The Spiritual Grind

Laugh It Out Loud

• Dr. Jenni and James • Season 2 • Episode 53

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Have you forgotten how to laugh out loud? That genuine, deep-belly laughter that brings tears to your eyes and leaves you gasping for breath? We certainly hadn't until a ridiculous debate about the "proper way to cuss" in a Walmart parking lot reminded us just how transformative laughter can be.

This episode dives into the forgotten medicine of laughter and why so many of us have lost touch with this vital aspect of wellbeing. Through our own hilarious encounter (which involved randomly polling strangers about curse word grammar), we explore why laughter isn't just enjoyable—it's essential. The scientific evidence is clear: laughing releases a powerful cocktail of chemicals including dopamine, adrenaline, and oxytocin that can literally change your physical and mental state. Beyond the biochemistry, laughter shifts your energetic frequency, attracting similar vibrations and creating positive ripple effects that extend far beyond your personal experience.

What struck us most was recognizing how society conditions us to suppress our laughter in "serious" settings—churches, workplaces, classrooms—and how that conditioning follows us into adulthood. Many of us find something funny but keep the laughter internal, robbing ourselves of the full physiological and spiritual benefits. Even more telling is how many people hide their smiles and laughter behind their hands, sending subtle signals to their bodies that joy should be concealed.

The ability to laugh at yourself might be the most powerful expression of this practice. When we can find humor in our own mistakes and quirks, we demonstrate a rare form of humility that opens us to growth without judgment. This self-directed laughter breaks cycles of perfectionism and self-criticism that plague so many of us.

We challenge you to consciously incorporate more laughter into your daily life. Practice laughing out loud, even when alone. Start your day with comedy instead of news. Notice the humor in everyday situations. The benefits are immediate and cumulative—you'll likely feel changes in your mood, energy, and outlook within days. Your laughter might just be the medicine someone else needs to hear today.

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SPEAKER_02:

Good morning, grinders. Good morning. How is everybody today? We hope you're enjoying your beautiful weather. Cause we are.

SPEAKER_00:

Indubitably.

SPEAKER_02:

We've had three nice days in a row.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we've had an opportunity to dry out from the soggy bottom.

SPEAKER_02:

I know. We moved here, what, July 22nd and or 23rd? I don't even remember what day it was, but it it like rained every single day all the way up until like a week ago.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It was like insane. We had crazy amounts of water. The guy at the front office was like, yeah, we're like double the normal rainfall.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, definitely felt a little soggy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was. It is. Got a good tan going on.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_02:

It is.

SPEAKER_00:

Even I, who's transparent like a sheet protector, noticing some coloration.

SPEAKER_02:

My little non-cousing sheet protector. So that actually is a great lead-in to our topic of the day.

SPEAKER_00:

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you all ever laugh at yourself? Do you have because there are a lot of people that I have met with over the years and got to know that they are so caught up in their own selves they can't take a moment and laugh when they mess up.

SPEAKER_00:

Or just laugh in general. Just laugh in laughter. Or put a smile on their face.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's such a crucial part of your well-being and your health and your chemical production. And it's like any the emotional changes that just laughter does.

SPEAKER_00:

I will agree with you. Absolutely a hundred percent. Um this hits home for me. Yeah. Because I would I get so wrapped up in concentrating on what I'm thinking about. And if I have multiple things that I'm doing at the same time, I'll get so in encompassed in that that I'll forget to stop and laugh or smile or put a smile on my face. And I've actually had people come into my existence and say, Wow, what's wrong with you?

SPEAKER_02:

You're so cold. What what what's the matter with you? Um emotionless.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. And I'm like, nothing. I feel great.

SPEAKER_02:

So we gotta give them the story. We have to give them the story of what started this topic in my mind. I've actually been thinking about this all night.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my heavens.

SPEAKER_02:

You have yeah, I have. And all morning this morning, and and why I got up so quick because I was gonna start talking about it if I didn't, because I wanted to save it for the podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And so yesterday, oh let me back up. You know, we all know that we have been developing these tarot cards and Oracle cards. And Jenny designed all of them, and I just edited them and then uploaded them because we're developing an app as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Edited, edited them.

SPEAKER_02:

I know, right? There was a lot of eds in there. There's a lot of in there. When we I when I was going through the editing of these cards, you know, they're called the Salty Tarot Oracle Deck, first edition. And we got them in yesterday, and so we were talking about them, and it brought up, but during the editing part of them, I was like, why am I being annoyed by these cuss words? Why I mean and it it it was such a it was like I don't understand. And then yesterday we got the cards in, and Jenny and I were playing around with them and doing some readings and reading the book that comes with them. And it dawned on me, we were pulling into Walmart because we had to go pick up some things. She read the last description out of the book for the card that she wrote, and I it dawned on me like I know why those cuss words bother me now, because she doesn't cuss right.

SPEAKER_00:

I, ladies and gentlemen, do not cuss right. How many of you, by show of a raised hand, knew that there was a proper way to cuss? What the F.

SPEAKER_02:

F. And so I'll kind of give you I didn't get that book. So to give you an example, like the card that specifically brought it up says um shadow work is not a spa day. And actually, I think the card says GD spa day. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I just happen to have the thing here, if you would like me to look it up.

SPEAKER_02:

The description of it was like the spa doesn't have effing. The spa does not come with effing hot towels.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

And so I was like, that just didn't sound right to me. And it annoyed me. And it so it rang my bell. I was like, that's why I was in that's why, because it should it should read the eff and spa doesn't come with hot towels. Not the spa doesn't come with effing hot towels. I disagree.

SPEAKER_00:

When I try to say it his way, it sounds very strange and very awkward, and I can't hardly get it out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_02:

And so in the in the description of these cards, there are cuss words in them. And in the in the description are cuss words in these cards. And so that's what it was, and so it dawned on me. So I was and I told her, I didn't even I don't even remember what she read to me because I focused on that's it. That's why it was bothering me. And I told her, I'm like, all I know, I don't even know what you said, but all I know is you cuss wrong. And so it started this frenzy of laughter.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, like the kind of deep laughter where you're crying and so much that we're in the parking lot at Walmart and we approached this young couple and we're like, hey, my wife and I are in a debate. Can you first of all do you cuss?

SPEAKER_02:

Do you cuss?

SPEAKER_00:

And they're like, Oh yeah, yeah, we cuss.

SPEAKER_02:

They kids it occasionally, and they're the the guy, you know, they were young, they were probably in their early mid-twenties.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And I said, 'cause so here is the example, and I run it down to him. And the guy was like intrigued, and then the girl was like, because you added a word on to the end. You said F and hot towels B B. And she was like, I like that. But you added the word on.

SPEAKER_00:

I did. So to a disadvantage, I skewed the research.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you did skew the research.

SPEAKER_00:

I did.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

So essentially, because I added the extra B word onto it, she picked my version.

SPEAKER_02:

She did, yeah. And I was but I didn't say it all. Strategy man. They were playing with us, and and they were you know, we were enjoying the interaction, and I think they were too, because they were laughing. Right. And and I hope they we give them a card, so I hope they listen to our podcast. They'll probably enjoy it. But thank you. Thank you all for playing with us.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a fun, it's a fun way to do it. Anyway, so it this turned into a whole evening of laughter.

SPEAKER_00:

It did.

SPEAKER_02:

And laughing at ourselves, because I'm laughing at myself because why am I annoyed by these cuss words? Who cares? And second of all, Jenny was humble enough to be able to laugh at her own self when we were discussing this. So it turned into literally, I don't think we stopped laughing until 10 o'clock last night.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

About everything.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like one of those things where you get the tickle bug and everything becomes funny.

SPEAKER_02:

And so it it became a it became a salty tarot laughter night. And it was a good it was a good day or say, 'cause we got our merch in, we got our cards in, so we were finally got the cards in.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And we're working on finding a different vendor because it took way too long.

SPEAKER_00:

Funny thing uh in the evening that happened, we were talking to another one of our friends. Oh, yeah. Uh Danielle.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello, Danielle.

SPEAKER_02:

I know you listened, Daniel.

SPEAKER_00:

And I I usually do voice to text.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that this was pretty funny too.

SPEAKER_00:

And we were talking about the cards, and I don't even remember. Somehow, instead of it voice to texting deck D E C K.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It voice to text the other word.

SPEAKER_02:

You can say that word.

SPEAKER_00:

I can say dick.

SPEAKER_02:

That's an approved word. It changed it to the hold.

SPEAKER_00:

And then she inadvertently read it as I have a hole in my dick. And whenever they're ready, you can order your own. That's that's not how it interpreted. So between the autocorrect and then the way she read it, which was not altogether correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It was very complicated.

SPEAKER_00:

It ended up being yet another opportunity. I sat there and laughed until tears were running down my face. Wet my pants kind of deep belly laughter.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was a good, it was a it felt so good too.

SPEAKER_00:

And it does. It feels really amazing. But for me on my journey, this uh this hits home for me.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I want to quickly just break it down if you're okay with it.

SPEAKER_02:

Walka, walka, walka, walka, break it down, dog.

SPEAKER_00:

I tend to have kind of that, I guess what they call resting bitch face.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's not because I'm unhappy, it's not because I'm uncomfortable, it's none of that. Uh, especially if I'm deep in thought about something and I'm multitasking.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

What I noticed is for me along my journey that I wasn't um giggling or laughing at things. And what I decided that I wanted to do was smile more and laugh things off rather than taking them so serious. This was many years ago that I began practicing this, and it truly changed my perspective. And there's also scientific data that smile and laughter will actually alter your chemical makeup as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Correct.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and and so in my own personal experiment, so to speak, I just began to put a smile on my face.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't take life so seriously. And if something annoying happened, I w I would just chuckle it off rather than getting angry, irritated, or frustrated, I would just kind of give a chuckle. So I do that a lot now.

SPEAKER_02:

You know what we what I discovered along the way.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a big change.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, it is, it changes everything the more you laugh. But what I discovered over the over the years is I I would find things funny, but I would internally laugh and not externally laugh.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's that outward ex impression, expression of your feeling, because I let things roll off my back really well. I've always have. I don't take life that seriously. But on the other side of that, I became kind of mellow in it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I I stopped laughing, and I remember why I stopped kind of outward laughing because a friend of mine one time made fun of my laugh, and so I quit laughing out loud. I don't know why. I don't want why I gave that person that much power. Yesterday exposed to me, and why I've been thinking about this all night is how good I feel today.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

I feel very lighthearted, I feel very clear-headed, and I feel I feel I just feel very good. And I was like, oh, that's that feeling I miss.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and there is something to say about old adages uh to a certain point, and laughter is the best medicine. That's one of the old adages, and it's a hundred percent accurate and correct.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_00:

It literally will change the vibrational frequency in your body, it will change the chemical um makeup and what's being released by the body chemically when you do laugh or when you stop browning, especially if you laugh outward. Yeah. Because your ears are always listening to what you're telling your body.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that and you're creating a vibration in your body as well with your vocal cords.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's where I was gonna go next is the actual outward noise of laughter has a frequency that resonates with the high frequency of the cells and the natural state of being.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

So it literally will chemically change the body and vibrationally it changes the body as well by having the giggles and the laughs and and outward laughter.

SPEAKER_02:

Correct.

SPEAKER_00:

So I highly recommend watching something that makes you laugh or a movie.

SPEAKER_02:

Or don't hold it in because I was looking at the patterns of people and thinking about things people have known for many years.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't even hide your mouth. A lot of people tend what I notice as as I go along as Dr. Jenny and I study people. Anthropology is about studying uh humans and the different aspects of them.

SPEAKER_02:

Every part of them.

SPEAKER_00:

I as I go around and study people, what I notice is two things. One, when they cry, they want to hide their face. And two, when they laugh, they hide their mouth.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

By putting usually they'll put their hand over their mouth.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, or they'll look down while they're laughing there. Yeah, I've seen many different versions.

SPEAKER_00:

I see that all the time. And your body is taking notes of that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And so I would look at why you're holding your laughs in. I would look at why you're covering your mouth whenever you do laugh, because those are all giving signs and signals to your internal self.

SPEAKER_02:

Correct.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so if you don't find your laughter uh helpful or beautiful or your smile beautiful, then you're worried about kalatosis. Right. Or what your teeth look like or what your mouth looks like when you smile, or even cry. If you're hiding that from others, then you're hiding it from yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

And you're giving a b a very definite message to your own body.

SPEAKER_02:

Correct.

SPEAKER_00:

And so you won't have the experience of the laughter fully like we did yesterday. Yeah. Get up today feeling really good.

SPEAKER_02:

And you know, I so I what I what I started to say is I is because of this thought process all night, I've been looking at the patterns of the people that I've known for many, many years, and it brings to memory my own father. Um, I remember when I was younger, man, he laughed constantly. He had he had one of those contagious laughs.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And he was always doing something childlike and making people laugh. And, you know, he was kind of like uh, you know, they say that because he had been disabled, he felt like got knocked off his cup, and he got your eyes are watering.

SPEAKER_00:

It went down the wrong hall, and I was like, Oh, you can't.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Anyway, so you know, I remember my dad would would uh um he was always childlike and making people laugh, and you know, they say that like comedians, they and this is something I want you all to understand that it's his fictitious.

SPEAKER_00:

He even he still does it now. Yeah. You know, when we were with him several years ago when we were helping out, yeah, he's always been the clown.

SPEAKER_02:

Clown? Yeah, he yeah, he's always been that person. And but it would it used to be constant when I was a kid growing up. Right. He was all the time playing pranks, and you know, he would do this little stupid dance he did, and you know, when when it was like it was almost like uh, what did they call that, uh where they you shuffle your feet back and forth and he would move his hands like this and he would bounce back and forth and he would laugh and we would all laugh and as he got older he started hiding that for some reason. Because he still had the thoughts, he still had the actions. He as he got older, he quit doing it as much. And not that because his physical abilities or mental abilities, it was because I I you know, I don't know why, but I look at that pattern, and that pattern it happens in a lot of people that I know. You know, like like my Uncle Gary, he did the same thing, he was always goofy, my dad's brother. Yeah he was always goofy, and and he was the the crazy kind of goofy that is always doing things that on the edge of dangerous. And he then he would just laugh about it. Like he he would laugh about other people's fears. And and there's something to be said for that because he had no fear, but the pattern I seen is as he aged, he quit doing it too. And my I got another friend of mine, I won't mention his name on here because he listened to the podcast and I don't want him to be offended. But him and I, when we first met 25 years ago, he was just a goofball and always doing pranks and and like he was that lunchtime guy that you if you go to grab something to eat or whatever, you can bet that somewhere in that hour time you're gonna have some kind of prank on you.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, something was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00:

Milk is coming out of your nose, lunchtime.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and then we were we would always laugh and have a good time, and then as we as we got older, I did the same thing. We both I we both kind of faded out. For some reason, I would hold in my laughter. And yesterday's interaction made me realize that how important it is in our life.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And you know what? Don't take yourself so seriously.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, for me, one of my practices is when I am not feeling well, like if I've got a cold or I'm going through something even emotionally, if I'm not feeling well and I am recovering or healing, my go-to is Disney.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I go to Disney, I find some fun cartoon or some fun movie.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And I but you don't laugh, you listen to them laughing.

SPEAKER_00:

No, sometimes I'll laugh at them.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay. I'll give you that, maybe.

SPEAKER_00:

I just know that even hearing other people laugh helps put me in a higher frequency, a better vibrational state.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

So what I'm saying is, even if you have to relearn how to laugh outward and practice a new habit, finding tools and techniques that'll put you there, even just mentally or by listening to somebody else laugh, or something funny helps you practice getting into that frequency or mind state so that you can recognize it more easily.

SPEAKER_02:

Correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And for me, it's Disney or some comedy hour.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, so this morning I did a little research on it, and well all what the laughter does in the body.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

The chemical reaction and how it responds. Like you're when you laugh, you there you have adrenaline, dopamine, and there's some other one I couldn't pronounce.

SPEAKER_00:

There's a little bit of oxytocin.

SPEAKER_02:

Oxytocin, that's it.

unknown:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02:

That are released in the body. And those chemicals throughout the body, they create more energy within certain cells of your body, and it will actually be proven to heal illnesses, kill viruses. There's all this stuff that happened.

SPEAKER_00:

It also is proven to change your state of mind that they call aka depression.

SPEAKER_02:

Correct.

SPEAKER_00:

It'll change those chemicals and how they're put out so that it helps relieve the depression. The other thing it does mechanically, when you have that deep, deep laughter, you're expressing all the air out of your lungs and then taking deep breaths in.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

What do you think that does?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, it's exercising your lungs and clears out all the break.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's giving you high doses of oxygen because you're taking deep breaths, especially if you're like a more of a shallow breather.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like sitting there in meditation and purposely taking deep extended breaths in to get it, get, good, good oxygen, and then blowing them deeply out. So mechanically, it's exercising the lung system and the oxygen carbon system as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Which which raises their ROS and all that stuff in your body. You all can look all that up. So here on the spiritual side of it, let's talk about the spiritual side of it. We all know that what you think about, you bring about the vibration you put out is the vibration you're gonna get back because this reality in this universe mirrors back to you what you're putting away out. And when you're laughing and having a good time, what kind of people are you gonna attract?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

You're gonna attract to those people that are laughing and having a good time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's kind of like when you're, you know, and I actually use this example in my book, um, the sales energy method, about how you can feel somebody come in the room when you're not even looking at them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And a lot everybody does it. Yeah. You know, whether they want to recognize that it happens or not. But if you have your back to a door and then the door's 30 feet away, you're gonna know when somebody walks in. Because, you know, of course, the science says there's the air pressure differences and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's energy, all of it. It air is energy, it's all energy, so it's an energetic exchange. And so when we laugh and we put out that energy, yeah, you're gonna get that energy back. Like we had that that young couple laughing before we walked away.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

That's you know they talked about it all night.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say next is I mean, have you ever been around a group of people? And you may be the one feeling kind of slumpish and uh wonky, but if somebody in the group starts joking and laughing and everybody else is laughing, it naturally brings you into that frequency because the next thing you know, you're laughing at them just because they're laughing.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Yeah, agree, it's contagious.

SPEAKER_00:

It is.

SPEAKER_02:

It's kind of like a sneeze when where we yawn. Somebody yawns and everybody yawns because it's an energetic exchange.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

The been the spiritual benefits of it are astronomical, and so it raises your vibration, it attracts people around you to you that do the same thing and they're lighthearted. And I want to touch on this belief because I remember one time I was talking to somebody and he said, Oh, people that are so lighthearted and just laugh all the time, they don't they're uneducated and don't take life seriously.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

And that is not true, that is a belief.

SPEAKER_00:

Who was this person? Is he still alive?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I'm not gonna talk about who it was, but because we him and I butted heads a million times.

SPEAKER_00:

He non-laughed himself to death.

SPEAKER_02:

What I want to say is that we are taught to be robots. We are taught to do things, you know. We're put in school when we're young, and we're taught you have to be here at this hour, there, at this hour, here at this hour. We're taught to be robots and do these things that we're told to do in a certain order and a certain time.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

And as we go through life, nowhere in there did anybody ever teach me the benefits of laughter until I became an adult and I found out myself. Nobody taught me that the energy that you surround yourself with or the universe gives you, you're gonna mimic that energy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, there's even owners and dogs that end up looking alike and walking alike. Have you ever looked that up on TikTok? It's insane.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Yeah. We've talked about that just not too long ago about how that oh yeah. The little guy looks like his dog, or that lady looked like her dog. We talk about that. I was taught as a child that there were certain places where it was appropriate to laugh. And I always found it more funny when I would laugh in those places I wasn't supposed to be laughing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And we got hushed, we got punished for laughter.

SPEAKER_02:

I remember being told that I'm not supposed to laugh at adult jokes, at adults having, you know, not adult like adult jokes, like adults conversating and they tell a joke that the children aren't allowed to laugh, only the adults.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, exactly. What do you mean? You don't even understand the joke.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Yeah. Yeah. That kind of stuff. So we get taught to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Or especially like in church.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah. It was that's when things brings back a memory right there. I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_00:

That's when things were so funny. Yeah. The dumbest shit was so funny in church. And you knew freaking well, I knew that my grandmother was listening, God rest her soul, and she could hear my laugh, even the quietest laugh from across the church, even if she was, you know, like passing out the offering plate or whatever, and we're supposed to be quiet. Everything became funny, and you could not, and you're like, Shh, we're gonna get in trouble. Stop it.

SPEAKER_02:

I went to church one time with a friend of mine. This is a funny story, talking about laughing in church. I went with church to with a friend of mine because I had stayed on the weekend with him. And with the morning we go to church and they've they're passing the offering plate, and I'm sitting beside him, and they hand the plate to his mom. The mom grabs it, and when she's going, she sets it right here on her leg, and she's reaching in her purse, and as she reaches in her purse, a roach crawls. Oh my crawls out of the plate and across her hand.

SPEAKER_00:

And she yells.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my no, she didn't just yell, she screamed and launched that plate. Oh my. I mean, she went, uh, she threw that plate and it went flying all the way across her, and everybody goes, and I'm bawling laughing because I see the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I am literally crying because I am laughing so hard. I would imagine. And my my friend was too. The pastor comes over us and grabs us and takes us to the back room because we're not supposed to be laughing in the in the congregation.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. You can't laugh in big church.

SPEAKER_02:

But the point behind all of it is we're we're taught to be robotic. And being an awakened individual, we are not robotic. No, we go against the grain, and we have to reteach, remember to keep it in our forefront to laugh.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

To cry, have our emotions.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right.

SPEAKER_02:

It is okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Check in and make sure you're having all the emotions.

SPEAKER_02:

Make sure you're having all of them.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, we teach it a lot of time to experience the cry.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Because a lot of people want to hold back their tears. But also, you know what? Experience the laugh. Experience the smile. Laugh out loud.

SPEAKER_02:

That's an important part. I say it was it laughter is probably to me more important than crying. And allowing it to happen.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean when you find something funny, it's okay to laugh. I don't care who's looking at you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Do it. And laugh at be being able to laugh at yourself is a whole nother level.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

Because you release, like for example, for you, you could have took that very personal when I said your cut's wrong.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And the look on your face to me was priceless because I don't know if y'all know Jenny's kind of uh I don't even know, kind of on the autistic scale a little bit.

SPEAKER_00:

I am probably on the spectrum.

SPEAKER_02:

On the spectrum a little bit.

SPEAKER_00:

On the low end.

SPEAKER_02:

And so she doesn't show emotion in her face. She's she does show emotion, but not in her face. And so when you looked at me, where do I show it?

SPEAKER_00:

In my butt?

SPEAKER_02:

No, you well. You have to go to level two before you show emotion.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And so when you looked at me, I didn't know what to think. Because I was like, I don't know if that just offended her. How's she gonna take that? And then you said, Great. Now I don't cuss right. And so I was like, great, she took it the way I was meaning it. And so it turned into this whole thing. You could have taken that very personally, and being able to laugh at yourself is humble. It's very humble. And that humble vibration is a very positive vibration.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because that shows that you are okay with trying and making mistakes. That means that you're okay with trying and succeeding. A humble.

SPEAKER_00:

Not to get things wrong. He's not saying that I cuss wrong. I just cuss differently than he does. Yes. And it doesn't resonate with his ears. I enjoy it immensely. And I am quite okay in the way that I do my wordsmithing.

SPEAKER_02:

It's such a crucial part of balance in your life, having that humility to be able to laugh at yourself and others.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And so, you know, I put out a challenge to our listeners to laugh today. Make sure you laugh. Make it a point to laugh. Even if you just have to laugh just to be laughing. Because you have to break the cycle.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Practice it. Because uh, you know, in your privacy of your of your space.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Practice just laughing. Yeah, just for no reason. Just laugh and no reason. Because it's contagious to yourself as well. You'll laugh at yourself for laughing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You'll laugh at yourself for practicing laughing in your car while you drive to work. And what you'll notice is that all of a sudden you get to work and you're in a really good mood. And the only thing you did different was practice your laugh. Right. That's what I used to do.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, did you practice your laugh?

SPEAKER_00:

I did. I would practice in the car while I was driving to work.

SPEAKER_02:

Were you trying to laugh prettier or were you just laughing?

SPEAKER_00:

I was just seeing what kind of laughter noises I could make and just kind of playing around with hearing myself. Just practicing laughing out loud.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm picturing you driving down the road and people watching you. You're just laughing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So that I could practice a new habit of laughing out loud. Because, like you said, even if you find something funny, we tend to laugh internally or think to ourselves, wow, that was funny. But we forget to like laugh out loud at it and or even just giggle or chuckle or whatever out loud. And so I would. And changing that robotic habit for myself, yeah. I would look in the mirror and smile, smile different ways, and then I would practice my uh laughs.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and in and even like you like you're doing, that's actually a great exercise. Even if there's something that you don't there's nothing there to be laughing about, practice laughing, practice looking at yourself and laughing.

SPEAKER_00:

Feeling what it feels like to laugh, uh, the vibration that it creates in your body. Yeah. That just the noise of laughter, tune into what it feels like in your body. Where does it vibrate? Where does it move to? How does it feel? And then next thing you know, inadvertently, what'll happen is chemicals will begin to change and move around. If you do that habit for, you know, several days in a row, you'll be like, wow, I I feel so I feel different.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. You know, I was thinking about it too, because I've been thinking about this all night, actually. One of the things that I used to do every single day on my way to work, I would listen to Kid Credit in the morning.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And they always made me laugh. And I would laugh. And I remember that's the time in my life when I felt the best.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

When I felt complete.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

I felt like my memory was good. I felt like my physical body was good. Absolutely. I felt really good because I had a routine of laughing, laughing. And then I always cut up at work and everybody, you know, it was it carries throughout the day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's one of those old adages as well. You know, what you start doing in the morning, you finish up with in the evening.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly. The secret. Remember The Secret?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

By Rhonda Byrd.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, she has a snippet in there of uh one of our interviewees having some sort of illness and her bringing into her daily ritual or her daily practice laughter.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

She would watch funny movies, she'd do anything she could to create a consistent vibration of laughter throughout the day. That was her whole agenda because she was healing from a pretty deep illness.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know if it was cancer or whatever.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but it was definitely a critical illness that w could have been life-ending. And she talks about that in the secret. Her whole medicinal regimen consists of several things, but laughter was one of the things she concentrated on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

She stopped watching action movies and started watching only comedies, finding different ways to laugh all throughout the day as much as she possibly could, however, she could.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

And, you know, essentially her story ends that she killed herself of all everything, whatever that was.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I mean, it's been proven.

SPEAKER_02:

And and it and what it does to your positive mindset, which we're gonna have a workshop on coming soon. But the positive mindset that laughter creates in your body, it makes you look at things way more 360.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It opens up your eyes to things, it opens up a different realm of reality.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because your positive mindset that that you can create a positive mindset just by laughing.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

But you have to you have to create a habit with it.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. You gotta do it consciously.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's right.

SPEAKER_00:

You gotta stop and make yourself smile. Stop and make yourself chuckle.

SPEAKER_02:

So I I ask our listeners when was the last time you left? Can you write it? Can you tell me?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. When is the last time you just put a smile on your face? Just because.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Just because fake it till you make it.

SPEAKER_00:

We're all gonna be walking around with these dumbass smiles on our face.

SPEAKER_02:

So, you know, the the real challenge of the day, and I hope everybody that listens to this podcast can get a few moments of thinking about Jenny and I's conversation in the middle of the Walmart parking lot involving other couples about the way she cusses and how the interaction between all of us, we were all standing around repeating the same sentence and cussing it differently. And the laughter that came out of that and get a little laughter in your life because I can imagine if somebody else was watching us from the outside.

SPEAKER_00:

A fly on the wall.

SPEAKER_02:

They were probably like, What the hell is going on over there? Yeah, you know. You know, that's the challenge of the day. That the spiritual grind is challenging all the grinders to laugh today. Laugh tomorrow, laugh the next day. Don't forget to incorporate it in your daily routine.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because it will change your life. It changes, man. I feel so much better today. Uh, and I mean, it's not that I felt bad, it was just that I feel better.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I feel white-eyed, I feel awake, I feel like I can take on the world today.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Definitely uh refreshed.

SPEAKER_02:

It is. It was a it was a great experience, and thank you for living that with me. Yeah. Thank you. That was that was a fun time.

SPEAKER_00:

Although I didn't realize that one of your titles was uh cussing police.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you know, they they do.

SPEAKER_00:

And I didn't realize there was a grammatically correct way to cuss. So I was yesterday years old when I learned that there's a proper way to cuss.

SPEAKER_02:

So y'all leave it in the comments. Y'all leave a comment and you tell us if you cut if if you cuss differently, or how you cuss, or if you think who's right and who's wrong.

SPEAKER_00:

Shadow work is is hard, but the card said shadow work is not an F and spa day.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And then the description said the spa doesn't come with F and hot towels.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

And I said that it should say the F and spa doesn't come with hot towels.

SPEAKER_00:

So let us know which way feels more comfortable to you to hear and and say. We would be curious to know what the data is on that debate.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, please, please do. I'm I'm excited to see that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it'd be a reaction. It'll be a fun little experiment. So in the comments, pop that in if you want to play. It'd like a play.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I feel complete with this conversation, and I appreciate you uh talking about it because it's been on my mind all night. I went to bed feeling good. I slept like a baby, I had good dreams. Yeah, I woke up feeling good and refreshed, right? And then my eyes are bright today, my mind is clear. Man, laugh. Just laugh, everybody. Laugh.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and the beauty of it is to renorate one little uh snippet. When we had that experience and we got on that frequency and that reality of laughing, then we come home, we're sitting in our patio chairs, enjoying a beautiful evening.

SPEAKER_02:

That was a beautiful evening.

SPEAKER_00:

And then inadvertently the voice to text creates this whole sentence that is right, it's vibration, right? Is uh so hilarious that we just had some more of that belly jumping, deep-seated laughter. I know for me, I was crying tears of laughter because I was laughing so hard I couldn't even catch my breath hardly.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, Danielle, for bringing that to our artistic show.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. It was great.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we we sit out there and laughed about it for a good 20, 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh gosh, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

But anyway, hey guys, appreciate y'all. Thank you for listening. Thank you all for listening to us. We do appreciate you. Um, don't forget to like, follow, and share. Share this on your timeline. Send, you know, share the podcast with other people, let them enjoy it as well.

SPEAKER_00:

For sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you can check out our website, www.themerchcenters.org.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Keep your eyes open for the Salty Tarot app. It's going to be released real soon. We're planning to have it out before Halloween.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I wanted to give a quick update on a couple of things.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

We're changing our book publishing vendor.

SPEAKER_02:

We are. We're going to Barnes and Noble.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's temporarily not available for purchase because we're in the process of changing that to Barnes and Noble. Yes, we're dropping the website. Um, we'll give you the new location that you can find our books.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, also we are changing the venue of the power of positive thoughts school.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and so we're gonna be updating you on the new location. Yeah. We just have too many people for the previous location. It's too small.

SPEAKER_02:

Correct. Yeah. It's gonna be yeah. So we had to pick our we had to put pick up plan B for I mean, it looks like we're gonna do it at Greenhouse Yoga in Port Orange.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. And uh it's a bigger space.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's a bigger space.

SPEAKER_00:

Let us hold more people.

SPEAKER_02:

Go check out Greenhouse Yoga. Uh they're on Facebook and uh follow and share them because they're a new business. She's new. She's just opening.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh she's just opening her brick and mortar. She's been a practitioner for years.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Teaching yoga. She actually studied over in India.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

India, I think. Yeah. I'm sorry, Andrea. Please forgive me. Uh, and then in uh another country. Yes, in two different countries, and I don't remember. Um, so she's got a lot of uh education on the different types of yoga.

SPEAKER_02:

And she also has many levels of instructors that are good that are signed up for her.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's a nice little place, all the different kinds of yoga and stuff, and it's a cool little place.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, that's in Port Orange, and you can look it up on Facebook at Greenhouse Yoga. And uh I know she said she's on Instagram, and I found that yesterday too. That too is uh on Facebook, it's your greenhouse yoga. And then on Instagram it's hash it's at greenhouse yoga. I I think it's our our I'm sorry, our not your our greenhouse yoga, you're right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um so check her out. Go like and follow them and uh support them. If you want yoga in the Port Orange, Daytona Beach, Oriman Beach area, then Greenhouse Yoga is gonna be your spot because she has all levels. I was looking at the profiles of her instructors. Uh quite impressive.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, she's got all different levels. And then real quick on our merch store.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, which is the saltitaro.myshopify.com.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. The Oracle cards are on there, but I don't necessarily care for the way they were produced now that I have them in my hand. Yeah. So I'm gonna change vendors. Yeah. So they're gonna be advertised as coming soon, and you're not gonna be able to order them because I want them to end up with a good quality at affordable price. Yes. And I didn't get that when I ordered the decks.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll be taking them off the store here in just a minute.

SPEAKER_00:

I would you don't have to take them down, just put on their coming soon.

SPEAKER_02:

So I'll just make them out of stock for now.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

So just to let you guys know, it won't let you order them yet, but we're gonna get that fixed up and uh well I can make it to where they can order them, but just knowing it'll be a note that it's delayed due to manufacturing, and so you can't order them, but just know you'll have to wait on them.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Oh, well, I see what you're saying. Like a pre-order.

SPEAKER_02:

You can pre-order them, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's what I'll list it as is a pre-order.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because we're gonna change the price.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'm trying to get it cheaper.

SPEAKER_00:

We want to have it more in uh the$50 to$60 range. Yeah. Um that's just the cards are telling me that's what they want to be priced.

SPEAKER_02:

And we'll have the tarot deck on there as well because you're done with it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I am done with the tarot deck. So it'll be available for purchase. And I am almost done with a stoner crystal deck.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you're a age stoner, which is you like to play with rocks like I do and carry them around and lit and experience a couple of things.

SPEAKER_02:

And it could be the other stoner too. Who cares?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, what I'm specifically talking about is I have made a deck of uh crystal cards that will give you their frequency benefit, yeah, uh, their physical body health benefit, and their spiritual uh healing benefit from beliefs, patterns, and programs. It'll have three different entries on the back of the card.

SPEAKER_02:

So is it gonna be like a reading or just a card deck that you can carry for reference?

SPEAKER_00:

Card deck that you can carry, it'll be the size of about a uh what do you call the cards that you do blackjack with? Playing cards.

SPEAKER_02:

Playing cards, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It'll be about that size. On the front will be an image of the crystal. If you want to go to the store and say, I need this crystal because I'm trying to heal this. On the back of it, it'll be what the crystal spiritually works on, what the crystal physically works on in the body, uh, like joint pain, uh, headache, um bladder illnesses, skin conditions, and then what the mind, body, and spirit.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, get it.

SPEAKER_00:

Emotion. The emotional side of things, like if you're depressed, or if you're angry or grieving, and then the intuitive part, like if you want to heighten your intuition, if you're having to go through different things. I do have three entries.

SPEAKER_02:

Perfect. And uh that is actually also gonna be incorporated into the Salty Tarot app. Yes, in in a way that y'all will enjoy and have fun with because the we're gonna make the app very engaging.

SPEAKER_00:

So, but anyway, lots of exciting stuff out there, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Pay attention to it all. We've got a lot of stuff going on. Um, go to the store, check out the store, buy our merch. We do have spiritual grind stuff on there. I am gonna put some shirts on there today for the spiritual grind.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and we'll probably add the physical stones. Yeah, 30. There's 30 stones, every body system physically, all of the emotions, and the majority of the topics that you can that you might have to come up against. Yep. We're gonna put those on t-shirts.

unknown:

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00:

Stoneware.

SPEAKER_02:

You've been itching for that for a long time.

SPEAKER_00:

I have. How many years? Stoneware.rocks. That's been my email for I don't know how many years. And I started out knowing that I was gonna make a clothing product of some sort. I just didn't know what yeah, I just didn't know what that looked like. And I did w talk to you, remember early in the day, 10, 11 years ago, I was like, I need to put these on t-shirts and I need to do all this. It just wasn't time yet.

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

And now it's come full circle and it's time.

SPEAKER_02:

Putting more work on my plate.

SPEAKER_00:

And here it is. Sounds like you better get get uh you need indeed.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I can't do that if we don't continue to stop continuing this podcast. No, I'm kidding. Hey guys, appreciate y'all listening. Tune in next time and uh pay attention. Ginny's gonna be posting the next over the next few days uh some more podcasts up, including this one. We love y'all. Thank y'all for listening and have an awesome day.

SPEAKER_00:

We love you so much.

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Dr. Jennifer (Jenni) Emery

Co-host
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Rev. James Emery

Co-host