George Gilbert’s Motivational Humor

I have an old friend who complains all the time. He complains about his coworkers. He acts as if he is the only one who knows what he is doing, everyone else is incompetent. Then he will wonder why no one likes him, why he is the one that gets passed over for promotion, why he gets fired and goes from one job to another.

Maybe he does know more that the others but he doesn’t create a positive work environment by always pointing out others’ mistakes, he doesn’t create a team atmosphere by belittling them in front of other associates. Not only will they not want to work with you but they aren’t going to trust you. You are only setting yourself up for failure.

If you want to be a success at work help others by mentoring them, point out their successes not their failures and stop complaining about everything. Instead of coming to work with a frown turn it around and smile. No one wants to work with someone who complains about everything. People want to be around upbeat positive people. People that make them laugh, smile, and feel good about themselves.

If you have to point out others’ mistakes all the time to make yourself look good, then you are only hurting yourself by alienating your coworkers and when you make a mistake they will be the first to point it out. Rather than embarrassing you co-workers, help them and find humor, but not derogatory humor, in their mistake.

Every year most of us make resolutions that we never keep. In fact by the middle of January we have already forgotten them. Some we not only break, we don’t even start them. We have the best of intentions. We are going to exercise more, lose weight, eat right and then January 1st comes and we are too tired from New Years Eve. So we put it off another day, and then another day, and another day until we have given up. We stress out and the next thing you know we are back in the same old daily routine. This year let’s make a New Year’s resolution that we can keep. Let’s promise to laugh more. Find things to laugh about. Share humor with others. Go to more comedy movies, rent more comedies, and watch more sitcoms. Laughing is easier than exercising and yet it does help our cardiovascular system. And we don’t have to worry about laughing too much. The side effects are minimal, maybe a sore side particularly if you haven’t’ exercised lately.

This Thanksgiving I have a lot to be thankful for… My mother turns 84 this month and I believe laughter has played a vital role in her longevity. At 84 she is still very active despite having been diagnosed with Lung cancer and having a lobectomy (my mother said be sure and spell lobectomy correctly, “I don’t want them to think I had a lobotomy.”) earlier this year. She has made a full recovery and is in good health and spirits. Mom walks a mile every day and has a full social life. Laughter and humor has kept her young and helped in her recovery.

Throughout her life she has been surrounded with laughter and has a great sense of humor. Not only has she made audiences laugh for more than 60 years, but she has been able to find the humor in her daily life. Even though laughter can help prevent many illnesses, we occasionally undergo health challenges in our lives. Laughter and humor can help us cope with these challenges. When she was diagnosed with the cancer we didn’t panic and start a pity party. We instead immediately began laughter therapy. We still have to rely on medical science, but attitude plays an important role in the treatment and recovery of a patient. Fortunately, we didn’t have to find the humor in this alone, her surgeon was very optimistic and in his own way humorous. Had he been emotionless and strictly clinical like some physicians I believe her recovery would have been much more difficult.

When going through a challenge in your life (physical or emotional) it is important to find something to laugh about. It is also important to surround yourself with those that keep a positive attitude and make us laugh. My advice to you is to find good-natured humor to laugh at and laugh often. We all have our own sense of humor to fall back on, whether we use it or not is our own responsibility.

Growing Older Can Be a Laughing Matter. November 24, 2004 my mother, Tulara Lee, turns 82 years of age. She is still very active and I believe it is because she has been around humor and laughter most of her life. She was 19 years old when she entered show business and has been making people laugh all these years. She still continues to speak with me on the importance of laughter. It seems comedians live longer. Comedian Milton Berle lived in to his nineties. George Burns and Bob Hope lived to one hundred. Maybe it’s because they surrounded themselves with laughter. I can’t think of any other profession where people still continue to work into their late eighties and early nineties. 

According to Dr. Thomas Pearls, director of the New England Centenarian Study, those living to 100 years “handle emotional stress incredibly well.” The centenarians studied had “lost spouses, endured hardships, even survived the horrors of the holocaust. Yet they were generally optimistic and, and in most cases, funny.” He said, “They use humor all the time.” 

More and more doctors are realizing the importance of humor and health. The following interview is with Beckie Larson, a very special person, who works at the United Way of Southern Nevada.

George: What is your occupation?

Beckie: Front Office Coordinator for United Way of Southern Nevada and a mom to 6, grandma to 1, mother in law to 1 and wife to one.

George: What was your health Challenge?

Beckie: I was having strong heart palpitations and chest pain along with chronic headaches. I went to Urgent Care, spent a few nights in the hospital two different times, and finally was scheduled to see a cardiologist who ran more tests. I have been on more treadmills for stress tests and had more sticky things stuck to me than any one human should have ever. Test after test came back normal. No heart attack, no heart disease…nothing. They chalked it up to stress.

George: What did the Doctor Prescribe for you your treatment?

Beckie: After the doctors ran numerous tests and decided it was “just stress”, the cardiologist told me to laugh more often, to make time for myself, to learn to be a kid again, get some books and tapes on laughter and stress management.

George: What type of humor did you use?

Beckie: I started out by going and buying some bookos. “Relax - You may only have a few minutes left” by Loretta LaRoche was the first book I read, and still read it now and again. It taught me to stop taking everything so seriously. I’ve always been a big fan of Who’s Line Is It Anyway? and watch it every night. Even the reruns make me laugh.

George: What is your favorite comedy? Who is your favorite comedian?

Beckie: Harry and the Hendersons. It’s an oldie, but a goodie. The kids and I watched it over and over again. It was just a simple movie, fun for all ages. I didn’t have to think of analyze anything, you just watched, laughed and enjoyed. I love Rita Rudner, and even though she has shows here in Vegas, I’ve never seen her live. She just seems so down to earth, talks about “real Life” things, things that are close to home, sometimes too close to home.

George: Have you noticed a change?

Beckie: I’ve definitely noticed a change. I don’t get as many headaches, palpitations have decreased and no chest pain for the last year. I try and always remember to let the little things go and to laugh often, especially when driving home during rush hour traffic, when or I hear, “but MOM…” For the 90th time in an hour span. Laughter got me through some really rough times when my mom passed away from lung cancer and I try and instill in my children that they need to lighten up and not take everything so seriously. Life is just too short. So on my wall at home is a plaque that says: Talk Much, Live Well and Laugh Often.

We could all follow Beckie’s doctor’s perscription: laugh more often, make time for yourself, learn to be a kid again.

“Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that’s a real treat.” - Joanne Woodward

“For I’ve been born and I’ve been wed. All of man’s peril comes of bed.” - C.H. Webb, Dum Vivimus Vigilemus

“I love being married. It’s so great to find one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” - Rita Rudner “Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy, you must have somebody to divide it with.” - Mark Twain“No man is truly married until he understands every word his wife is NOT saying.” - unknown quote“I should like to see any kind of a man, distinguishable from a gorilla, that some good and even pretty woman could not shape a husband out of.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.“Marriage is one of the few institutions that allow a man to do as his wife pleases.” - Milton Berle “I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and bought jewelry.” - Rita Rudner“Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.” - Samuel Johnson “Do not marry a man to reform him. That is what reform schools are for.” - Mae West“A happy home is one in which each spouse grants the possibility that the other may be right, though neither believes it.” - Don Fraser “Marriage is a fine institution - but I’m not ready for an institution.” - Mae West“Never go to bed mad — stay up and fight.” - Phyllis Diller“

I feel like Zsa Zsa Gabor’s eighth husband on her wedding night: I know what I’m supposed to do…I just have to figure out a way to make it interesting.” - many attributions

“A wedding is a funeral where you smell your own flowers.” – Kid Millions, 1934
  “I was the best man at the wedding. If I’m the best man, why is she marrying him?” - Jerry Seinfeld

DEEP OBSERVATIONS ON LIFE  subbmitted by Erica Welsing 1) When I die, I want to die like my grandfather-who died peacefully in his sleep.  Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  –Author Unknown   2) Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: “Take two aspirin” and Keep away from children.” –Author Unknown 

I just watched a very funny video clip of Steve Martin on the Tonight Show. His routine was entitled “The Great Flydini.” He spoofed traditional magicians by making objects appear out of his pants; scarf’s, eggs, a lit cigarette, glass of wine, and even a telephone. The routine was funny because it was original, but also because Steve Martin didn’t overact the part of the magician. I like the humor of Steve Martin but he often goes too far and overacts when he is doing stand-up comedy.