words. (Dorothy Parker)

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from May 19 and May 31 in Laffirmations:

* Whenever you make a mistake, simply say, "I'm smarter now."

* In your organization, humor can often save the day (and week and month...). With your co-workers, coin such sayings as "Leadership can be defined by looking at your group-- are they following you or chasing you?"

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Save Your Dollars and Sense (of Humor) By May 2

We are very excited about our 54th International Conference that will take place on June 10-12, 2011 at scenic Silver Bay Conference Center on majestic Lake George (jest an hour north of Saratoga Springs, NY). Check out 2011 Humor Conference.

We have been delighted with the very positive response to our new YouTube video (announced in our last e-zine) that Jim Snack created to give a sneak peek at our conference this year. Take a look at YouTube 2011 Humor Conference. Thanks to all of you who have registered after seeing this video!

More delight... we are very excited that Cassandra will be joining rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena and us in June-- she is the vibrantly alive interpreter with Edison on The David Letterman Show. If you haven't seen this uplifting, five-minute slice of joie de vivre, you gotta join over 350,000 other people in checking out Edison and Cassandra on Letterman.

In addition to our featured honorees mentioned in our February e-zine (Edison Pena and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary), our keynoters (and surprise guest) mentioned in March, and our pre-conference workshop leaders described in April, we are delighted that our conference will feature other world-class speakers. Here are a couple more who will each be offering two concurrent workshops during the conference:

Marcia Tate is the author of five books and the recipient of the Distinguished Staff Developer Award. Her programs on "Growing Dendrites: Strategies to Engage the Brain" have generated rave reviews from over 250,000 educators, leaders, and parents around the world.

Brett Leake is back by popular demand! Brett received the National Humor Treasure Award and has appeared on The Tonight Show five times. He will present sessions on "At Least I've Still Got My Health" and "Compassionate, Comedic Care for the Caregiver."

Our 2011 Humor Sourcebook should have arrived in early February through the Post Office for those of you on our mailing list (the conference is described on pages 11-23). We encourage you to join hundreds of others and sign up soon for this learning-filled, laughter-fueled conference... you can save dollars and sense (of humor) if you register by May 2-- the early bird gets the lower price! To help with your cash flow... if you register on-line by May 2, you will be charged 50% of the tuition now and 50% in 30 days.

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: One for All, All for One

When hard times hit, we have to help each other. (President Obama quoting a man from Japan after the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant disaster)

At a book group meeting recently, our discussion turned to how much respect we have for the Japanese culture and its norms of the importance of dignity, respecting others, and caring for one another. Their reaction to the triple tragedy that has struck their country illustrates these values-in-action.

Our actions definitely speak louder than our words. We are models for the young people in our lives: what they see (in our behavior) is what they "get" (in terms of values and norms). We can each make a difference by creating caring communities... so that when hard times do hit (and they will), people will indeed reach out to help each other.

Now, some food-for-thought questions for you:

What does "caring community" mean to you? What does it look like?
Who is someone you know who has experienced a figurative earthquake or tsunami?
What could you do to "reach out and touch" him/her? How could you show your support? What is something you can do in the next week to be of help?
When did you figuratively experience "an earthquake" or "a tsunami" in your life? What did someone else do then to be of help or support to you? Can you give that gift to someone else in need now?

Margie is a very successful life coach with clients from coast to coast. Sometimes she meets in person with clients, sometimes over the phone. Margie will also be offering a unique pre-conference workshop on June 10: "Life Coaching: SAT's (Skills, Attitudes, Tips) to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

For coaching to help you make intentional changes in challenging situations, to celebrate life, and to add zippity-doo-dah to your life and work, contact Margie at 518-587-8770. Please visit Life Coaching to learn more about Margie's Strengths-Based Life Coaching.

5. Reader's Di-Jest: April Revisited/PreVisited & Senior Text Messages

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Judy Schwartz was inspired by our April Reader's Di-Jest with the list of the occasions that fall in that month-- she revisits some days you can previsit the next time April rolls around:

April 3: Find a Rainbow Day
April 7: No Housework Day (Judy thinks that is every day)
April 9: Name Yourself Day
April 14: International Moment of Laughter Day (Judy thinks that is every day, too)
April 15: Income Tax Day (the most taxing day of the year)
April 26: Hug a Friend Day (don't wait until next April 26!)
April 30: National Honesty Day (no kidding!)

Jacquie Lowell (a speaker at our 2010 conference and long-time friend from San Diego) was motivated to send us the acronyms below after seeing our April Reader's Di-Jest. These senior text messages came to Jacquie from one of her improv students. It's a case of Old-Age Meets New-Age Technology. How Tweet It Is!:

ATD = At The Doctor's
FWIW = Forgot Where I Was
OMMR = On My Massage Recliner
BYOT = Bring Your Own Teeth
LMDO = Laughing My Dentures Out
TTYL = Talk To You Louder
GGPBL = Gotta Go Pacemaker Battery Low
ROFLACGU = Rolling On Floor Laughing And Can't Get Up

SUYFS= Send Us Your Fun Stuff... so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of this e-zine can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2011... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

Our Speakers Bureau has been very busy. We want to give a shout out to the following people who brought us in to speak in recent weeks: Dave Vail (Kiwanis), Frank Padula (International Association of Workforce Professionals), Leanne Braddock and Captain Lori Laraway (Navy and Marine Corps Combat & Operational Stress Control), and for the seventh time-- Mark Soifer and Chris Maloney (Doo Dah Parade and Ocean City Free Public Library). You can see a wonderful tribute article to Mark Soifer at Doo Dah Poobah.

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

John McPherson is a syndicated cartoonist whose Close to Home cartoon reaches 40 million people every day in 700 papers around the world. John will be returning to our June 10-12 conference this year to present a cartoon-filled, laughter-fueled session. John will also be offering to put YOUR name in his internationally-syndicated cartoon if your name is selected in our annual anecdote drawing at the June conference.

In the meantime, here is a taste for John's comic vision of "the home front":

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

↧

Humor Project: Forward MARCH: 1 Week to Go!

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

≫ Next: Humor Project: Humor Conference Deja Vu

≪ Previous: Humor Project: 7 Days and Counting

March 2011

Countdown: 1 Week to Go!

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

March is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that this month we can celebrate International Ideas Month, Humorists Are Artists Month (now, that's a good idea), International Listening Awareness Month (hear hear!), National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month (let's hear it for colonoscopy preps), National On-Hold Month (sometimes it feels like we're on hold for a month), National Umbrella Month, and Optimism Month (to balance Umbrella Month). I say, "Let your smile be your umbrella!"

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will give you some food for thought to di-jest! You can give and receive the gift of humor at our 54th international conference on "Survive AND Thrive: The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" that will take place on June 10-12, 2011. This is also "The Early Bird Gets the Best Price Month"-- if you register by March 10. We are VERY excited about the line-up for this fun-of-a-kind experience! See #3 below for a special Presidential message about our conference.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for March 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Save Dollars and Sense (of Humor) By March 10

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Creating Your Own "Wonder of the Modern World"

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Truth, Funnier Than Fiction

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from March that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (these also appear on our www.HumorProject.com home page each day):

March 3: You grow up the day you have your first real laugh-- at yourself. (Ethel Barrymore)
March 13: Our job is to make audiences laugh and feel good, and the only way to do that is to be real.... You don't look for the laugh. You play it for reality first, and then you can add on the jokes. (Bill Cosby)
March 17: Humor is one way of creating people who are inverse paranoids-- people who think the world is out to do them good. (Joel Goodman)
March 23: Progress is nothing but the victory of laughter over dogma. (Benjamin DeCasseres)

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from March 7 and March 10 in Laffirmations:

* In order to keep your sanity, collect humorous triumphs of the human spirit. For example, a flight attendant was bending over to give a passenger a drink when a slightly-drunk male passenger behind her put his hand on her fanny. Without skipping a beat, she turned to him, smiled sweetly, and said, "I'm sorry, sir. You didn't pay for that seat!"

* When your office is in the midst of a crisis, keep perspective by using humorous quotes like, "There is no such thing as failure-- only successes we don't like very much."

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Save Dollars and Sense (of Humor) By March 10

As mentioned earlier, we are VERY excited about our 54th International Conference that will take place on June 10-12, 2011 at scenic Silver Bay Conference Center on majestic Lake George (jest an hour north of Saratoga Springs, NY). If you don't want to defer gratification (or your curiosity), the conference benefits and line-up are ready for you to see at 2011 Humor Conference.

We are VERY heartened by the early VERY positive response to our conference... with people signed up already from Florida to Alaska, from New York to California, Canada, and abroad.

We are also VERY honored that our June conference has received the Presidential Seal of Approval from our surprise speaker at the 2010 conference. You don't want to miss this YouTube video at Presidential Seal of Approval. (By the way, we have another surprise guest in store for you in June this year.)

In addition to our featured honorees mentioned in our last e-zine (Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary and rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena), we are delighted that our conference will feature other outstanding keynoters:

Michael Pritchard, recipient of the Humor and Altruism Award, is a great humanitarian and is also one of the funniest people on the planet (a great humoritarian). Star of seven Emmy-nominated series on PBS, Michael will get our conference off to a funderful start with "Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness and Comedy."

Brian Luke Seaward looks like James Taylor, dresses like Indiana Jones, and writes like Mark Twain. A renowned inspirational speaker on stress management and mind-body-spirit healing, Luke will invite lots of laughter and lots of thought in his "Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backward: Rising Above Life's Challenges with Humor, Hope, and Courage."

Kat Koppett and the Mop & Bucket Company (named the best improv troupe in 2010) will leave 'em laughing and thinking in our closing keynote, "Moving from 'No, but...' to 'Yes, and...' in Life." Kat is the author of Training to Imagine and is an amazing and amusing trainer, improv actor, and storyteller.

In the coming months, we'll give you a taste of our other outstanding speakers at the conference.

Our 2011 Humor Sourcebook should have arrived a month ago through the Post Office for those of you on our mailing list (the conference is described on pages 11-23). We encourage you to sign up soon for this learning-filled, laughter-fueled conference... as you'll see on page 23 of the Sourcebook, you can save dollars and sense (of humor) if you register by March 10-- the early bird gets the lowest price!

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Creating Your Own "Wonder of the Modern World"

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave dare not go...

This is my quest

To follow that star

No matter how hopeless

No matter how far...

These words from Man of La Mancha seem to reflect the dramatic changes that have been occurring in Egypt and the rest of the Middle East in recent weeks. Who "woulda thunk" it possible that Egypt would overthrow Mubarak after 30 years? This is certainly one of the Wonders of the Modern World (Egypt already has the Great Pyramid of Giza as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World).

Yet it has happened and is happening... real-time proof that we limit ourselves when we believe something to be impossible. As a life coach, I love helping people to make their "impossible dreams" possible. Here are some questions for you to consider in creating your own "Wonders of the Modern World":

What is something that you would love to do but feels impossible to you right now?
What is a first "baby step" you can take to move towards this goal... a step you are sure you would succeed in doing?
What is a possible obstacle that might get in the way? What is one thing you can do to overcome this obstacle?
What is a humorous mantra or self-talk that can help you to keep your sense of humor and perspective as you take on this challenge, this "impossible dream?"

Jin Robertson had Margie as a guest on her American Dreams: The Sky Is the Limit show. The focus was on "Life Coaching: Moving Through Transitions with Intention, Hope and Humor." Feel free to listen to the show and get more of a taste for Margie's life coaching philosophy and practice. After the introductory section, you'll hear Margie about 18 minutes into the 60-minute show.

For coaching to help you make intentional changes in your life and to create your own "positive story," contact Margie at 518-587-8770. You can also visit www.HumorProject.com/coaching to learn more about Margie's Strengths-Based Life Coaching.

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Truth, Funnier Than Fiction

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Jim Edler is a good friend and colleague of over 40 years! He passed along some items that actually appeared in church bulletins. Again, truth can be funnier than fiction:

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the church basement on Friday afternoon.
Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.
This evening at 7 PM, there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Yes, someday spelling will count! Come prepared to send your humor observations and anecdotes to us so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of "Laughing Matters" can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2011... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

Our Speakers Bureau has been busy. We want to give a shout out to the following people who are bringing us in to speak: Tracy Pitcher (American Cancer Society), Drue Brenner and Tom Briggs (Delaware County Office for the Aging), David Engle (Washington County Department of Social Services in Maryland), and Donna Burke (Monroe Community College).

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

John McPherson is a syndicated cartoonist whose Close to Home cartoon reaches 40 million people every day in 700 papers around the world. John will be returning to our June 10-12 conference this year to present a laughter-filled session on "The Lighter Side of Work: Laughing Your Way Through Your Work Daze." Here is a taste for John's comic vision:

Feel free to request a copy of our hot-off-the-press 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

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Humor Project: Humor Conference Deja Vu

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

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July-August 2011

Summer Smiles

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

July and August are filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that in these two months we can celebrate Cell Phone Courtesy Month (can you hear me now?), National Baked Bean Month (what a gas!), National Doghouse Repairs Month (important... in case you find yourself in the doghouse), National Hot Dog Month (given the heat wave, you could find yourself in a hot doghouse), Happiness Happens Month (or as Charles Schulz of PEANUTS fame said, "Happiness is a warm puppy."), National Inventors' Month (there is a connection between AHA! and HAHA!), and last, but not least, National Win with Civility Month (a good mantra for the politicians in Washington, D.C.).

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for July-August 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Delightful Deja Vu Video

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: "Mining" Life Lessons

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Playing with Language, Playing with Life

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: United (Humor) Nations

7. Cartoon Corner: Stitches!

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from July and August that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

July 17: A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. (Phyllis Diller) (Happy birthday today to Phyllis Diller, Lucie Arnaz, and Joel's brother David)
July 29: On a throne at the center of a sense of humor sits a capacity for irony. All wit rests on a cheerful awareness of life's incongruities. It is a gentling awareness, and no politician without it should be allowed near power. (George Will-- especially timely as U.S. politicians mud wrestle about the debt ceiling)
August 9: If you understand what makes a people laugh, you are closer to understanding and appreciating them. (Joe Bruchac)
August 17: When a thing is funny, search it for a hidden truth. (George Bernard Shaw)

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from July 13 and August 28 in Laffirmations:

* With all of the recent natural disasters (earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.), learn to tickle Mother Nature after She has tackled you. For instance, after a tornado took their house, one family put up a sign saying, "Gone with the Wind!"

* At your office, place a plaque in one of the bathroom stalls that reads, "Smile, You're On Candid Camera." You'll always be able to tell when a visitor goes to the bathroom.

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Delightful Deja Vu Video

We are very excited about the response to our 54th International Conference on "Survive AND Thrive: The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" that took place on June 10-12. We are still basking in the afterglow of the fulfilling feedback that was off-the-charts positive. In fact, this is the loudest applause we have received over the years-- there were loads of attendees who rated the conference as a "10" (and that's on a 1 to 5 scale!). We have loved receiving emails and letters from conference participants telling us how the event has made a real difference in their lives... personally and professionally! Thank you! Keep those cards and letters and emails coming!

Jim Snack gives you a delicious taste of the weekend in this six-minute 2011 Conference YouTube Video.

You can also see an article about the conference at Viva Edison (click on "See Full Story"). We were so delighted to honor Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul and Mary) at our conference-- you can see a handful of photos at Noel Stookey. Lynn Johnston (wonderful friend and internationally syndicated cartoonist of For Better or for Worse) attended and reported on the conference at For Better.

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: "Mining" Life Lessons

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. (Dolly Parton)

On Saturday morning at our recent conference, we presented the first international "Survive AND Thrive" Award to Edison Pena, one of the rescued Chilean miners. Edison truly personifies the resilience of the human spirit.

Edison offered us perspective on the cosmic joke that human beings (and life) ain't always perfekt. Sometimes we have to go to a "Plan B" when life has other plans for us-- like when the 700,000 tons of rocks trapped Edison and 32 other miners half-a-mile underground for 69 days.

When life does not work out the way we want, we have to figure out how to make the best (and jest) of the situation. Edison's joie de vivre and unadulterated joy in being alive came through loud and clear at the conference. He truly helped us to experience the rainbow after the rain.

What has happened in your life where you had to move to a "Plan B?"
What helped you move on from the disappointment or surprise of things not working out as you had planned?
What do you have coming up in the next month that you're hoping goes really well? What might get in the way of your hopes/plans? What can you do in advance to maximize the chance of success? Can you anticipate any Plan B's in advance? (prepared flexibility)
Is there a motto, mantra or quote you could use to help you laugh at yourself and the situation... if you find yourself in the Land of Plan B? (For example, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.")

Margie is a very successful life coach with clients from coast to coast. Sometimes she meets in person with clients, sometimes over the phone. Margie also offered a unique, very well-received pre-conference workshop on June 10: "Life Coaching: SAT's (Skills, Attitudes, Tips) to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Playing with Language, Playing with Life

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Chaplain Fred Beck sent the following true story that illustrates that we can play with stress by playing with our language:

While attending a family in our emergency ward last Summer, I observed a young man entering the ward holding his finger over a small wound in his abdomen. In that a policeman was following him, I had my interest aroused.

The policeman told me that the man and a woman had had a small accident and while arguing about it beside their cars, the woman had broken the aerial from the man's van and had run him through with it.

Later, I looked at the entry notation on his medical chart and saw that the doctor had admitted him for a "van aerial disease."

Herb MacNaughton has been a constant source of smiles over the miles and over the years. He always liked to grind out (or grin out) zany, twisted sayings. Here are some of his plays-with-words:

You could hear a cough drop.
Hold your hearses.
There's no show like a business show.
It was nothing to write poems about.
That's the way the rookie grumbles.
The bigger they come, the harder they haul.
Couch potato: "Life is just a goal of chair ease."
Bury the hat check.
Marijuana: the joint of no return.
Do as I say, nod as I do.

Enjoy playing with our language... because it sure enjoys playing with us!

Send Us Your Fun Stuff... so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of this e-zine can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: United (Humor) Nations

Our Speakers Bureau has been very busy both locally and globally. In fact, Joel Goodman is delighted that he has been invited to speak at the United Nations in October 2012. Humor truly is a universal language! Who knows, it may ultimately become an interplanetary language! Stay tuned...

7. Cartoon Corner: Stitches!

John Cocker is the former editor and publisher of the Canadian-based Stitches!: The Journal of Medical Humour. Although no longer in print, John kindly provided a cartoon from the magazine that offers some tongue-in-cheek food for thought... or thoughts about food...

Reproduced from Stitches magazine. To be added to the free mailing list, write stitchesmagazine@gmail.com.

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

↧

Humor Project: Thanks for the Gift of Humor

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

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November-December 2011

Thanks for the Gift of Humor

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

November and December are filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that in these months we can celebrate Cliche' Day (you'll never know 'til you try it), Plan Your Epitaph Day ("On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."), Sandwich Day (full of food-for-thought), Cookie Cutter Week (more food-for-thought), and Bathtub Party Day (a chance to clean up your act).

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will provide you with some humor food-for-thought! Feel free to forward this Laughing Matters e-zine to friends, colleagues, and family members and encourage them to sign up for a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook and monthly e-mail newsletter at www.HumorProject.com.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for November-December 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. Humor Conference Headliners in the News

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Attitude of Gratitude

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Punderstanding Life

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: Tip of the Niceberg

7. Humor, Hope and Healing Tour for Wounded Warriors, Their Families, and Health Care Professionals

8. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from November and December that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

November 14: I have always felt sorry for people afraid of feeling, afraid of sentimentality-- who are unable to weep with their whole heart. Because those who do not know how to weep do not know how to laugh either. (Golda Meir)
November 20: There is a very big difference between behaviors that are childish and perspectives that are childlike. Having a childlike perspective actually could be a very mature adult coping mechanism. (Joel Goodman)
December 6: Laughter is the best medicine in the world. (Milton Berle)
December 29: In the end, everything is a gag. (Charlie Chaplin)

To order a copy of the jest-selling (65,000+ copies) Laffirmations, go to HUMOResources on-line bookstore-- please indicate if you would like it to be autographed to you or to someone else as a gift. This book (and the other great humor resources in our bookstore) would be an inexpensive way to give the priceless gift of humor for the ho-ho-holidays.

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from November 23 and December 25 in Laffirmations:

* Intentionally look for unintentional humor in newspaper advertisements, like the ad for an auto repair service: "Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once... and you'll never go anywhere again!" (Well, at least it's truth in advertising.)

* Get together with people you love and care about and share fun memories about "the good old days." For instance, one person told us, "When Mom was upset at Dad, she would pack all of us kids in the car. We would ask, 'Where are we going?' Her answer was, 'To Helen Back.' I still to this day do not know where Helen Back lives... but I do know that my Mom had a humor safety valve."

3. Humor Conference Headliners in the News

Featured presenters and honorees at some of our recent international humor conferences have been in the news lately. Yesterday saw the publication of a sure-to-be bestseller co-authored by Jeff Zaslow: GABBY: A Story of Courage and Hope with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly. Jeff gave a fantastic keynote at our conference a couple years ago on one of his other international bestsellers, The Last Lecture, co-authored with Randy Pausch. We wish Jeff the best on this book... and we certainly wish Gabby a continued, successful recovery!

The incredibly talented Lucie Arnaz has also been in the news as the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of her mother, Lucille Ball, and the 60th anniversary of the debut of I Love Lucy on TV. The Library of Congress has a special exhibition, "I Love Lucy: An American Legend," that will be on view through January 28, 2012. Lucie and her brother Desi Arnaz opened the exhibit with a wonderful concert on October 15.

Amazing Kevin Clash and his amusing sidekick Elmo from Sesame Street are featured in a new movie that you'll love: Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (award-winner at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival). Visit Being Elmo to see when it's going to come to a theater near you.

Edison Pena, the rescued Chilean miner whom we honored (and who inspired us) at this year's conference with the first "Survive AND Thrive" Award, has had a challenging year recovering from his ordeal. We were delighted to see that Edison returned to get his endorphins running again in the New York City Marathon on November 6.

Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary fame was also honored at our conference this year (and gave an incredible, heartfelt, creative concert that was so memorable). Noel is the host of a new national PBS special on Legends of Folk, which features special performances by Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Richie Havens, Simon and Garfunkel, and many more. It was thrilling for us to have a living legend with us at our conference! Check Legends of Folk to get a taste for this special.

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Attitude of Gratitude

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. (William Arthur Ward)

Here in the United States, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving on November 24. This is one of my favorite holidays... for the past 36 years, Thanksgiving is when we get together with Joel's side of our family.

I have so many strong, wonderful memories of these holidays. It seems jest like yesterday that Joel and I took turns with toddler Adam (now 30) walking Adam around the house while others sat through the dinner. Now, I eagerly look forward to the board games and table games we'll play after dinner, the DVD we'll rent and watch together, the annual photo we'll take of our growing family.

In our dailiness, it's so easy to forget how special these times are, how important they are to connecting us with important, positive people in our lives. When we take time to really appreciate these opportunities, we can feel enriched, connected, and content.

Who is someone in your life that brings you joy, someone you'd like to join you for Thanksgiving this year (literally or "in spirit")?
What is something for which you are grateful that involves that person?
How can you (in the next week) reach out to him/her and give that "present" of genuine gratitude for what he/she means to you?
What is one thing you can do to invite laughter and/or put a smile on his/her face?

This is a win-win situation... expressing your gratitude will put a smile on both of your faces!

Margie is a very successful life coach with clients from coast to coast. Sometimes she meets in person with clients, sometimes over the phone. Margie also offered a unique, very well-received pre-conference workshop in June: "Life Coaching: SAT's (Skills, Attitudes, Tips) to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Punderstanding Life

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Bruce Higdon from Murfreesboro, Tennessee was one of the wonderful cartoonists involved in our recent "Humor, Hope and Healing" Tour for Wounded Warriors (see #7 below). As you'll see, Bruce is a very punderstanding person. Here is a taste for some of his playful Punderstatements:

* Frank Sinatra was once asked if he ever owned any exotic birds. He replied, "Egrets, I've had a few...."

* If actions speak louder than words, then how come you never hear mimes?

* In these difficult and puzzling days, it is important to remember that those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

* I made the mistake of asking my neighbor's genius kid about pi. He just went on and on and on.

* This morning, I read in the paper that if California has a major earthquake, some banks may go into default.

* How many of you think softball pitchers are underhanded?

* I've just come up with the tastiest bread recipe ever! But I'm only sharing it on a knead-to-know basis.

* Of course, you've heard about the noun and verb who were dating? They had to break up because the noun was too possessive.

* Due to a long period of rainstorms, our wilderness camping trip was intense.

* Do you know that docks stay afloat simply from pier pressure?

* I attended the wedding of two friends of mine who are nuclear technicians at Oak Ridge. After the ceremony, she looked absolutely radiant and he was positively glowing!

* My math teachers used to tell me that I was just average. I always thought that was mean.

* When I got home late for supper last night, I told my wife that I had a pretty nasty fall and twisted my ankle. She thought that was a lame excuse.

* Just read in the morning paper about a man who was arrested after his therapist suggested that he take a little something for his kleptomania.

* I just spilled stain remover on my shirt. How do you get THAT out?

* Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

* Yesterday, I went into my bank and asked the teller to check my balance. She leaned over the counter and pushed me.

* Why don't politicians like golf? It's too much like their work-- trapped in one bad lie after another.

* Robin Hood was never able to sell his house. It had a Little John.

* To err is human. To moo is bovine.

* Air pollution is a mist demeanor.

* I remember when my wife was in labor with our first child. She kept yelling, "Shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't, mustn't, can't!" The doctor told me that everything was fine... she was just having contractions.

Humor can help us to punderstand life. Please send us your humor observations, creations, and examples... so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of this e-zine can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: Tip of the Niceberg

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2012... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

7. Humor, Hope and Healing Tour for Wounded Warriors, Their Families, and Health Care Professionals

As mentioned briefly in the last e-zine, The HUMOR Project has been involved in a delightful and powerful "Humor, Hope and Healing" Tour recently on the east coast, west coast, and Hawaii. This Tour featured a powerful one-two-punchline:

(1)Joel Goodman did presentations on "The Positive Power of Humor for Caregivers and Patients" for more than 300 health care professionals and caregivers (doctors, nurses, therapists, etc.) in seven locations on the east coast, west coast, and Hawaii (ranging from Walter Reed/Bethesda Naval Hospital to Tripler Army Medical Center and Fisher House in Hawaii).

(2)Nine funtastic cartoonists from the National Cartoonists Society joined Joel in visiting with wounded warriors and their families in these seven locations. The cartoonists (including internationally-syndicated cartoonists, Disney, Simpsons, etc.) provided wonderful, smile-generating, personalized caricatures and cartoons for Navy, Marine, and Army service members.

It was a very moving, mirthful, and meaning-filled experience to give back to these service members who have given so much of themselves. Here are some articles that will give you a taste of this terrific tour:

8. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

John McPherson is a syndicated cartoonist whose Close to Home cartoon reaches 40 million people every day in 700 papers around the world. Over the years, John has presented many cartoon-filled, laughter-fueled sessions at our international conference and through our Speakers Bureau. John knows that humor is healing... especially in the face of otherwise serious reality... enjoy...

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

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Humor Project: T Minus 3 Days

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

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≪ Previous: Humor Project: Thanks for the Gift of Humor

April 2011

Countdown: T-minus 3 days...

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

April is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that this month we can celebrate Boomer Bonus Day (for aging baby boomers), Fresh Florida Tomato Month, International Daffynitions Month (in case you're not daffy enough already), International Legacy Month (why not leave a legacy of laughter!), National Knuckles Down Month (in case you've lost your marbles), National Soft Pretzel Month, Tackle Your Clutter Month, Stress Awareness Month (if you haven't tackled your clutter), National Kite Month (uplifting, for sure)... and speaking of uplifting-- National Humor Month!

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will give you some food for thought to di-jest! You can give and receive the gift of humor at our 54th international conference on "Survive AND Thrive: The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" that will take place on June 10-12, 2011. "The Early Bird Gets... a Lower Price"-- if you register by April 1 (no foolin'!). Be sure to see the jest-released YouTube video about the conference at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkZYPphv9k0.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for April 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Save Dollars and Sense (of Humor) By April 1 (No Foolin'!)

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Doo Dah Days

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Truth and Fiction Fun

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from April that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

April 9: Start every day with a smile and get it over with. (Happy Birthday, W.C. Fields!)
April 15: The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power. (Francis Bacon)
April 23: According to the book American Averages, Americans laugh an average of 15 times a day. Jest think, by increasing your laugh quotient, you can add light years to your life. (Joel Goodman)
April 28: Comedy is like a muscle; if you don't use it, it begins to atrophy. (Happy Birthday, Jay Leno!)

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from April 5 and April 25 in Laffirmations:

* Whenever you start to lose perspective and your sense of humor, just say to yourself, "I won't know the difference 100 years from now."

* Find ways to tickle technology. For instance, when blow dryers replaced paper towels in the men's bathroom at one workplace, there were many instructions for their use posted on the bathroom wall. At the end, someone had written, "Wipe your hands on your pants."

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Save Dollars and Sense (of Humor) By April 1 (No Foolin'!)

We are VERY heartened by the early VERY positive response to our conference... with hundreds of people signed up already from over 30 states (Florida to Alaska, New York to California), Canada, and abroad. As you know from our last e-zine, we even received the Presidential Seal of Approval for our 2011 Conference: see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPOwMM6niMQ.

As noted at the start of this issue, there is a new YouTube video to whet and wit your appetite for this year's program. Be sure to see the jest-released YouTube video about the conference created by Jim Snack at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkZYPphv9k0

In addition to our featured honorees mentioned in our February e-zine (Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary and rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena) and our keynoters (and surprise guest) mentioned in March, we are delighted that our conference will feature other world-class speakers. We'll give you some quick looks in this e-zine and next month's e-zine. Here are 3 of our speakers who will each be offering a pre-conference workshop on June 10 and 2 concurrent workshops during the conference:

Dr. Peter Spitzer, as a child, wanted to be a clown, but he grew up to become a physician. Now, he is actually both! Peter will be coming to our conference all the way from Australia. He will speak about "Humorizing and Humanizing Health Care: The Art of Medicine and the Science of Therapeutic Humor."

Bob Eckert is CEO of an organizational development firm that helps organizations create a culture of sustained creativity. Co-author of More Lightning, Less Thunder: How to Energize Innovation Teams, Bob is a sought-after speaker, trainer, and executive coach with thousands of satisfied clients.

Jeff Justice is a comedy guru who founded the largest and most successful school for stand-up comedy in the country. Author of 7 books, Jeff was nominated for CNN's "Heroes" Award, has appeared on NBC, CNN, Showtime, A&E, and has been a consultant to David Copperfield for his televised magic specials.

Our 2011 Humor Sourcebook should have arrived in early February through the Post Office for those of you on our mailing list (the conference is described on pages 11-23). We encourage you to sign up soon for this learning-filled, laughter-fueled conference... you can save dollars and sense (of humor) if you register by April 1-- the early bird gets the lower price! To help with your cash flow... if you register on-line, you will be charged 50% of the tuition now and 50% in 30 days.

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Doo Dah Days

I'm proud to pay taxes... the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money. (Arthur Godfrey)

April 18, 2011 is Tax Day here in the United States-- the deadline for filing our income tax returns with the government... a date not usually met with a lot of laughs. In fact, supposedly "death" and "taxes" are the two parts of life in which there isn't any humor.

Mark Soifer (Public Relations honcho in Ocean City, New Jersey) decided to meet this Doomsday head-on. He reframed the most taxing day of the year into a legacy of laughter by starting the annual Ocean City Doo Dah Parade 26 years ago.

photo credit: Donald B. Kravitz, DBKphoto

The Parade features the likes (and likenesses) of Groucho Marx, George Burns, Jack Benny, Marilyn Monroe, Abbott and Costello, Lucille Ball, and this year's Grand Marshal, Meadowlark Lemon from the Harlem Globetrotters (whom we honored at our international conference with the Humor and Altruism Award). Bringing up the rear in the parade (thankfully) will be 500 basset hounds. The fun festival surrounding the parade includes The Basset Hound Olympics and an open-to-the-public program that Joel and I will present on "Humor as Mental Floss: Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

photo credit: Donald B. Kravitz, DBKphoto

Mark Soifer's creative playfulness is his delightful way to tweak what otherwise could be a very taxing day. Now, some questions to evoke your creative playfulness:

What event do you have coming up in your life that you are not looking forward to? How can you tweak it or tickle it?
What is one way you can think differently about this event... what is one "positive" that might result?
What is one way you can celebrate after this dreaded day has passed?
Like the Arthur Godfrey quote above, can you find (or create) some humorous sayings to help you approach this event with a new perspective?

The key is to take charge of how you approach this situation so that you can control the stress rather than letting it drive you (into the ground). We may not always be able to control the events outside of us (e.g., Tax Day), but we can take charge of the events within us (our attitudes, perceptions, and sense of humor).

For coaching to help you make intentional changes in taxing situations, to celebrate life, and to add zippity-doo-dah to your life and work, contact Margie at 518-587-8770. Please visit www.HumorProject.com/coaching to learn more about Margie's Strengths-Based Life Coaching.

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Truth and Fiction Fun

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Suzanne White from Michigan was motivated to send us the goodies below after seeing our March Reader's Di-Jest. Suzanne has been collecting typos and other boo-boo's in print. Again, truth can be funnier than fiction:

A library issued a press release announcing new technology for the hearing impaired. The release proudly proclaimed the recent purchase of a "telecommunication device for the dead."
A national organization sent an e-mail about an upcoming event to hundreds of its affiliates across the country. The subject line was "Sate the Date!"
A newspaper headline reported, "Missippi's literacy program shows improvement."

Fiction can be pretty funny, too! Rick Segel, one of the presenters at our 2010 international conference, passes along the following anecdote from his e-zine:

Tried in a hostile town, a guy didn't think he had a chance of getting off a murder charge, so shortly before the jury retired, he bribed one of the jurors to find him guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter.

The jury was out for over three days before eventually returning a verdict of manslaughter. The relieved defendant collared the bribed juror and said, "Thanks! How did you ever manage it?"

"It wasn't easy," admitted the juror. "All the others wanted to acquit you."

Be careful what you wish for! You can acquit yourself well by sending your humor observations and anecdotes to us so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of this e-zine can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2011... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

Our Speakers Bureau has been very busy. We want to give a shout out to the following people who are bringing us in to speak this week alone: Karla McDowell (Questar III BOCES), Paul Miller (Glens Falls Hospital Oncology Education), Arlene Hanson (Vermont Office of the Court Administrator), Andrea Thomas (CapitalCare Medical Group), Fred Shellard (Government Finance Officers Association), Mollie Kennedy (Ellis Medicine Leadership Development), Sean Brown, Nancy Wagner, and Debbie Amaro (NYS Education Department).

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

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Humor Project: Laughs Chance!

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

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June 2011

The End Is Near!

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

The end is near! That is, the end of registration for our June 10-12 international humor and creativity conference. In fact, with close to a full house, registration may end around June 1. See #3 below for your laughs chance to sign up! We are very heartened that in the midst of challenging times, there are already more people registered this year than in 2010. People are realizing that humor and creativity are powerful attitudes and skillsets to help us "Survive AND Thrive" (the theme of this year's conference).

In addition to our conference... June is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that this month we can celebrate Effective Communications Month (humor sure can help here), International Accordion Awareness Month (for an instrument some people love to hate), Turkey Lovers' Month (love a turkey in your life), National Candy Month (sweet!), Dairy Month (this is udderly ridiculous), National No-Dairy Month (hmm, dairy we say that there appears to be a conflict here), and last, but not least, Potty Training Awareness Month (you can call the Potty Training Totline).

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for June 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Your Laughs Chance!

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Pursue Passion

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Take My Language, Please!

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from June that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

June 7: Humor is your own smile surprising you in your mirror. (Langston Hughes)
June 14: A well-balanced person is one who finds both sides of an issue laughable. (Herbert Prochnow)
June 24: Laughter is the jest medicine. (Joel Goodman)
June 30: A smile creates another smile. A smile is the first step for humor to be possible. (Alex Port)

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from June 4 and June 25 in Laffirmations:

* Each week, type in a new quote or slogan under your letterhead or as part of your email signature, like "The best thing about being imperfect is the joy it brings to others."

* At home or at the office, whenever negative thoughts outweigh the positive, use the phrase, "That's Stinkin' Thinkin'" to pull yourself out of the rut.

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: Your Laughs Chance!

We have been delighted with the very positive response to our YouTube video (see previous e-zines) that Jim Snack created to give a sneak peek at our conference this year. Take a look at YouTube 2011 Humor Conference. Thanks to all of you who have registered after seeing this video!

We encourage you to join hundreds of others and sign up soon for this learning-filled, laughter-fueled conference... the conference is almost full and registration may close by around June 1. Better late than never... you can register on-line or by calling 518-587-8770 ASAP.

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Pursue Passion

Follow your passion and success will follow you. (Terri Guillemets)

Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. (Attributed to Howard Thurman)

Our son, Adam, recently achieved a milestone: he passed the oral exams for his PhD in History at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Prior to entering the doctoral program, Adam had experienced success as Assistant Director of Admissions at Tufts University and as a teacher in the Rio Grande Valley. During that time, his passion for history and academics kept surfacing... until he finally decided to pursue his passion and to fully take advantage of his strengths.

How many of us are using our real strengths and following our passions in life? Here are some food-for-thought questions for you:

What are three of your strengths, qualities or skills that are "just who you are?" (These could range from being very organized to being a great listener to being handy with tools to being a great problem-solver.)
What is at least one way that you do use each of these strengths in your life right now?
Choose one strength that you haven't used in awhile. What is one way that you can call on it more?
What do you least enjoy doing that is part of your responsibilities at work or at home? How could you use your strengths to accomplish that task so that it would be more enjoyable for you?
What is one passion and/or one "impossible dream" you might want to pursue "someday"? What is one step you can take now to follow that passion?
What humor strengths do you have that you could tap in pursuing your passions, hopes, and dreams?

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Take My Language, Please!

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Alvin Herndon was a laugh-lover who inspired me to start The HUMOR Project in 1977. As you know from an earlier issue, Alvin recently passed away... but his laughing legacy continues. In fact, we jest received the following baker's dozen from his wife Dawn (who continues as a humor pal by phone and through e-mail). Dawn passes along a tongue-in-cheek "You Think English Is Easy?":

The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Dawn does not take English for granite! She is rock-solid in her belief that English is a funny language:

There is no egg in eggplant.
There is no ham in hamburger.
There is neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads (which aren't sweet) are meat.
Quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

Enjoy playing with our language... because it sure enjoys playing with us!

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2011... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

Our Speakers Bureau has been very busy. We want to give a shout out to the following people who have brought us in to speak in the past few weeks alone: Tracy Pitcher for an encore presentation (American Cancer Society HopeClub), Jennifer Turck (Cortland Memorial Foundation), Joanna Yager (Women in Communications and Energy), Linda Yakatan (Empire State Association of Assisted Living), Karen Pratt for the ninth time (Local Government Information Technology Directors Association), Laura Rossman (ProAction), and Deanna Walker for the third time (New York State Conference of Mayors).

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

In the meantime, John "exercises" his sense of humor:

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

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Humor Project: Fun & Fast-Breaking News!

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

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February 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

February is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that this month we can celebrate American Heart Month (appropriate with Valentine's Day), Fabulous Florida Strawberry Month, National Hot Breakfast Month (maybe with Florida strawberries in your oatmeal?), National Children's Dental Health Month, National Pet Dental Health Month (hmmm, what if you had to choose between the last two), and last, but not least... Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month (that'll give you some food for thought).

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will give you some food for thought to di-jest! You can give and receive the gift of humor at our 54th international conference on "Survive AND Thrive: The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" that will take place on June 10-12, 2011. We are VERY excited about the line-up for this fun-of-a-kind experience! See #3 below. We are dedicating this year's conference in the memory of Alvin Herndon (see #4 below).

Feel free to forward this Laughing Matters e-zine to friends, colleagues, and family members and encourage them to sign up for a complimentary copy of our hot-off-the-press 2011 Humor Sourcebook and monthly e-mail newsletter at www.HumorProject.com.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for February 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: An Uplifting Experience (Literally and Figuratively)

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Humor and Al-truism: In Memory of Alvin Herndon

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Headlines: Humor Is a Universal Language

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from February that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (these also appear on our www.HumorProject.com home page each day):

February 5: Humor is a reaffirmation of life. (Bea Berry)
February 9: Humor is the prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer. (Reinhold Niebuhr)
February 15: To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity. (William Arthur Ward)
February 20: Humorists are serious. They are the only people who are. (Mark Van Doren)

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from February 8 and February 22 in Laffirmations:

* Hang a sign in your office or home: "Life's too mysterious... don't take it too serious!"

* Always look for humor and inadvertent juxtapositions in the check-out line at the grocery store. You'll find gems like this on the news rack: A magazine cover story, "God Is Dead!" Next to it, a tabloid with the headline, "Elvis Is Alive!"

3. 2011 International Humor Conference: An Uplifting Experience (Literally and Figuratively)!

At the conference, we will be delighted to honor Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary fame with the "Creativity and Altruism: Making a Difference" Award to thank him for making this world a better place.

We will also be honoring Edison Pena, one of the rescued Chilean miners, with the first "Survive AND Thrive" Award... because he really epitomizes the theme of this year's conference. In recent weeks, Edison visited Elvis' home at Graceland (Elvis was alive and with him in the mine as a creative outlet), was honored as one of CNN's heroes, and also appeared on David Letterman a couple months ago (you gotta see this).

In upcoming issues of this e-zine, we will highlight our other keynoters and speakers at the conference. Speaking of highlights (literally and figuratively), this year's conference will truly be an uplifting experience! You'll have a chance to take a tethered ride 100 feet off the ground in the Clown-N-Around hot air balloon over breathtaking Silver Bay on majestic Lake George.

Our hot-off-the-press 2011 Humor Sourcebook should be arriving through the Post Office this week for those of you on our mailing list (the conference is described on pages 11-23). We encourage you to sign up soon for this learning-filled, laughter-fueled conference... we have already received lots of registrations. As you'll see on page 23, you can save dollars and sense (of humor) if you register by March 10-- the early bird gets the lowest price!

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Humor and Al-Truism: In Memory of Alvin Herndon

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.

Alvin Herndon passed away on November 10, 2010. We miss him dearly. He has been a part of our lives since 1977. He was the inspiration for Joel to start on his serendipitous career path as the first full-time humor educator in the world. Alvin was the inspiration for The HUMOR Project. You can read about the origins of The HUMOR Project at the beginning of one of Joel's recent articles at the Alvin Story (click on Fall 2010: Read/Download This Edition... when you open the PDF, go to pages 20-21).

Over the decades, we have kept in touch with Alvin and his wonderful wife Dawn. We visited them in Texas, called regularly, and always sent newspaper and magazine articles in which we talked about Alvin. We flew Alvin and Dawn to our international conference where we presented him with the Humor and Al-Truism Award... and had many hundreds of people give him a prolonged standing ovation.

Alvin's gentle, childlike, spontaneous, kidding, affirming sense of humor helped Joel, his Mom and Dad to make it through a life-or-death health situation. Alvin taught us about the power of love, laughter, and humor. He also taught us that having an attitude of gratitude is essential in life. Alvin was a treasure while he was alive... and we continue to dedicate our work to his comic spirit, which is still very much alive. Now, some coaching/clarifying questions for you:

Who are some people who have made a difference in your life?
How can you thank them? If they have passed away, is their someone in their family to whom you could express your gratitude? (I bet it would mean a lot to them.)
What are your fond memories of the people who have made a difference in your life? How did they bring joy into your life? Do you remember laughing together?
What is one specific way that you will honor these people in the coming months? How can you carry on their legacies?

As we approach Valentine's Day... see if you can find a way to say, "Thanks for the memories" to the people who have touched your heart and your life. That will help you to transform the enriching memories into treasures.

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Headlines: Humor Is a Universal Language

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Dr. Ed Betof is a good friend and colleague of almost 40 years! He recently passed along some humor headlines that his brother John had collected. Truth can be funnier than fiction... witness these headlines:

Alton Attorney Accidentally Sues Himself
County to Pay $250,000 to Advertise Lack of Funds
Volunteers Search for Old Civil War Planes
Army Vehicle Disappears After Being Painted with Camouflage
Caskets Found as Workers Demolish Mausoleum
Ten Commandments: Supreme Court Says Some OK, Some Not
Utah Poison Control Center Reminds Everyone Not to Take Poison
Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop, Find Weapons
One-Armed Man Applauds the Kindness of Strangers
Statistics Show That Teen Pregnancy Drops Off Significantly After Age 25

With Spanish-speaking Chilean miner Edison Pena as part of the line-up for our June 2011 conference, I pulled from our H.A. (Humor Archives) this letter from Dr. Julian Ruffin from Columbia, South Carolina:

During a trip to Sullivan's Island over Labor Day, my six-year-old son Andrew heard a family talking to one another and couldn't understand anything they were saying. He asked his mother what this family was saying, and she informed him that they were speaking Spanish. He was fascinated and began asking my wife and me to teach him some things in Spanish. He continued to listen intently to this family.

A few minutes later, they all began laughing, and he turned to me and in all seriousness said, "Daddy, they laugh in the same language we do!" I was pleased he had grasped a profound truth, and reminded his old man of this truth again.

Humor is a universal language... and as Jim Boren said, "Laughter has no accent!" This will certainly be the case at our 54th international humor conference in June. In the meantime, readers of "Laughing Matters" can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: The Tip of the Niceberg

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2011... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

Our Speakers Bureau has been busy in the past month... here is the tip of the niceberg: We want to give a shout out to Ron Sail of GE Global Employee Services who brought us back for a return engagement that included a video conference to three other locations. Ellie Wendell from the Institute of International Education brought us back for the fifth time (we must be doing something right). Thanks to Janine Cantalupo, we also returned to do a program at the Albany Medical Center for the seventh time. We appreciate Ravi Khare of Panoramic Ace Properties for bringing us back with three of our speakers for the beginning, middle, and end of his three-day conference. Then there's Donna Taylor-Williams who brought us in for the fourth time to work with the USDA. Of course, we are always delighted to provide programs for new clients, too-- thanks to Eileen Bagnoli (President) and Sue Vernooy (Senior V.P. and Chief Human Resources Officer) at Pioneer Bank for passing along the rave reviews generated by our speaker (Jim Snack) at their recent recognition and sales awards luncheon... we look forward to future engagements and rave reviews.

7. Cartoon Corner: Close to Home

John McPherson is a syndicated cartoonist whose Close to Home cartoon reaches 40 million people every day in 700 papers around the world. John will be returning to our June 10-12 conference this year to present a laughter-filled session on "The Lighter Side of Work: Laughing Your Way Through Your Work Daze." Here is a taste for John's comic vision:

Feel free to request a copy of our hot-off-the-press 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

↧

Humor Project: Humor Tricks & Treats

November 16, 2011, 6:05 am

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October 2011

Humor Tricks & Treats

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

October is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that this month we can celebrate Go Hog Wild Month (a chance for you to ham it up), International Frugal Fun Day (you don't need FUNds to have FUN), National Communicate with Your Kid Month (creating a legacy of laughter in your family can help), National Cookie Month (yum), Workplace Politics Awareness Month (some of us are already painfully aware), United Nations International Day of Older Persons (as George Burns observed, "You can't help growing older, but you can help growing old"), and last (literally), but not least: Halloween.

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will provide you with some humor tricks and treats! Feel free to forward this Laughing Matters e-zine to friends, colleagues, and family members and encourage them to sign up for a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook and monthly e-mail newsletter at www.HumorProject.com.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for October 2011:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. Survey Says...

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: The Eye of the Behohoholder

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Devoting Yourself to the Funny Side of Life

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: Tip of the Niceberg

7. Article: Humor Is a Universal Language

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from October that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

October 8: Humor has a lot to do with perspective and giving people perspective. (Chevy Chase-- Happy Birthday!)
October 13: Then I commend mirth because a person hath no better thing under the sun that to eat, and to drink, and to be merry.... (Ecclesiastes 8:15)
October 21: True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart; it is not contempt, its essence is love; it issues not in laughter, but in still smiles which lie far deeper. (Thomas Carlyle)
October 29: Humor is really laughing off a hurt, grinning at misery. (Bill Mauldin)

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from October 8 and October 21 in Laffirmations:

* Put up a sign behind your desk that reads, "Do not interrupt me-- I have already changed my mind!"

* Keep a "Smile File" or "Tickler File"-- a file folder filled with funnies you've found over the years.

3. Survey Says...

We really value your thoughts and input! Jest to give you a heads-up... we'll be emailing two surveys in the coming weeks. We welcome and greatly appreciate your response:

(1)A survey to gauge your interest in The HUMOR Project sponsoring our 55th international conference on "The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" in 2012. We have sampled responses from some of you... the rest of the folks on our email list will now have a chance to put in your two sense (of humor) to help us in making this go/no-go decision. If you receive this survey in the next week, please respond ASAP, since we'll be making our decision in the coming month.

In the meantime, we are still basking in the afterglow of the off-the-charts positive feedback we have been receiving on our 2011 conference (LOTS of attendees who rated the conference a "10"... and that's on a 1-5 scale!). In case you missed it last month (or if you want a deja vu delight), take a look at this six-minute 2011 Conference YouTube Video.

(2)A survey to help us serve you, your organizations, and your associations through our Speakers Bureau. As noted below in #6, our Speakers Bureau has been very busy. In fact, we'll report in the next e-zine about an incredibly successful and impactful "Humor, Hope and Healing" Tour that we just completed for Wounded Warriors, their caregivers, and health care professionals on the east coast, west coast, and Hawaii (hey, somebody had to go there!).

Stay tuned for our next e-zine... and for the Speakers Bureau survey that will be emailed to you this month. Thanks again in advance for your timely response!

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: The Eye of the Behohoholder

Seeing is believing. (expression coined in 1639)

Humor is all about perception and perspective. We can see the light (and the lightness) if we open our eyes.

Look around you, wherever you are now. Can you see five objects that have blue on them? Red? Yellow? If you're like me, doing this will call to your attention objects that you may not have noticed otherwise. We see what we are looking for... so let's apply this to looking on the lighter side of life.

My friend, Anne Diggory, did this when she was doing a home project recently. The product she was using to cover old surfaces so that the new paint would hold was called Fresh Start. Her smiling suggestion: "It would be nice to keep a can of that handy for fresh starts in other parts of our lives-- figuring what we could put past us and cover up, and then have a fresh start on an even surface."

Now, for your perception "homework": Choose a space where you feel comfy and relaxed. Sit for at least 15 minutes with pencil and paper and look around, noticing items that are familiar yet "overlooked" day-to-day:

What do you notice in this space as your mind wanders around it?
Where does your mind wander as you contemplate those objects?
Do the objects remind you of any humorous anecdotes?
What ironies or juxtapositions come to mind as you contemplate the items?
Where else could you intentionally pay attention to your surroundings to see humor in your own reality?

Humor is in the eye of the behohoholder!

Margie is a very successful life coach with clients from coast to coast. Sometimes she meets in person with clients, sometimes over the phone. Margie also offered a unique, very well-received pre-conference workshop on June 10: "Life Coaching: SAT's (Skills, Attitudes, Tips) to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Devoting Yourself to the Funny Side of Life

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Elliott Blauvelt from Horseheads, New York likes to horse around. He sent us the following:

* My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group-- there was less competition there.

* Mitzie: "Last night, there were two pieces of cake... and now there is only one. How do you explain that?"

Otto: "I guess I didn't see the other piece."

* Jones told the doctor he wanted a vasectomy. "All right," said the doc, "but have you discussed the operation and its implications with your wife?"

"Yes," said the man. "I'm not really thrilled about it, but my wife asked the children to vote on it."

"What was the outcome?" asked the doctor.

"The kids favored it, eleven to three."

Please devote yourself to humor and "vote" by sending us your humor examples... so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of this e-zine can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Speakers Bureau Appreciations: Tip of the Niceberg

Our Speakers Bureau has been very busy... now, more than ever, individuals and organizations are looking for speakers who are motivating, inspiring, and humorous. We want to give a shout out to the following people who have brought us in to speak these days: Judie Byndas, Lisa Dolen, and Tom Campany for the second time (NYS Retired Teachers Association), Coleen Cox-Ballah for the second time (Case Management Society of America), Darbee Percival (Community Coalition for Children), Julie House (Town of Pittsford), Patty Shaw (Wound Ostomy Continence Nurses Society), Sharon Shumaker (Center for Cognition and Recovery), and Cathy Adam for the seventh time (Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library).

7. Article: Humor Is a Universal Language

Over the years, I have really enjoyed writing for Toastmaster Magazine, which reaches hundreds of thousands of Toastmasters in 116 countries. After speaking on all seven continents, I wrote an article that appeared in the February 2011 issue that gives tips on how to "translate" humor across cultural and national borders. It may jump-start your thinking about Jim Boren's notion that "Laughter has no accent!" Check out Humor Is Universal.

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2011 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

******************************************************

To see the archives for previous issues of the Laughing Matters email newsletters, click on or copy and paste the following into your browser: http://community.icontact.com/p/laughingmatters

↧

Humor Project: 2012 Conference Announced

January 3, 2012, 5:46 am

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January 2012

Happy, Humorous New Year

Humor Project's Laughing Matters E-mail Newsletter

Hello!

January is filled with with lots of fun! CHASE'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS tells us that in this month, we can celebrate Diet Resolution Week (I can't weight for this), Happy Mew Year for Cats Day (for those who are catatonic on New Year's Day), Trivia Day (an important day for people with doctorates in uselessology), National Clean-Off-Your-Desk Day (a miracle in waiting), and National Thank God It's Monday! Day (humor can help us move from TGIF to TGIM).

Enjoy this month's Laughing Matters... hopefully it will help you to experience TGIF (Thank God It's Funday!). Feel free to forward this Laughing Matters e-zine to friends, colleagues, and family members and encourage them to sign up for a complimentary copy of our 2012 Humor Sourcebook and monthly e-mail newsletter at www.HumorProject.com.

Jest wishes,

Joel Goodman

Director, The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Table of Comments for January 2012:

1. Humor Quotes

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

3. Humor Conference 2012: Save the Dates!

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Change Is the Only Constant

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Computer Humor

6. Survey Says... Speakers Bureau

7. Cartoon Corner: See Beetle Bailey on January 12, 2012

1. Humor Quotes

Here are four of the quotes from January that appear in Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work (new quotes appear every day on our www.HumorProject.com home page):

January 2: Seven days without laughter makes one weak. (Joel Goodman)
January 13: Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been. (Mark Twain)
January 21: It is bad to suppress laughter. It goes back down and spreads to your hips. (Fred Allen)
January 30: You don't have to teach people to be funny. You only have to give them permission. (Harvey Mindess)

To order a copy of the jest-selling (70,000+ copies) Laffirmations, go to HUMOResources on-line bookstore-- please indicate if you would like it to be autographed to you or to someone else as a gift. This book (and the other great humor resources in our bookstore) would be an inexpensive way to give the priceless gift of humor.

2. Humor How To's: Tips of the Month

Here are two humor how-to tips of the month. Drawing from January 10 and January 30 in Laffirmations:

* When confronting your fears, remember this story: There was a storm one night, and a little boy was afraid. He woke up and came into his parents' bedroom saying, "Daddy, I'm scared." His father reassured him, "Don't worry, son, God loves you." The boy replied, "I know, Daddy, but right now I need someone with skin on."

* Give yourself license to use humor by ordering a customized license plate like one person did: OK TO WAVE, Y RESIST

3. Humor Conference 2012: Save the Dates!

Fast-breaking news: The HUMOR Project's 55th international conference on "The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity" will take place from June 1-3, 2012 at scenic Silver Bay Conference Center! After reviewing hundreds of evaluations from our 2011 conference, we are delighted to report that it was the highest-rated one ever! On a 1-5 scale (with 5 being the highest), we had more ratings of 10 than ever before. We look forward to springboarding off the success of this year's program in 2012!

We are VERY excited about our line-up for this year. Full details will be available on our www.HumorProject.com Web site in the coming weeks. For those of you on our mailing list, you will receive a print copy of our hot-off-the-press 2012 Humor Sourcebook by the end of this month-- see pages 11-23 for more of a sense (of humor) for the 2012 conference.

At our 2011 conference, we were very pleased to honor rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena with the first "Survive AND Thrive" Award (see Edison and Elvis in 2011). At our 2012 conference, we are looking forward to honoring Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords with this Award-- Gabby certainly personifies "Survive AND Thrive."

4. Coaching Corner with Margie Ingram: Change Is the Only Constant

When you're through changing, you're through. (Bruce Barton)

Yikes, what an admonition! Have you ever, like me, resisted change in your life? Sticking with the familiar can be so comfortable, so familiar, so... well, so "right". Yet the world is changing all around us all of the time... including changes in health care that surround all of us.

During this Fall, I have spoken at three different programs for health care personnel on how to stay sane in the midst of changes happening all around them-- many not of their choosing. As you can imagine, humor is one tool that can help us keep our gyroscopic balance in a world that spins with change.

What is a change that you know is coming in your life in 2012?
What will you need to let go of in order to embrace this change wholeheartedly?
What is one positive possibility that might come from this change?
What is one way that you can use humor to help you flow with this change?

Perhaps you could collect some fun quotes to help you keep perspective. Glance through your favorite quote or cartoon book to see what might fit your situation. In Joel's Laffirmations book (noted in #1 and #2 above), he included a cartoon in which Ziggy is looking at his list of Things To Do Today:

1. inhale 2. exhale 3. inhale 4. exhale 5. inhale 6. exhale 7. inhale

Yes, humor can help us to remember to breathe... and to breathe easier in the face of a changing world. Humor can help us to get-- and keep-- perspective on the changes around us and within us. After all, change is the only constant... and humor can be our constant companion.

Margie is a very successful life coach with clients from coast to coast. Sometimes she meets in person with clients, sometimes over the phone. Margie also offered a unique, very well-received pre-conference workshop in June: "Life Coaching: SAT's (Skills, Attitudes, Tips) to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

5. Reader's Di-Jest: Computer Humor

Over the past four decades, we have greatly appreciated our loyal alert legion of laugh-lovers. Linda Nyquist from California attended our international humor conference... and ever since then has been a loyal and regular email pen pal. Here are some snippets from customers communicating with tech support that Margie Bernath had passed along to her. Ain't computers fun!?

* Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?

Customer: A white one...

Tech support: Click on the "My Computer" icon on the left of the screen.

Customer: Your left or my left?

* Customer: Hi, good afternoon! This is Martha. I can't print. Every time I try, it says "Can't find printer." I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it.

* A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer.

Tech support: Are you running it under Windows?

Customer: No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.

* Tech support: Okay, Bob, let's press the Control and Escape keys at the same time. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager.

Customer: I don't have a "P".

Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob.

Customer: What do you mean?

Tech support: "P" on your keyboard, Bob.

Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!

* Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend placed a Screen Saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.

* Customer: I can't get on the Internet.

Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?

Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.

Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?

Customer: Five dots.

Humor can help us to connect the dots in life. Please send us your humor observations, creations, and examples... so that we can share the wealth with other readers. Readers of this e-zine can help spread the positive contagion of laughter by sending us anecdotes, quotes, and ideas that have tickled your funny bones. Feel free to send your humor contributions to Joel@HumorProject.com (please put "Reader's Di-Jest" in the Subject Line).

6. Survey Says... Speakers Bureau

Over the decades, the 100 world-class presenters in The HUMOR Project's Speakers Bureau have provided thousands of presentations for more than three million people around the world. We have loved the diversity of programs-- for local, state, national, and international conferences... for associations... for government agencies... for schools... for hospitals... for human service agencies and non-profit organizations... for business corporations... and more! To get a taste for 30 sample topics and testimonials, check out our Speakers Bureau. We would be glad to explore program and presenter possibilities with you for 2012... and to have one of our speakers come to you and your organization or association! Jest give us a call at 518-587-8770.

Our Speakers Bureau was very busy in 2011... now, more than ever, individuals and organizations are looking for speakers who are motivating, inspiring, and humorous. Jest to give you a quick heads-up: In the coming weeks, we will be sending a survey to solicit your input and interest in having our Speakers Bureau as a resource to you, your organization, association and/or conference. Thanks in advance for your response once you receive this new survey. We would be delighted to come to you to deliver some great programs in 2012.

7. Cartoon Corner: See Beetle Bailey on January 12, 2012

I had the good fortune years ago to interview Mort Walker for our Laughing Matters magazine. Mort is the creator of the Beetle Bailey comic strip that has reached hundreds of millions of readers in 2000 newspapers around the world. Mort also appeared at our international humor conference... and we've kept in touch over the decades. After a recent speaking engagement, I had the good fortune of visiting again with the team that creates Beetle Bailey-- Mort, his son Greg, and Bill Janocha. I was tickled to discover that the January 12, 2012 Beetle Bailey would include one of my quotes from Laffirmations. Here's a sneak peek. Thanks to Mort, Greg, and Bill for spreading the good humor word(s).

Reprinted with permission.

Feel free to request a complimentary copy of our 2012 Humor Sourcebook by calling us at 518-587-8770. You can also download a PDF copy of the 24-page 2011 Sourcebook at www.HumorProject.com.

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