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3 Defining moments while touring with Patch Adams!

8/25/2014

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Picture
Patch said" Don't come on this tour because of me.  Come because you want to find and spend your clown self.  Come because you truly want to experience the disparity between rich and poor.   Come because you want to make at least one Russian friend"  





And so the most profound journey of my life began! A journey visiting 2-3 orphanages a day, in Moscow and St Petersburgh, 36 of us in Compassionate Clown persona, bringing joy into barren environments !

A story of paradox and synchronicity; of stark poverty and excessive wealth unfolded as the tour began.  Two to three facilities a day were visited.  All buildings were in poor condition and some had dirt floors in some areas.  Interestingly every facility had a hat check area!  There was no soap.  There was no toilet paper or handtowel.  There were light bulbs only in key areas.  Children ate soup they called Borsch; to us it looked remarkably like water with 3 carrot sticks and a sliver of spinach.
Defining moment number 1

My experience of their poverty was sadder and more poignant than their experience of it.
I came as the observer and looked into their world and felt such sorrow at their plight. Yet in that sorrow was such joy and wonderment as we connected at both heart and soul level,  creating joy by simply being present to it all.

In some facilities the care-givers were kind compassionate and committed to their roles.  In many the caregivers demonstrated mans inhumanity to man over and over, ruling with a severe  countenance and controlling authority.  One facility allowed us only one hour ( we usually had two) saying the children had to have their injections!  It was as the children were starting to really enjoy the clowning experience that they were denied further contact.

At Sergiev Posad, the deaf dumb and blind school we saw great love and compassion.  Poor though the facility was the children wanted for nothing in the way of developmental material and a caring environment. Most equipment  had been made or sourced by the caregivers and was astounding in its ingenuity and creativity.  Children were clean, dressed in worn but carefully pressed clothes. 36 clowns and 10 children painted a mural with rainbows,  castles and butterflies.  I sat with a child with autism who was also deaf, ans she and I hummed  for 45 minutes as she examined my left ear and we both experienced moments of joy and connection as we filled the gaps created in the humming sequence. ( See picture )
Defining moment number 2

In the face of stark poverty, both material and often of spirit, I sat with with this child and for 45 minutes there were no stray thoughts.  We were totally present and no language was required.  The photo shows the pure joy!!

At one institution for the intellectually challenged we came face to face with stark post war conditions.  Rolled barbed wire fences surrounded the building that no-one inside ever left.  All 200 “inmates” were sedated with the same foul smelling drug.  They were awake only 5 hours a day.  This was the first year Patch had been allowed to visit this facility.  Half of those we saw wore crude, torn and tattered  straightjackets.  Though denied access I feigned ignorance and insisted on helping with the meal.  I fed and gave children fluids in one area and as I did the caregiver threw scraps of food and bread into the mouth of a boy who was straight-jacketed.  As he opened his mouth to catch the bread I found myself dumbstruck with the inhumanity of this moment. When I looked into the eyes of this boy, aged about 14, I knew he was aware and my heart cried out for his plight.  Photos were not allowed in this facility.

Defining moment number 3
My next thought about this caregiver was" what has her life been like that she thinks this is ok?"  The content of the lives of others is not always known to us and when we can consider from that perspective we begin to perceive our real humanity!


I returned from that tour more vital and alive than I have ever felt in my whole life!!
I experienced and was present to it all....experiences both sad and glad !!!!


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72 more  ways to bring humour to the workplace

6/29/2014

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72 ways to bring more humour to the workplace

Compilation by participants in Workforce Healing Power of Humour Workshop

  1. Create a Wally of the Week award
  2. Share 10 minutes neck and shoulder massage
  3. Identify your own stress indicators
  4. Sing a lot at work when least expected
  5. Create surprise celebrations for any reason
  6. Stat each meeting with a joke
  7. Have a weekly short yoga class
  8. Bring cds on a Friday
  9. Have walking lunches
  10. Acknowledge life outside work with photos and personal touches
  11. Compulsory happy hour every Friday
  12. Create a coffee run and make the delivery a fun thing
  13. Create nicknames for everyone…make it a competition to kick it off
  14. Stop writing in straight lines….create fun correspondence
  15. Encourage others to exercise once a day…do mini gym session
  16. Initiate a joint venture and pass it around
  17. Take unusual items to work for display and show and tell
  18. Go looking for butterflies in your break
  19. Welcome keyworkers at the door
  20. Make every encounter a happy one by smiling and saying hello
  21. Walk in backwards to meetings every day for a week
  22. Let everyone have a turn at being Chair of meetings or being manager
    Pan regular team building meetings say every 3 months
  23. Wear an animated accessory once a week
  24. Talk about Gerge Bush
  25. Put food dye in the milk
  26. Send colleagues humourous cards
  27. Have meetings where everybody is the chairperson and there is only one non-chairperson
  28. Have one 15 min break daily an gather and laugh for 12.5 mins
  29. Have a funny hat day
  30. Hang cheerful posters
  31. Use positive quotes to begin and end meetings
  32. Create an open environment – conduct forums
  33. Practice open honest and non-judging behaviour
  34. Indulge in appreciative enquiry
  35. Start your own or go to a karaoke club
  36. Personalize your workspace and hold a competition
  37. Display artwork both professisonal and amateur
  38. Display childrens artwork
  39. Conduct treasure hunts
  40. Launch your own joke club
  41. Conduct in house quizzes
  42. Celebrate with peers and management small progresses
  43. Walk around the office with toilet paper hanging out of your pants
  44. Stand in a  lift and mutter at light switch
  45. Share the amusing aspects of your life
  46. Just smile
  47. Take a risk….at least once a day
  48. Greet people by their name
  49. Develop codes to defuse tense situations
  50. Wear a funny badge
  51. Send witty poetry  or quotes
  52. Arrive at work in character..mask or funny glasses
  53. Play a silly song to make others laugh or to draw attention
  54. Do newspaper puzzle collectively
  55. Buy magazines and share insights from same
  56. Laugh at yourself
  57. Training is fun….make it happen
  58. Focus on the positive
  59. Make sushi
  60. Go shopping
  61. Fulfill your own or others wishes
  62. Don’t worry
  63. Learn a few jokes …and tell them all the time
  64. Swap hats with someone else
  65. Swap jobs for a day
  66. BYO and share lunch
  67. Play a childs game…hopscotch?
  68. Use the FISH program mood badges
  69. Direct positive comments to others
  70. Have fun competitions between teams
  71. Send flowers
  72. Display flowers in reception
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    You can't lift your bottom line if your people are down!!! 

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