Roz's Previous Interviews/Conversations
NOTE: The music on the left is really Roz's recorded conversations!
• Rabbi Jay Goldstein, Rabbi Joshua Neely, Sarah Shapiro LSW, and Beth Philipson, RN (you can down load it.) • Edward Leigh (you can down load it.) • Heidi Most (you can down load it.) • Dave Grotto (you can down load it.) • Izzy Gesell (you can down load it.) • The Gamy Rachel written interview (3-15-08) • Brad Tollefson (you can down load it.) • Please visit Roz's Interviews with Experts page

1. SMILE NO MATTER WHAT! A smile is magical. Muscles relax, the immune system perks up and your mood begins to change. When others encounter your smile, they usually respond with encouragement and enthusiasm. Even when you don’t feel like smiling, fake it until you make it! Your body will think you are happy! Try it right now. Oh go ahead. Nobody’s watching! Can you feel that surge of energy and confidence inside?

2. LAUGH AT YOURSELF: This is not about losing respect or demeaning yourself. It is truly an act of loving kindness. When you ask the question “Am I laughing at myself”, it helps us recognize the difference between perfection and perfectionism. Perfection is what we are, and that includes all the inconsistencies and shortcomings. When you have a love affair with every cell in your body, you are getting to know that happiness comes from within. You may not be perfect; but you are perfection because of, not in spite of, your contradictions. Laughing at ourselves is a way of taking ourselves lightly while taking our jobs seriously.

3.FUN COMES FROM THE WORK THAT YOU DO: Gaining pleasure from your abilities and accomplishments provide feelings of happiness and delight. It doesn’t matter what kind of work you do. If you are enjoying the work you do, helping others, serving others, extending your compassion, your attitude, mood, and physical demeanor demonstrate your enthusiasm. Your enthusiasm is as contagious as great big smile or belly laugh. Keep your sanity by collecting humorous triumphs of the human spirit. You could try that now too!

4. SHARE FUNNY STORIES AND JOKES: Nothing demonstrates tacit approval as strongly as laughing with others. Share stories and jokes on a daily basis. Try this on for size: Ask your children, significant other or co-workers to tell you funny stories or jokes. Write down those that you want to remember. You might even create a “Food or Work joke of the week” box in front of the cafeteria or kitchen. Invite family or friends to put in their favorite joke that relates to food or eating or any other topic. Post the winner on a wall each week and offer a prize (antacid tablets or pizza for two).

4.5 YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE FUNNY: MAKE THE PROCESS FUN AND HAVE FUN: Don’t postpone fun. Do it now or you miss it. Fun is everywhere and the time is anytime. Chances are if you are not having fun now; you are not going to have fun when you get wherever you are going. Think about turning any situation into a private game. Think of the games you played as a child. What made the game fun for you? Play it again now; modify it, change the rules…laugh until the tears run down your legs! Read your church bulletins, read the funniest bumper stickers on cars as you pass them by and watch your pets rock and roll. Life is a barrel of laughs…rolling down the aisles!