Benefits-How will Laughter Coaching help you?

The Benefits of having your very own private, personal & very confidential, laughing Laughter Coach are to:

• Help jump start your laughter with do-it-yourself laughter tools that will serve you throughout a lifetime of purposeful living.
• Help you lightly shift your perspective by examining repetitive action & thought patterns that interfere with your accomplishing your plans.
• Support you in lightening your burgeoning burden of seriousness that bogs down the steps needed to be taken on your way to meeting your objectives.
• Encourage you to use your new laughing perspective in approaching insurmountable obstacles, impossible situations and ghastly challenges.
• Direct your attention over and over to the incredible lightness of your being a laugher on your path to achievement, after achievement, after unending achievement!.
• Hop on your bandwagon when it needs an additional informed fun fan - a laughter cheerleader who's "been there, done that".
• Put your seriousness on a laughter diet that is nourishing, fulfilling, and APPROPRIATE for the life vision you have created.
• Guide you through your self imposed blocks and barriers with a wink, a prod and occasional kick-in-the-pants all the while helping you keep your eye on the prize.
• Remind you incessantly but lightly of who you really are behind the heaviness of your acquired limitations so you can move firmly, steadily & dynamically forward.
• Enlighten your soggy soul with a good laughter scouring, allowing it to soar.
• Teach you facts about laughter that are counter to our controlling cultural beliefs that foster mediocrity & conformity.
• Mentor the meaningfulness of your goals so that meaning doesn't overwhelm fullness.
• Question any serious authority about you except the lighter you, what you want, what you need, and how you want to get it.
• Help you develop the art of laughter about things that are not "funny"so you can transform your seriousness into a flexible, fun, enjoyable plan.
• Inform you of the myriad physical benefits of laughter with constant examples so you can feel better doing the tough stuff.
• Nurture and guide your growing laughter into the rich, deep, lilting sounds that are music to your ears and sustenance for your spirit.
• Tap into your innate laughter before jokes, teasing & tickling took over, thus giving you an ability to connect to others in a healthy direct & delightful way.
• Help you find your key to re-ignite your laughter engine, getting it into full gear with the appropriate number of cylinders firing the appropriate times so you can unlock your potential and move forward toward wherever you decide.
• Help you regain through laughter the sweet juicy richness of life we experienced as children and deserve to taste, chew & swallow ravenously as adults, and then greedily go after more , more, more!

Tips On Picking A Laughter Coach

The following was re-printed by the LA Times from the Chicago Tribute. It has been "laughter" altered.

Answering yes to one or more of these questions indicates you might BENEFIT from a Laughter Coach

• Are you overly serious & feel heaviness in your relationships, health status, financial statements, career?
• Is there a gap between where you are with laughter and where you'd like to be with laughter?
• Does the idea of simplifying your life by lightening it appeal to you?
• Are people in your life telling you that you are too serious or "lack a sense of humor"?
• Have you lost touch with the simple enjoyment of life?
• Do you rarely laugh or not laugh as much as you would like?
• Are you "seriously" stuck?

Answering "yes" to two or more of these questions means it might be TIME for a Laughter Coach 

• Do you seldom feel relaxed & enthusiastic as you approach your to-do list, (or seldom finish it?)?
• Are you usually serious or hesitant about moving forward or taking risks?
• Do you see only limited, dreary life choices?
• Has the word "creativity" and "play" disappeared from your vocabulary?
• Is it time to find a life laughter partner or to inject more laughter & fun into your current partnership?

"Life is a state of mind; imagine the one that you want, and then create it."
     ~ Anonymous

Before committing to a Laughter Coach

The first decision is whether you even think hiring a Laughter Coach is a good thing to do. If the answer is yes, here are some essentials for finding the right Laughter Coach:

• Be sure the coach laughs easily & often without ridicule or jokes!
• Understand the Laughter Coach's role. A psychotherapist's traditional role is to focus on mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior, shyness, etc.). The laughter coach helps you move forward with your personal agenda by helping you set light, right goals and keeps you on the laughing track while reaching your goals. The Laughter Coach does not tell you what to do (more the job of a consultant or parent) or rehash much of your past (except perhaps the laughter part). The Laughter Coach will laugh along with you, honing & fine tuning your laughter. A Laughter Coach's role is to enhance, encourage and enrich your laughter so you can become laughter independent and use the laughter tool to grease your gears toward goal getting.
• Investigate a prospective Laughter Coach's credentials. Anybody can call himself or herself a Laughter Coach. There is no minimal standard to claim the title "coach" much less "Laughter Coach". Coaches themselves have created solutions for consumers and as of this time, as the only known Laughter Coach, I shall attempt to establish a general list of suggestions (which of course will be based on me since I'm "it"). Hopefully it may serve you after this is published online & Laughter Coaches replicate like viruses & proliferate spam-like.
• The International Coach Federation has seriously spam-like sanctioned 61 coach-training programs none of which are Laughter Coach training programs. Perhaps mine will be the first. The IFC suggests interviewing three or more coaches before finding one. In my case, you might want to research "humor", consultants if comedy is more the way you wish to go. Ask about experience qualifications, education & skills. Request at least two references .

To Choose a Laughter Coach

1. Does he/she laugh readily, easily & often, without derision?
2. What is the Laughter Coach's professional background?
3. What kind of experience & how much has the laughter coach had? In Coaching? In Laughter work?
4. Do you feel comfortable in your interaction with this person. Trusting?
5. What is the person's reputation?
6. Is this a person you might use an example of someone whose life is admirable?
7. Does he/she have a lightness of spirit, flexible demeanor and a relaxed approach?
8. Is he/she open about the realities of change and the stress and pain it can involve?

Remember, we all have self-defeating aspects in our lives, often the internalized parental voice that chirp, perched on our shoulder. Laughter coaching can help drown out these voices. Also, ask about fees & specifically what you will receive in services. The typical "life coach" might charge $100-$600 per month depending on services, time, etc.

As a laughter coach, with over 30 years of experience, I coach people to laugh about things in their life that aren't really funny. Together we lighten the burden of seriousness (without ridicule) around any part of your life. In turn, this lightness will free your thinking and sensibilities and change your attitude and perspective. Whether we concentrate on personal (life) goals, relationship, spiritual or career goals, laughter coaching is a result oriented and immensely enjoyable process.

"Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have."
    ~ Hyman Judah Schachel

Discover the differences between conventional therapy, personal coaching and laughter coaching

As a therapist, I have never been conventional! Although as a therapist I disagree with some of these comparisons, I plunge ahead fearlessly, and add my own laughter coaching column. Laughter Coaching is a dynamic process.
    ~ Annette Goodheart