Tag Archive for: happy heart

When you’re proud of yourself…

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HA! Being proud of yourself. Does this happen to you often?

I closed one of my talks at the Good Mood Summit with a quote that basically said that we often spend weeks thinking about what’s difficult in our lives, but only celebrate what’s great for an hour.

It’s true. I too have a tendency to dwell on what’s not going so well.

I’ve just experienced something that makes me think about just that.

Today I was feeling tired and not particularly cheerful. It happens. I welcome and show kindness to myself when it does. I know it’s TEMPORARY.

My light space isn’t really about administration and web design. I usually leave that to those who have the talent. I’m meticulous. I have ideas. But what about detail and finishing? No patience for that. I was going to say I have no imagination either, but that’s not the case. I’m rather ignorant. And when you don’t know all the possibilities of something, you use it as little as possible, don’t you? Bingo!

Anyway, I was trying to solve a little technical problem with our newsletter subscriptions. For the past week, someone had been telling me that she was trying to subscribe without success. What’s more, she really wanted to receive the two gifts that come with the subscription (an infographic and an audio). I tried all sorts of ways, but nothing worked. I just couldn’t figure it out.

No need to panic.

So I called in Michael, my wonderful expert, who took the time to fix what seemed to be wrong. He also took the opportunity to activate the double option for entries. Safer, in his opinion.

Except that, in doing so, when I tried to add my address for testing, I received a welcome message in English. I really don’t like this kind of situation. So I searched for quite a while to find a place where I could modify this form! To no avail!

The beauty of all these online tools and programs is that when we pay to use them, they usually offer effective support. That’s the case with this provider. So I struck up a conversation with a certain Esmeralda and asked her my question. She took the time to write me a long paragraph explaining in detail what I needed to do. But I panicked a little! I asked her to stay with me for a few moments to “hold my hand” while I tried to rectify the situation. Which she did.

Eureka! After a few minutes, the mystery was solved and the form was translated into French. Hallelujah! Thanks Esmeralda and have a nice evening.

It didn’t stop there!

As I was about to leave the form, my finger touched a key that took me somewhere “magical”! I discovered the place from which I could modify the visuals and make the whole thing (all in all, very boring and not warm at all) more in the image of the School of Laughter Yoga, i.e. more colorful and lively!

YES!!!

And I’ve modified the header of these forms!

The sense of pride I felt friends!… All because I had just learned something I never knew existed! And I did it “by mistake”! All by myself!

You would have seen my back straighten, my smile widen, my eyes shine! Pride changed my energy of the moment!

So much so, that I’ve chosen to share it with you. To make my sense of pride last a little longer. To immortalize it! hahahaha!

So here’s a little challenge for you. What could you do to feel proud of yourself right now? Something big or small. Try a recipe with ingredients you don’t know? Walk a little farther than usual? Learn the words to a song in a foreign language? Complete a task that’s been weighing on you for a while?

TRY IT ON! Just try it!

and let me know how you’re getting on!

I’m going to continue celebrating this little victory over my “incompetence”!

WOOHOO!!! Tap on the shoulder and cheer up.

Laughter, joy and health

Linda

P.S. Even if you missed all 17 conferences of the Good Mood Summit live, you can now watch them all at your own pace by subscribing to Planète Joie!

A low point happens to everyone

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A low point happens to everyone. Mine too. I’m experiencing one right now.

Certainly, doing what I do, people don’t expect me to go through lows. Or at least, they expect …

“Come on, Linda! Laugh! It’ll get better!”

Every time I hear this phrase, I grit my teeth a little because, yes, laughing makes you feel better and gets you through the turmoil with a lighter heart, of course.

But…

The troughs are there. We mustn’t ignore them, put them off, or try to get out of them quickly at all costs. That wouldn’t solve anything. What’s more, I have the impression that trying to run away or forget would sometimes make things even worse.

Without going into too much detail, the past year has brought me some truly intense experiences. I accompanied a dear friend in the last months of her life in Toronto, and was with her right up to the end, when she was able to receive medical assistance in dying. A roller-coaster of emotions. It was a privilege to be with someone who had been in my life for almost 30 years, to celebrate her accomplishments, to be a loving, smiling and reassuring presence for her, to witness her generosity to so many during her all-too-short life. To accompany her towards “the great and beautiful never seen“.. Yes. A privilege.

It was a great challenge to stay the course, to remain faithful to my laughter yoga commitments (I do the sessions on Urgence Rire 3 times a week and on RigoloZoom once a week) in addition to my conferences and workshops with numerous groups and work teams. And yet I succeeded. Don’t ask me how! For a year.

This is when “the thing catches up with me”. After balancing everything for almost a year, my body is now asking me to slow down and take the time to rock gently. So I listen and do. I don’t try to pretend everything’s fine or chase after miracle solutions that will make the temporary discomfort disappear. I stay present and fully aware.

I’m sharing all this with you because I’m convinced that you may recognize yourself in what I’m writing today. You’re also going through the rough patches that sometimes occur in our lives. Those moments when we don’t really recognize ourselves. Wanting to shake things up so that the feeling of melancholy, grief, pain and gloom goes away and is replaced by calm, serenity, energy and good humor. We want the sun to shine… at all times.

And I find the expression “trough of the wave” a very good visual representation of what’s going on inside us and our emotions.

Have you ever been on a boat navigating rough seas (lakes or rapids)? If you’ve never experienced it, you’ve probably seen a film showing the sea breaking, the waves surrounding the ship and forming an impassable fortress, with breakers up to 9 meters high. The ups and downs of life.

If you’ve ever experienced a storm at sea, you probably remember how the ship feels when it’s at the top of the wave, and how it feels when it’s at the bottom. Even if we’re a little scared, we KNOW that we won’t stay at the top or the bottom of the wave! That both are stages and cycles that follow each other and PASS. Until the storm subsides.

Nicole Bourget, who taught me at university, used to hammer home the point that “what you resist persists”.

So I have no intention of resisting right now. I’m letting myself hit the bottom of the wave because I’m deeply convinced that I’m going to get back up and ride the crest of the next one!

There’s no need to run away from the storm. It’s here… and it’s TEMPORARY.

And that’s what I’ve been telling myself for the past few weeks. All this is TEMPORARY.

I live what I have to live in this experience and I KNOW that I’m not “like that” forever. The proof? I’m able to tell you all about it. In all simplicity and transparency. I’m able to do it because I’m CERTAIN! It’s TEMPORARY.

Let’s not give up hope.

Laughter, joy and health

Linda

p.s.: This is also what the CRYING LAUGHTER teaches us.

p.p.s.: I’ve inserted links to two wonderful songs that go well with what I’m writing here. The first by Michel Rivard (Le beau grand jamais vu) and the second by my friend Lucie Raîche (Un arbre à la terre).

p.p.p.s.: and to make sure I don’t forget, I put a reminder right there on the corner of my computer screen!

p.p.p.p.s.: The nice picture is by Amélie Montplaisir and it’s called “Surfeuse sereine” I have the reproduction in my office! Surfing the wave…