2007-02-03

Balance Your Mind ~ Fill it With Laughter


The balance. We all seek it, either consciously or unconsciously. And no one needs it more than those of us who work so hard to make our biggest dreams come true. As the bald and beautiful big-bellied Buddha said:

All that we are
arises from our thoughts.
With our thoughts
We create our world.
- Buddha ("The Awakened One")

So if the size of our world is truly the size of our mind, why not fill it with a wonderful balance of both dreams and laughter? Everyone has a genius, and comedians are certainly included. My favorites from the silent-film era are, in order:

Harold Lloyd







Buster Keaton (the only black & white star my children will watch, the others I put on when I want them to go to sleep :)







and Charlie Chaplin










My two favorite present-day comics are Eddie Izzard (who did the voice of the Koala bear in "The Wild") and Steven Wright. The hilarity of Eddie Izzard is absolutely impossible to convey in words. His timing and facial expressions transform the words he speaks into bursts of laughter from your mouth.







Steven Wright, however, is dry, monotone, and seems like he's either stoned or has some serious mental problems. His humor just kind of builds up; making you go from saying "what?", to chuckling, to laughing out loud. Here are a few of his thoughts.

When I was a little kid I wished the first words I ever said were "quote" so when I died I could say "unquote".

Lots of my friends have babies but I don't have any babies but I have lots of friends. Babies don't have any friends.

They all have those baby monitors so they can hear the baby in the other room which I consider a form of wiretapping.

Sometimes I talk to myself fluently in languages I'm unfamiliar with, just to mess with my subconscious.

It's a good thing lots of people speak foreign languages otherwise they'd have no one to talk to.

When I was in First Grade the teacher told us the President was married to the First Lady and all I could wonder is if she ever saw any dinosaurs.

She told us of Michaelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. That night I was lying on top of my bunk bed looking at my ceiling and I thought "why not".

I had my brother push the bed around while I painted Jesus and Santa Claus on a see-saw.

I had Jesus on the low end even though he weighed less, because he's "Jesus".

Jesus upset a lot of people in his time: "Jesus will you stop turning the water into wine? I'm trying to take a shower over here."

What did Jesus ever do for Santa Claus on his birthday?

Don't think about it. It doesn't mean anything.

*After I finished this my thoughts took me to my college site. Before I knew it these ideas were swirling together and connecting with higher-education to create "The Importance of Genius". Click the link to see where the journey took me. The University of Central Florida

It may take them a few days to post it.

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