Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Fake or baked?

Author Lou Solomon writes, “Children laugh an average of 146 times a day; adults laugh an average of 4 times a day.”

Is this why I grew up thinking the father figure was a total butt? I was having a great time. I assumed he wasn’t. Even in adult clothes it’s extremely important to me to bump shoulders with a grumpy coworker or family member. If you aren’t laughing I’ll make an a** out of myself to pump up your volume.

Being that its January bookstores are the next best thing to workout gyms; they hold what you need to come across as a happier person. Problem is what’s written touches the ring of colors inside your eyes then drops off the corners like snot falling from the nose. The experiences of those before us aren’t given permission to sink in.

How to books are junk food for wanna-be happy people. It tastes so good during the moments of discovery but instantly become stale when required to make a physical change. For the longest time I was extremely guilty of hoisting the I am a better me flag until the pages painted a newer reason to drop the life and style I was leading. Although my wife has been incredibly supportive, the man away from the mirror became addicted to looking away from reality.

That all changed when Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way poked its giant foot out and tripped the creative within. For seventeen years every step, decision, dream and landscape of thoughts arriving inside the realms of reality have been my guide; her desire to share a safe path burst open every reason to teach the adult that we too can laugh 146 times a day.

Julia taught me how to stop reading How to Books and start studying the message; which brings me to a quote from Jazz legend Charlie Parker, “Learn your instrument then forget the stuff you were taught and wail.”

Michelangelo saw an angel in the block of marble that stood before him. What do you see when staring at the block of human flesh in the mirror?

Since 2008 I’ve seen more dreams crumble into five hundred thousand pieces to the cold rock covered floor then walked away from like it was dead and lost forever. It’s as if we’ve forgotten the story of the tree. Each fall it drops its leaves only to sit naked through the coldest of months and in the end there are new leaves for spring with flowers on apple trees that give us treats by summers end.

The recession is over; very few believe it. We continue to hang our heads, roll in our shoulders and keep walking forward forgetting to laugh. What’s so funny about being unemployed or holding down ten part time jobs without insurance? I have a friend that works for a company whose clients pummel her ambition everyday because outside our rose colored glasses the world doesn’t respect America like it once did.

Julia Cameron teaches us that People Magazine and other paparazzi outlets will forever be incredible moneymakers because this generation can’t stop comparing itself to other people having a bad day. We find peace of mind watching the famous trip, stumble, skip and flip in relationships that shouldn’t have happened but they did because somewhere within their world each of their hearts located a reason to believe their soul mate was someone who had experienced exactly what they did.

According to Donny Osmond one of his greatest friendships was with Michael Jackson. They spent countless nights as kids talking on the phone about what it’s like being on the road away from true neighborhoods and real schools and churches.

How can a show like Mike and Molly work on CBS? Because it makes being overweight acceptable. Why did the world tune into Paula Abdul’s new show Live to Dance? To check in on an old friend that’s been accused of falling off a billion wagons.

We are completely addicted to the negatives that we have no time to seek out something positive. Which brings me to the Tim McGraw song Live Like You Are Dying; if today proved to be what the song suggests…how many laughs did you get in before your number was called?

In my second book Another 1,021 Thoughts I share my views on comedy. It doesn’t exist unless you can relate with the storyteller. Its time we stop giggling with the laugh tracks and start participating with the circles we keep.

Second degree black belt test…we were asked to do 100 sit ups…after running two miles, busting out 100 squats, 100 push ups and nearly a thousand kicks, punches and falls…I unexpectedly ripped a big one on the person holding my feet. I couldn’t stop laughing not because of the embarrassment but my Master shouted, “Everybody does it.”

What? I’m not alone. Pop open a can of warm Root Beer and lets host the first annual let it all hang out party. Stop worrying about your bank account and start putting focus on the number of times you laugh. Those are the numbers we’ve got to get up.

I’ll always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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