Laugh - it's a good thing!

Although I have no real followers (yet), except family at this point, I am going to try to post on here more often.  My daughter has provided lots of inspiration for me to do so with her blog.  I love to read it.  And since she is not around here like she used to be, it has given me some insight about her and that makes me feel a little more in touch.  How good is that?! 

So here's something that has been going on in my life -  This week I have had two seperate conversations with friends that have made me laugh so hard that I cried.  I won't relate the stories because they are too long and won't be as funny without the back-stories.

But my point is that every time I laugh that hard I am reminded that laughing is good for the soul.  Laugh with someone and your spirit soars!  Laugh at someone....well, you better have on shoes you can run in or else be very good at apologies.  No matter.  What hearty laughter does is creates a memory that will often live through the ages. like this one below. 

A surprise party I will never forget.  SO much fun!

One of my college roommates at my daughter's wedding.  It was a blast - both the wedding and the photo booth!

  As you can imagine, I just got lost in a bit of nostalgia remembering those events. So why not think about something you laughed about once a day?  Or at least a couple times a week?  Not only does it make you appreciate the people around you, it might just change the course of your day.   ....all because you laughed!

Disappointment

               

How long can you be disappointed in something before your perspective changes?  I suppose it's just human that we want something to be the same all the time, but it's an ever-changing world and that includes people as well as situations.  I have learned that changing what I expect will decrease disappointment. 

There's a balancing act to be done here.  Sure you can lower your expectations, but go too low and you become a Debbie Downer - nothing is worth anything; go too high and you become a royal pain in the patootie - verbalize it and we shall call you "Harpy".  Balance is key.

In fact, balance is key to everything!  We eat too much junk food, we don't get enough sleep, we don't exercise enough, we watch too much TV, we don't read enough, we talk too much, we don't listen enough, we don't say what we feel, we complain about the small stuff,  It is when we become conscious of our excesses that we begin to balance things out, though sometimes we may go too far in the opposite direction first.  However, even in achieving balance we can be faced with disappointment.  ....Ha!  I thought I had it all figured out, too.

 I used to think that the older I got the less things would bother me; that, somehow, with each year I live my ability to shrug off what bothers me  would become easier because I have learned from my past years. Well, I may be older and I may be wiser but I still have a lot to learn. 

 At the moment I am accepting disappointment as it comes and trying not to make a big deal about it.  I am trying to "hold steady" in my tracks and keep a solid perspective as best I can. It sure is a lot easier to shrug off disappointment in a situation than it is in people!

Do you think it is a choice? I do.  I think disappointment comes from our own expectations.  When those expectations aren't met we bum right out.  This brings me back to the idea of balance - but also to being able to set your expectations accordingly.  That is the tricky part, and I believe that [and being emotional creatures] is how disappointment gets through the door.  In other words, disappointment is a fact of life. 

How do you handle it?