Cathy Taylor, LPN, BA, presented on laughter and stress management in her presentation Stress in the 21st Century, at the Wisconsin Women's Health Foundation's 2013 annual Gathering event in Marshfield, WI.

1. STRESS IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
• Creating Optimal
Wellness in a
Stressful World
• Take Care of
Yourself, Refresh
Your Soul, and
Change the World.

2. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO MAKE
GOD LAUGH?
TELL HIM YOUR PLANS.

3. Has your life become a country
song?
• YOU’RE THE
REASON OUR
KIDS ARE SO
UGLY!

4. Bad Country Songs:
• IF THE PHONE
DOESN’T RING,
IT ISN’T ME.

5. Who comes up with this
stuff?
IF YOU DON’T
BELIEVE I LOVE
YOU,
JUST ASK MY
WIFE!

6. WOW…
• I’D TAKE HER
TO A DAWG
FIGHT, BUT I’M
AFRAID SHE’D
WIN!

7. It’s sad…
• I DON’T KNOW
WHETHER TO
KILL MYSELF
OR GO
BOWLING.

8. I don’t feel so bad anymore…
• IF I’D HAVE
KILLED YOU
THE FIRST TIME
I THOUGHT
ABOUT IT, I’D BE
OUTTA JAIL BY
NOW!

9. And the winner is…
I ONLY PICKED YOUR SISTER
BECAUSE SHE HAS MORE
TEETH THAN YOU!

10. HEALTH RISK
ASSESSMENT:
ALERT!!!
You’re score is 698. Any score
over 300 indicates an 80% chance
of serious illness during the next
two years.
As a result of your health risk
assessment, we need to inform
you:

11. YOU’RE SCREWED!!!!

12. A Curse or A Blessing?
• May you live in
interesting times.
Chinese curse

13. What is it about stress?
• Mental exhaustion
• Physical exhaustion
and illness.
• Emotional Drain.
• Spiritual stagnancy.

14. ENERGY VAMPIRES

15. ENERGY VAMPIRES:
•Job stress
•Difficult people
•Morning routines
•Technology
•The news
•Environment
•Financial worries
•Lack of fresh air/light
•Food
•Entertainment
•Cultural pressure

16. What drains us and what
entertains us?

17. The Nature of Stress
• Stress has become a
global epidemic.
• Stress has become a
“buzz” word. It no
longer holds the
same meaning as it
used to.
• Desensitization.

18. Global tension
Global Crisis

19. And more….
Personal and spiritual crisis.

20. CRISIS:
A CRISIS IS A
BREAKING POINT…
SOMETHING NEEDS TO
CHANGE….
“IT’S THE END OF THE
WORLD” SAID THE
CATERPILLAR. “NO,
IT’S JUST THE
BEGINNING” SAID THE
BUTTERFLY.

21. The year was 1960…
• Han Selye…father
of the
word…”stress.”

22. We know what to do…so
why don’t we do it.
1.WE’RE STRESSED!
2.WE ARE A CULTURE ADDICTED
TO INSTANT GRATIFICATION.
3.WE DON’T HAVE TIME.
4. WE OFTEN SEE THINGS
FROM THE LENS OF REALLY,
REALLY WEIRD!

23. What do they want me to do?

24. Why would I do that?

25. LET’S SLOW DOWN AND
THINK ABOUT IT...
• We need to slow
down…
• Facebook
• Smart phones
• Hash tags
• Twitter
• The need for speed.

26. The age of speed.

27. HOW DO YOU COPE IN A
COMPLEX WORLD?

28. VIEWS OF STRESS
• Western thinking is
linear, logical,
rational, critical,
judgmental, scientific,
values ego and
conscious (left brain)
• Views stress as a “loss
of control.”
• Eastern philosophy:
creative, emotive,
intuitive, artistic,
values unconscious.
(right brain)
• Views stress as “an
absence of inner
peace.”

29. HOLISTIC VIEW
• Stress is the inability to cope with a
perceived real or imagined threat to
one’s mental, physical, emotional and
spiritual well-being, which results in a
series of physiological responses and
adaptations.

30. AGE
• Aging population
• Cost of Health Care
• Chronic Illnesses
• Changes
throughout the
lifespan
• Accidents/illness

31. Time has a way…
AGE AND
KARMA!!

32. I’m smarter than I
thought I was…
WHERE WAS THE DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNED?
AT THE BOTTOM.

33. Future rocket scientist:
• What are
vibrations?
• There are good
vibrations and bad
vibrations. Good
vibrations were
discovered during
the 1960s.

34. What causes the tides in the
oceans?
• The tides are a fight
between the earth
and moon because
there is no water on
the moon and
nature abhors a
vacumn. I forget
where the sun joins
in the fight.

35. What is your favorite
animal and why?
My favorite animal
is a hores. Hores
stay up all night
with their legs
straight. Dad
wanted a hores, but
mom said no.
He’ll get me one
when I’m older.

36. What is artificial insemination?
• THAT’S WHEN
THE FARMER
GETS ON A
STOOL AND
DOES IT BEHIND
THE BULL
INSTEAD OF THE
COW.

37. What happens to a boy during
puberty?
That’s when a boy let’s go of his
boyhood and looks forward to his
adultery.

38. What was the age of
Pericles?
I THINK HE WAS
ABOUT 46.
(See me).

39. The next generation.

40. We need to go deeper!!
WE NEED TO GO DEEPER!
WE LIVE IN A TIME OF
GREAT OPPORTUNITY OR
FAILURE.
IF NOT US, THEN WHO!

41. HOW WE SEE THE
WORLD
THE TWO THREE
EMOTIONS THAT
CONTROL HOW WE
PERCEIVE THE
WORLD ARE
ANGER, FEAR, AND
LOVE.

42. DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE
THIS?

43. It needs to be like this…

44. Choose wisely….

45. NEUROPLASTICITY

46. THE HUMAN BRAIN.
NEURONS THAT
FIRE
TOGETHER…
WIRE
TOGETHER.

47. The walls fall down…
• Age and creativity.
• The more creative
the brain, the
longer the brain
survives.

48. Honoring cycles….
• The nature of our
culture fragments
us…we forget who
we really are. We
miss out on
moments worrying
about the future.

49. BEING PRESENT….
Moment to moment… Life moves in cycles.

50. MEDITATION
MINDFULNESS BEING PRESENT.

51. Breathe…be.

52. Yoga in wisconsin

53. And this….

54. Perceptions:
The Isaiah Effect
THE SKY ISN’T FALLING…OUR
LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS NEEDS
TO BE EXPANDED!

55. Are You Beside Yourself?
• Be in your body
• Move with joy and
playfulness
• Listen to the wisdom
of the body
• Stand up straight
• Open the body; heart
• Rest
• Nurture yourself
• Breathe: He who half
breathes, half lives.
• Be grounded
• Be centered
• Allow your energy to
flow

56. Can I do it for myself?

57. BOUNCING BACK!
CALM: You can stay calm in a crisis.
CLARITY: You stop, see the situation
clearly and trust your own internal
response. You see possibilities.
CONNECTIVITY: You can reach out
to others, use other people’s
experiences to learn and find resources
to expand your awareness and
knowledge.
COMPETENCE: You can call on
skills you do have, that you have used
in the past, you can act quickly if
needed and effectively.
COURAGE: You rely on an inner
source of strength and faith to
persevere.

58. Conscious awareness…

59. Play is the work of
the soul. We are
called upon to engage
in wonder,
imagination, and
creativity. Play has
no goal. It has no
end in sight. It is
enjoyed for the sake
of itself.
Decrease pain.
Increase pleasure.
PLAY

60. At the end of the day….

61. Or…..

62. Spirituality
• We are not humans on
a spiritual path.
Rather, we are spirits
on a human path.

63. AGELESS WISDOM
• Stress and spirituality
are inseparable
partners in the dance
of life.
• As global stress
increases, there is a
greater need to
reestablish this
connection.

64. Resilience
And see how the flesh
grows back across a wound
with great vehemence,
more strong than the
simple untested surface
before. There is a name for
it on horses. It’s called
“proud flesh.”
--Jean
Hirschfield

65. Physiology of Humor
Research investigating
the impact on the
mind/body/spirit of
laughter have found that
there is a strong
relationship between
good health and good
humor.

66. Positive affirmations….
• When you wish upon a star, dreams do
really come true. Unless the star you
wished upon is actually a meteor hurdling
toward earth about to destroy all life on the
planet. Then you’re pretty much hosed no
matter what you wished for, unless it
happened to be death by meteor!

67. Homeostasis….
• Let’s face it…we’re all going to die. All
those health fanatics are sure going to be
embarrassed someday when they’re in
the hospital dying of nothing.
--Redd Foxx

68. Is…..
• I signed up for an exercise class and I
was told to wear loose fitting clothes. If I
had any loose fitting clothes I wouldn’t
need to sign up for an exercise class.

69. BALANCE
• I found the perfect diet…if it tastes
good….spit it out!

70. The Truth:
Each of us has a reason to be here and
each of us has the ability to change the
world with small acts of kindness,
endless compassion for ourselves and
others.
What will you do to change the world
today?
Spend more time valuing who you are
rather than who you think you should
be .
Live in the culture but don’t live by it’s
values.
Change the world from within
yourself.

71. Are you enlightened?
1.If you can wake up happy everyday
even if you have aches and pains.
2.If you can treat everyone kindly even
if they are unkind to you.
3.If you can forgive loved ones for
often leaving you out.
4.If you can take criticism even when
you are just trying to be yourself.
5. If you can play hard and sleep
hard ; not worrying about tomorrow or
ruminating about yesterday.

72. Then you’re half as enlightened
as your dog!

73. THANKS FOR COMING

74. Healing
• I believe the disastrous condition of our world
mirrors our own fear and anger. We endanger
the planet and one another. In order to heal
the planet, we must each heal ourselves. We
must love ourselves, love others and love the
earth. Each act of loving-kindness, each parcel
of compassion, each prayer, increases the ratio
of love to anger. What are you doing to save
the world today?