Since the goal of my programs is to show audiences how humor can both help them heal as well as deal with not-so-funny stuff, I decided to discuss the events of the previous week, the pain all of us were feeling, and how humor and some laughter might be beneficial.

In every job, relationship, or life situation there is inevitably some turbulence. Learn to laugh at it. It is part of what you do and who you are.

Zen teaches that once we can open up to the inevitability of our demise, we can begin to transform that situation and lighten up about it.

Sometimes it takes ten seconds to see some humor in your dilemmas, sometimes ten years.

The hardest thing you can do is smile when you are ill, in pain, or depressed. But this no-cost remedy is a necessary first half-step if you are to start on the road to recovery.

Research has shown that people who volunteer often live longer.

There is always something to chuckle about. Sometimes we see it. Sometimes … we don't. Still, the world is filled with humor. It is there when we are happy and it is there to cheer us up when we are not.