Laugh.

No, really. Right now. Do it! Laugh!

We all know that a good laugh is great medicine, the perfect way to shut up the Inner Critic, etc. But part of being down is not finding anything funny, lacking the stimulus to set it off, and lacking the ability to respond to the stimulus.

But you don’t need a stimulus. You don’t need something external to set you off. Fake laughing is one of the fastest routes to laughing for real, because you’re doing something so silly and, frankly, taboo. “You don’t just start laughing for no reason, that makes no sense!!!” says the Inner Critic.

But it works. It makes you feel better.

Check out the video… it involves laughing in a group, but fake laughing works just as well if you’re alone.

Smackdown Success Story: Alysia Reiner

Alysia Reiner (www.alysiareiner.com) plays the recurring role of Cindy on The Starter Wife on USA. Her latest film is The Vicious Kind, produced by Neil LaBute, and she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role as Christine in Sideways. She is also expecting her first child with husband David Alan Basche.  

When did your Inner Critic first rear its ugly head?

Been there as long as I can remember.

What’s the worst part of having an Inner Critic, or what’s the worst thing it’s ever said to you?

That it never goes away – you just learn to deal with it.

What have you been able to achieve by smacking down your Inner Critic?  

Not just achieving goals but living a life with more joy and peace.

What’s your all-time favorite smackdown?

Thank you for sharing, now shut the f@%& up.  

What do you do when none of your smackdowns are working?   

Call and email friends to help me whip um into shape, put on great music & dance it away, go to kickboxing class

Over time, does it get easier to smackdown the Critic?

Absolutely – it’s a muscle, ya gotta work it.

What keeps you motivated?

I wanna live my dreams, be happy and at peace – the more I do the less the Critic talks.

Acting is one of the toughest careers you can have. How do you handle the Outer Critics?

Don’t read reviews while you are working on something. Period.

Are you scared of raising a kid? If so, how do you smackdown that fear?  

It’s a mix of educating myself, choosing what to use (i.e., choosing supportive, not fear-based, books, videos, classes), and listening to my intuition and heart more than ever.

What are your favorite sources of inspiration?

SO MANY! Nature, music, meditation, yoga, love, art, notes from the Universe, my friends & family, sex, laughter, being of service.

What advice would you give to someone who was stuck in fear and inaction?

Go do something! Get your ass out of bed or out of the house and:

Volunteer somewhere

Go to a museum

Make a list of goals, start with tiny ones

& take one action today – just one.

Recruit a friend to be action buddies

Anything else you’d like to add that I haven’t asked?

Action and Smackdown with faith/hope/belief in yourself are muscles – ya gotta work um. And sometimes they get sore when you first learn to use um or are getting stronger… Work through the pain. Pain is weakness leaving the body. And damn it feels good to be strong, believe in yourself and live the life of your dreams!!

Life is a musical day.

In our house whenever we feel like we need a pick-me-up we have what we call Life is a Musical Day. And then we sing everything we do with a running commentary set to music. It doesn’t matter that a few of us can’t carry a tune in a bucket. What matters is that we end up laughing every time. We also choose the genre of the musical and switch it up often. For instance, sometimes we sing in wobbly opera voices, sometimes with a country music twang, and sometimes we do scary musical (think Phantom of the Opera or Tim Burton’s NIghtmare Before Christmas).

Today is a musical day because I started reading the news and got so depressed by the violence, economic crisis, and general negativity that I had to counteract it immediately! 

This video will help inspire you to live today as a musical. Props to my stepkids for finding this one!

Dance around the kitchen.

It’s Saturday. Today’s smackdown: Turn up the stereo so it drowns out the Inner Critic’s voice and dance around the kitchen! But first click on the link and watch the video for inspiration:

All Around the Kitchen

The lead singer is Dan Zanes who used to head up The Del Fuegos, an amazing bar band in Boston in the 1980s. See Alicia’s (thanks Alicia!!!) comments under “We Interrupt This Program” for links to articles about them. Zanes now makes music for kids. So is he a sell-out? Or is he making money and having a blast?

 

Laughter for Breakups

Breaking up hurts. But if you live in California, Arizona, or New York you can write your own breakup song, then make a video about it in the self-contained recording studios that are launching in malls across the country. When you’re finished with your video, you can upload it to Mystudio.net. Who knows, you could land a recording contract or a reality show based on your efforts. Our favorite breakup video is by Flight of the Conchords from their HBO show. You gotta laugh even when it hurts.