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We want to share a sweet and funny video clip of a dad and his baby son entertaining each other…it’s short yet priceless…we dare you to watch without smiling-laughing along.
Research according to a compilation on www.about.com has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings to increasing one’s threshold for pain. There’s even an emerging therapeutic field known as humour therapy to help people heal more quickly.
Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones and increases the level of health-enhancing hormones. Laughter also connects us with others and can reduce tension in challenging communications.
In short, laughter is a wonderful recipe for increasing resilience and optimism, foundational characteristics of an Upside philosophy and lifestyle.
What are your impressions?
- In what ways have you found laughter to help strengthen/improve your life?
- What suggestions do you have for others about laughter and its power to shift mood and perspective?
Continuing with last week’s theme on the impact of advertising messages, we would like to share with you a priceless commercial: one of the funniest and weirdest we have come across! You’ll see what we mean in a minute…
(By the way, if you did not see last week’s post by the late George Carlin, it’s a must…)
Steve: In reviewing some of the questionable buying decisions I’ve made over the years, several come to mind. In 1978 I decided I needed my very own (expensive) Champion Juicer. The ½ horsepower motor is built to last a lifetime and powerful enough to mow a lawn! Although it now sits in the back of my cupboard—collecting dust—every now and then I get inspired, buy 50 lbs. of carrots, and enthusiastically enter a juicing frenzy. The Champion also makes great ice cream. Hmmm…maybe I’ll take it out sooner this summer!
One of my biggest “Oops!” experiences was buying one of the early model, all-in-one devices that print, scan, fax, and copy. The purchase made perfect (and practical) sense at the time. What I did not consider before I opened my wallet was the cost of replacement cartridges. They were very pricey. Now, when I make buying decisions, I am much more conscious of the total cost of an item over its lifetime.
So sit back, click on the link below, and enjoy this very short and entertaining piece. Be prepared for a good belly laugh! And by the way: this product is real and available!
Consider some of the purchases you’ve made in your life:
- What are some of the wiser buying choices you’ve made to date?
- What about some of the less-wise expenditures?
- Based on your buying experience, what would you say are your “top ten” guidelines or rules to deciding yes or no on a purchase?
- What advice would you have for others in making more informed decisions?
‘Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have for something they don’t need.’
– Will Rogers
We’re hoping this week’s message—delivered by way of an illustrated (and clean!) audio clip from a 2005 performance by comedian-satirist George Carlin—will have you smiling and shaking your head at the same time!
Carlin, who passed away nearly a year ago, weaves together a three-minute barrage of the advertising slogans we’re confronted with every day and hits us with them all at once. The result is an eye-opener!
While these advertising “tools” are intended to stimulate us to want, need, buy, and otherwise consume all manner of goods and services, the force of them humorously being hurled at us all at the same time is bizarre to experience. It illustrates the power packed behind the messages of advertising as the industry relentlessly attempts to influence us into believing there is so much more we must have in order to enhance our lives.
Our resilient nature
On the upside, while it’s questionable as to whether any of these marketed goods and services will add significant value to our lives, we can give ourselves credit for the extra work we do each day to filter through the onslaught of such sales messages and make sensible (well, most of the time!) decisions for ourselves.
Carlin helps us to see the extent to which we are working against the grain: the strong current of advertising that pushes, pulls, and ultimately tries to seduce us into spending as much as possible.
George Carlin
Click here to watch this week’s video
What do you think?
- How well do you believe you are able to detect the influence of advertising hype in your purchasing decisions?
- Can you come up with examples of instances where advertising content was either helpful or unhelpful (or both) in leading you to buy certain goods or services?
- What might help you personally to strengthen your resilience to the subtle and powerful messages of advertising?
- What advice might you offer to others, especially to young people, to help them guard against the seduction of advertising?
Please send us your comments! Your insights and ideas could light the way for others…
This week we have a delightful “sweet treat” to offer you: an offbeat, yet poignant video clip on a research study involving marshmallows, four-year-old kids, and the relationship between delayed gratification and success in later life.
The initial phase of this study took place in the early 1960’s at Stanford University. A follow-up was completed 14 years later when the children in the study were 18. The combined research is regarded as one of the most successful behavioral experiments ever conducted.
The results are startling in that they illuminate key elements about how we make choices (even at a young age) and the impact this can have on our degree of success in life as we mature. The implications of these findings are far-reaching and set the stage for new approaches to teaching essential skills that could help our children be less impulsive and make wiser informed choices later in life.
Enjoy! This video will touch your funny bone as well as stimulate your thinking, a combination we love at Upside to the Downturn.
When you have viewed it, please take some time to reflect upon the questions below and share your insights with us.
Our community grows as more and more individuals participate through sharing their perspectives and stories.
Questions for reflection:
- What struck you most about this video?
- What implications might this research have for you and/or your family’s spending and saving habits?
- If you were one of the four-year-olds in the study, what do you predict you would have done (at that age) with the marshmallow?
- Is there a “marshmallow” in your life right now (something you really want) that is creating a similar kind of tension for you, i.e. wanting it now versus waiting for it until the conditions make better sense or are more practical
- Can you think of an example of something you waited for in your life where you found the wait to be worthwhile?
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