Use Your Brain Now...
Before It's Too Late

Here's something else you have no control
over: you are issued a hundred billion (or
so) brain cells at birth and, unlike the
other cells in your body, they are never
renewed. That is all you get. And you
lose, on average, 500 of them an hour. So
if you've got anything to think about, I
suggest you get to it right away. I'll give
you the rest of the story shortly...

Last week I promised to tell you how to use
humor to help you accept the things you
can't change. People are surprised by how
much humor you find in accepting the things
you cannot change. Dealing with things you
can't change is usually associated with
extreme frustration and, why not?

You don't naturally smile when that BMW cuts
you off on I-65 and you're already five
minutes late to your appointment. Your
first reaction when your daughter sneaks out
her bedroom window to attend a forbidden
party isn't to smile really wide. What's
worse than dealing with other people's
unwanted or disappointing actions or
attitudes, after all?

But it's in dealing with those attitudes
that your hidden humor ally is found. It's
subtle, but once you catch on to it, you'll
find yourself that much closer to my
recommended 30 minutes a day of
fun.

What frustrates you about the BMW driver's
attitude or your daughter's actions? Not
being in control of them, right? You
don't want to let go; you want to be in
control, and you're not! Isn't
that why we say the things we've let go of
have "claw marks all over them"?

But have you ever thought of what you're
actually letting go of? Lean in really
close because I'm going to whisper an
amazing secret to you.

You think you're letting go of your control
over that rude BMW driver's attitude or your
teenage daughter's actions...but you're
not! You're only letting go of the illusion
that you have control because you never
actually had control over those things
anyway - you just thought you did!

Okay, lean back from your monitor. I'm
about to start speaking in a normal volume
again.

Let's make this very clear. You're not
letting go of control over the things you
can't change, you're only letting go of the
illusion that you have control. You can
build an entire sitcom about such
misunderstandings, folks.

And the more you practice letting go of the
things over which you have no control,
the more gentle humor you will find in your
illusions of control.

Watching a child reach up to grab the object
appearing "right before her eyes" during a 3-D
movie will make you laugh gently because
it's sweet and cute. Why is your trying to
grab control of your illusion any less
humorous (and any less sweet and cute)? Answer:
it's not.

If you give yourself permission to laugh
with yourself (another of my Fun
Commandments), you will soon find loads of
fun and humor in your illusions of control. And,
trust me, that humor makes it easier to
let go of the things you cannot change.

The more you give yourself permission to
find humor in your illusions of control, the
more you are practicing accepting the things
you cannot change. Because finding humor in
accepting the things you cannot change helps
you accept them much more readily. And
accepting the things you can't control, in
return, helps you find the humor in them. It's
a wonderful, reciprocal relationship!

Don't be alarmed, by the way, about your
brain. Although your brain cells are
lost forever when they're gone, their
individual components are constantly
renewed. So no part of your brain cells are
ever likely to be more than a month old. Knowing
that your brain is like a freshly
brewed pot of coffee should help you accept
the fact that your brain cells don't ever
replace themselves.

Until next week, let me know what humor
you're able to find as you accept the things
you can't change!

Your Attention Please!
Learn the inside secrets of a (formerly)
stressed-out physician. How to access the
private results of Cliff Kuhn, M.D.'s
desperate search to help his patients, and
himself, escape a life of pain, stress, and
disappointment is revealed, just for you, on
a special website: www.humornature.com. Warning:
You May Never Be Unhappy Again!

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Some Humor for the Week

"If you are truly serious about preparing
your child for the future, don't teach him
to subtract, teach him to deduct."
Fran Lebowitz