BACK TO ARCHIVE .......................................................1-19-03

Dear Friends:

The Swami has said there are two kinds of mystics in the world, the optimystics and the pessimystics. Although pessimystics seem to be more in touch with "reality," optimystics are happier and live longer. It's the pessimystics who've been crying, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" The optimystics simply smile and say, "No. It only looks that way because
we are ascending."

Of course, for those people who read the news -- not to mention those unfortunate enough to be in the news -- this has not been an easy year to offer an optimystic reframe to loads of
pessimystic evidence.

There's an old saying, "It always seems darkest before it gets really dark," but we optimystics don't buy it. Call me a hopeless "hopium" addict, but I say it can't hurt to look on the bright side.

Sure, you can say we human beings have moved further down the path of self-destruction ... or you could say the earth is ridding itself of its most virulent parasite. You can deplore the increased war, disease and starvation, or you can go, "Hey, population control without birth control or abortion!" You can worry over America's turn toward totalitarianism or you can say, "Ah, simplicity! We've boiled the Bill of Rights down to just one: You have the right to
remain silent."

Seriously, we do have a choice. One of my favorite stories recently is about a Native American grandfather talking to his young grandson. He tells the boy he has two wolves inside of him strugglingwith each other. The first is the wolf of peace, love and kindness. The other wolf is fear, greed and hatred. "Which wolf will win, grandfather?" asks the young boy.

"Whichever one I feed," is the reply.

Every day -- every moment -- we have the choice to feed the wolf of love or the wolf of fear. If war is a necessary evil, that makes it all the more important to express peace as a necessary good. Whatever love, kindness, laughter, or generosity we create in our immediate vicinity radiates outward like a "perfect Ponzi scheme" where everyone wins and nobody loses.

The wolf I have chosen to feed is the wolf of healing laughter and conscious comedy. I am happy to say that I have "combined farces" with producer Michael Mears ("The WiseZenHeimers") to form the Laughmore Society, a membership organization designed to encourage laughter as a tool for healing and awakening. We will have our first "Wake Up Laughing" event in January at Unity in Marin in Novato, California with the Swami and fellow comic Richard Stockton (author of "Fondle the Fear" and master of the reframe). At this event, for the first time, Swami will be delivering his annual State of the Univers Address in front of a live audience.

If you want tickets so you can be there in person and register your personal laughter on the laugh track, just click on appearances for details -- and you can buy your tickets online. This event will be recorded so you can enjoy it post-humorously, and maybe even webcast.

And finally, for this holiday season when things get hectic, when family patterns erupt, or when an overdose of holiday "cheer" has gotten you down, get quiet, take a deep breath and remember Swami's holiday song, "There's No Place Like OM For the Holidays."

Till next year, may you wake up laughing .. and leave laughter in your wake.
May the FARCE be with you,

Steve Bhaerman
http://www.wakeuplaughing.com.