Relax - You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left: Using the power of humor to overcome stress in your life and work - Hardcover

Laroche, Loretta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375501452 ISBN 13: 9780375501456

Publisher: Villard, 1998

Synopsis

"I'm always reminding people that the one constant you can count on is that things happen--and usually when you're not in the mood for them."

It's now a proven medical fact that good humor reduces the negative effects of stress. Over the course of twenty years, millions of people have learned this lesson while being entertained and enlightened by Loretta LaRoche in one of her enormously popular series of lectures given in public seminars; in corporate environments for clients like IBM, Reebok, Fidel-ity Investments, and Blue Cross, Blue Shield; and most recently in nationwide broadcasts on public television. Now she puts her sensible, sensational philosophy on paper--and gives readers the tools they need to laugh themselves to less stress and better health.

"One night I greeted Bob at the door wearing nothing but his wing-tipped shoes. I was laughing hysterically about how I looked. Bob didn't crack a smile. Instead, he bellowed, 'What are the neighbors going to think?'
" 'I don't know,' I replied, 'I haven't shown them yet.' "

Loretta LaRoche has been called "the Erma Bombeck of stress reduction"--and in the helpful and hilarious pages of this book, her enormous talent for finding the funny detail to defuse even the most difficult situation has never been sharper.

"Buy something silly and wear it. A Groucho Marx nose, mustache, and glasses are my favorite. When the stress seems unbearable, when you've really reached the limits of your endurance, go into a bathroom, look into the mirror, put on your glasses, and ask yourself, 'How serious is this?' "
        
Relax--You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left is filled with practical exercises, hilarious anecdotes, and specific advice for coming to terms with today's ever-increasing stress levels--it is a remedy for anxiety and a prescription for laughter.

"Most of us don't realize what an impact we have on the world around us. A positive energy field is going to affect others in a beneficial way, even if you don't notice it at first. Why not ask for a standing ovation once in a while? When you go in to work, say, 'I came in--it wasn't easy. I could have gone somewhere else. I'd like a standing ovation.' "

In sections like "If You Don't Have to Suffer--Don't Practice," "My Mother the CEO," and "I'm Not Afraid of Heights, Just Widths," LaRoche dismantles our American predilection for taking ourselves too seriously and shows us how to live longer, happier lives using the healing power of the absurd.

About this title

About the Author

Loretta LaRoche is one of the most sought-after lecturers in the country, and is a member of the Mind/Body Medical Center in Boston. An international consultant for over twenty years in the field of stress management using humor, she has spoken to Fortune 500 companies, universities, and medical professionals around the world. She lives in Boston.

From the Back Cover

Advance praise for Relax--You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left

"If she who laughs lasts, Loretta LaRoche just added ten years to my life. This wise and hilarious book is packed with valuable information on health and well-being from the Erma Bombeck of stress. Join the millions of people who have laughed with Loretta, effortlessly soaking up her wisdom and her wit."
--Joan Borysenko, author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

"A wonderful gift--a joy to read and to experience."
--Herbert Benson, M.D., author of The Relaxation Response and Timeless Healing

"Learning to laugh is serious business and Loretta LaRoche's book is an excellent resource for unenlightened stressed-out people who haven't yet learned the power of 'lightening up.' "         
--Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., author of Love, Medicine and Miracles

"This book is classic Loretta--a combination of very practical stress-reduction strategies peppered with laughter-inducing observations. Although I have been teaching stress reduction for twelve years, I learned a lot as I giggled."
--Alice D. Domar, Ph.D., director, Mind/Body Center for Women's Health and author of Healing Mind, Healthy Woman

"Loretta LaRoche can capture delicious moments of self-imposed stress, reveal them for their inherent lunacy, and leave you laughing so hard, your eyes are running, your guts are aching, and you're gasping for breath. Make no mistake: this book is filled with wisdom, psychology, holistic health tips, compassion, spiritual practice, and common sense of the highest order. It's just that you're laughing so hard, you don't notice how smart it is till later."         --Belleruth Naparstek, author of         Your Sixth Sense: Unlocking the Power
of Your Intuition

Reviews

LaRoche is Erma Bombeck with a wellness agenda. A motivational speaker with her own company, The Humor Potential, LaRoche has been featured on PBS and serves on the faculty of Boston's Mind-Body Institute. Her theme: laughter is important for reducing stress and maintaining a healthy life. In chapters with headings such as "If you don't have to suffer, don't practice" and "How to prevent hardening of the attitudes," LaRoche dispenses practical wisdom laced with laughter and lampoons the human potential movement while subtly delivering its most important messages. Using illustrations from "the committee," her Italian American extended family, she encourages women to look for the humor in every situation ("look at parts of your life as a sitcom, with you as the star") and use it to defuse stress. Included are addresses of organizations and a list of resources for "health, healing and humor." Recommended for popular psychology collections.ALucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Villard
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375501452
• ISBN 13: 9780375501456
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208