Your Laughin' Place

...and as Br'er Rabbit said, "I said it was my laughin' place, not yours..." and Uncle Remus reminds us that each of us has to find our own laughin' place, 'cause it's different for each of us....

Where is your laughin' place? Don't know what that is? Well, let me tell you, you've come to the right spot...Your laughin' place is just around the corner...third star to the right...It's the state of mind available to you whenever you begin to feel trapped by life...Br'er Rabbit was gonna be roasted on a spit...(ever feel like that, like life is roasting you?) It was just then that he imagined what the best possible outcome could be and through his wit and perseverance it came true...Just imagine for a moment the sorry circumstances that are weighing you down, notice how you can't seem to see anything funny or worthwhile in these conditions...and begin to realize that, until you can, nothing good is likely to happen....

Your laughin' place is just one silly thought away from your door...what circumstance could there be that would allow you to laugh in the face of the distress you are facing? What thought could make you see the absurdity that is life and allow you to laugh? Stop what you're doing, (if what you're doing is making you miserable) and take a little time to open up your imagination...because nothing good can come until you see the possibilities and opportunities...and nothing will allow the pain and fear to stop until you can see the light...find your laughin' place...go there often....

Then, take a little time and learn to distinguish between the temporal and the infinite...grubbing around in this world of things to do, and things to have, is temporal...it's fine...just not what's really and truly important...treat it that way and all of life will be your 'laughin' place'...make it deadly serious...and you'll most likely be dead and serious...doing and having are the stuff of life...we like that and we hate that....

Being is the inspiration of life...you can BE happy anytime...you can BE at peace anytime...you can BE inspired and inspiring...anytime or out of time...find your 'laughin' place' and have a good ol' belly laugh on me...Yes, things might be tough, life may have thrown you some hard sliders...but that's just the stuff, it's not the being...you are first and foremost a human BEING...BE one...and BE ONE with the universe that is a perfect place for you to be...stop, sit down, brew a cup of Earl Grey, find a vista that allows you to see past the horizon, even if it is only in your mind's eye, then relax and enjoy the moment...that perfect moment where you once again realize...you are the peace, you are the love, you are the center of your perspective and it is a spectacular view that can fill you with inner peace and harmony....

You do have a 'laughin' place', it is up to you to find it...remember...you are cherished, you are loved, you are a child of the universe, be well, give of your gift until you get it, then be the gift you have always been...love the one's you're with and until next time, I remain...Respectfully Yours, Larry






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Are We Having Fun Yet?

Are we? I hope so...I was having a grand time watching my computer disintegrate before my eyes...I am using my wife's old one...works better than mine...I have been struggling a bit about what to write here...I want to write about possibilities...possibilities for us as a group, a species, a society, but I don't want it to be any less than a personal contribution to each of you who are reading this...I envision this column as about 'us'...being, having and doing a little better each day...I was fretting and worrying and then decided to tell you my story....

I was out one morning having breakfast, after going to the City of Hope for some fasting blood tests and I got to talking with the people at the next table...some how the issue of drugs came up...not sure how, but then I found myself expounding again on the insanity of making it profitable...make that "insanely" profitable for killers, robbers and criminals to control the drug trade in America and the world...With more than 25% of domestic crime related to the need to feed the drug habit and untold misery inflicted everywhere, it seems truly insane to continue to make drug use illegal...Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want drugs to have the patina that alcohol and tobacco have, in fact, if left up to me each of these would be included into a new category..."Socially unacceptable and personally destructive", Anyone found promoting their use would be heavily fined, anyone found promoting their use to minors would be put in jail...packaging, plain and unattractive with large warnings...controls in distribution which would eliminate profit and promote treatment....

In the beginning any drug user could qualify for a life time supply by simply committing to personal use only, with NO sharing...upon severe penalty...take the profit out of the cartels hands...out of the smugglers hands, out of the users hands...spend the billions we now spend on 'waging war', on treatment, education, and showing how destructive the effects are to all of our children...de-criminalize, de-glamorize and de-incentivize drugs, alcohol and tobacco...give people enough real information to make decisions and let them be responsible for them...stop creating criminals and crime by failed attempts at prohibition...it prohibits nothing and makes this world a hundred times less safe....

I know...scary, and wrong headed...can't be done and won't be...political suicide to actually propose a solution that would let heavy drug users...use drugs, then focus on helping them instead of spending billions to incarcerate and hunt them down...make the crime seducing others and make it so unworthwhile that users would find it best just to use and leave others alone...we could do it...but I fear we won't...we could make it safer by taking the need to rob and steal to buy drugs out of the equation...but it is unlikely that we will...we could end the slaughter in Mexico, Afghanistan, and other places in the world, but we won't...c'est la vi....

So, how was your day? Thanks for putting up with me today, I'll try to straighten up in the coming blogs...if you are feeling anything less than inspired by life...find someone who needs something you have and give it till you feel blessed by the possibilities and potentials that you being on this planet make possible...you are a gift, you deserve to be loved, cherished and esteemed by everyone, most importantly by yourself, be well, love the one's you're with, and until next time...I remain, Respectfully Yours, Larry





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Super Sunday...What a Great Concept

In spite of the stupor bowl...you know that North American ode to too much testosterone...the one that pretends to be FOOT ball when the rest of the world plays a game that actually requires the 'foot' to move the ball...the idea of a Super Sunday is grand....

Today is Super Sunday!!! Get the kids take them to the park and celebrate...or as the song says, "...pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone go 'Cause everyone knows..." it's Super Sunday...Today is the day...put down your troubles, your worries, your bitter recriminations and upsets with others and celebrate the truth...we're all in this together...differences of opinion are a dime a dozen and not worth the price...War is savage and crazy and an affront to every person on the planet...looting and savage behavior in Haiti is fear gone mad and has no place in our world today...today stop what you're doing and celebrate your humanity...say hello to strangers and smile at the world....

Today is Super Sunday, bring your friends together, and if you must, watch a little faux football, then celebrate each other, vow to do better in this world and end the night laughing and singing and being thankful for the joy of being alive....

Remember, be gentle with yourself, give freely your love and be grateful for all the love that is given to you...see it everywhere and give it everywhere and in the end, love the one's you're with...Until next time, I remain...Yours, Truly, Larry





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Trite and True

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life..." Yep, true...the first time I really heard that and let the implications sink in...it felt profound...I didn't have to worry about what was or had been...I didn't have to repeat the mistakes of the past...I could go forward...with a clean slate and optimism...I felt hopeful, alive...the world was my oyster...I wanted everyone to share in that feeling...all I had to say to them was, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" they loved it and repeated it...that was 1974...I wonder if today is the first day of the rest of my life? Hummm...maybe....

"You can't change the past..." Yep, true, or the variation, "You can't change what's past, and all the worrying in the world won't matter..." Yep, "Worrying, IS the interest on borrowed trouble...", remember that one? Maybe, a little less trite...but true none the less...worrying is the interest on borrowed trouble, but that's just a saying until you really get it...We often think if we worry about it enough it'll help...it doesn't...but then repeating trite sayings probably won't help either...discovering that all your worry was for nothing is often a great feeling....

"Life goes on, until it doesn't..." or "Shit happens and then you die..." yep, true...I can remember the comfort, and the ballsy in your face sense of embracing those two...Kinda, buck up, it's just the way it is...sorta thing...not bad some times....

"Nothing exists forever..." Yep, true...is nothing...something? Because if it were something and it existed forever then something would exist forever and that something is "Nothing" "NO THING exists forever"...so if you become NO THING you will exist forever...EST was big with that one..."everything/nothing"...comforting to be part of the everything/nothing continuum....

"Be Here Now..."the Past is the Past..."Tomorrow will never come..." Yep, true...If you're struggling with something, you probably need to bring your consciousness into the NOW...trite and true...When you let go of the past and surrender your fears of the future you can begin to "live in the NOW..."...be here...now...experience the love you have and the love you have to give...be present to listen, reflect, share and dream...all the things that make us who we are today...be gentle with yourself, love the one's you're with, cheer wildly for your side, whatever that might be; and celebrate the moment, until next time, I remain...Respectfully Yours, Larry

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