I used to write comedy for a hobby (meaning that I only occasionally got paid for it, so it couldn’t rightly be called a business) and I still laugh at one sketch that I helped write about a technically-incompetent psychiatrist.\u00a0 My main contribution was that she called the @ sign a “curly A”, which I often giggle at when I spell out an email address or Twitter<\/a> reply.<\/p>\n But some of the people we run into during our online business ventures — specifically customers who can’t figure out how to download or open digital products, despite the “common knowledge factor”, complete instructions and click-of-a-mouse access to customer service — just wouldn’t find that funny.<\/p>\n Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n Because it hits a little too close to home!<\/p>\n So how does this all affect you — and what does it have to do with your personal growth potential?<\/p>\n Read on to find out…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ====== Continued<\/em><\/strong><\/span> =======<\/p>\n Comedy needs to hit close to home — but not TOO close — in order for a particular audience member to be able to laugh at it.<\/p>\n You need to be able to say, “Oh, my god, I’ve done<\/em> that!” or “Oh yeah, I know<\/em> someone like that!” to see the humor.<\/p>\n But if it’s something that you’re over-sensitive about, or something that makes you see a personal attack — or an attack on your values — then you’re more likely to shut down than pay attention.<\/p>\n The same thing happens with personal development, because\u00a0comedy is really just a funn<\/em>y way at looking at the dumb things we do, and personal development is really just a serious<\/em> way of looking at the dumb things we do (and then attempt to find a solution to that stupidity).<\/p>\n We just happen to feel that it’s possible to mix the two — i.e. putting some humor into personal growth teachings, just as comedians put some personal growth into comedy — for the best all-round results.<\/p>\n Sometimes that humor is a little dry. Sometimes it’s a little sarcastic. Sometimes it’s slap-stick. But we use humor to lighten the message nonetheless.<\/p>\n Funny enough (pun intended), some of our readers get really angry at our poking fun at something.<\/p>\n As an example, the last blog post elicited this comment (which we didn’t approve because it was so off-base):<\/p>\n “grow up!!..dont bash the president for being a man of the people!!\u2026Dont disguise yourself as teaching self development if you wont respect all persons views!!\u2026i didnt hear these responses when president Bush made huge mistakes that ultimately helped this country be in the predicament that we find ourselves!\u2026.Respect our President and teach views which will heal All!!!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Interesting, isn’t it, that this person and a few select others chose to see “President bashing” when the post was about thinking for yourself, taking accountability for your actions, and not getting caught up in “entitlement thinking”?\u00a0 We put the word “Obama” (once) and the word “bailout” (once) together, to signify a FACT, and holy craaaaap, people’s “how dare you do that?!” antennas pop out of their heads faster than you can say: social welfare<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sorry, but too many people fall into that trap with or without the possibility of a “bailout” (read: “cop out”) that’s perceived as coming from any given random Presidential figure-head.<\/p>\n One of our favorite mentors — Dr. John F. Demartini, who was featured in The Secret<\/em> but had much of his powerful teachings end up on the editing-room floor — would have something to say about all this. I’ve personally interviewed him twice, attended two of his live seminars, watched a couple of his DVDs and read several of his books; and together, Barry and I have gotten even more a-ha moments after watching him speak again.<\/p>\n Basically, Dr. D. says that what we do, and what we notice around us, is always rooted in our value systems<\/span>.<\/p>\n If you love dogs, you’ll notice the dog show taking place at the school as you drive by. If not, you’ll likely miss it. If you have a baby, you’ll notice the sale happening at the local baby boutique. If you don’t, you won’t. If you love investing, you’ll notice the stock market trends. If you don’t, you won’t.<\/p>\n And if you feel some special pride (or HOPE) in a particular celebrity or politician, you’ll notice every little passing reference to them, and perceive bashing whether it exists or not (we talked about this when the chimp cartoon<\/a> came out, we’re talking about it in reference to the last blog post<\/a>, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it again in the future).<\/p>\n Basically, the ONLY “negative” (meaning unsupportive, since “negative” is just about one of the most uncreative subjective word you can throw out on someone or something… sorta like calling somebody “nice”… ah, yeah, so tell me more about that person?) comments we received about the latest post were those who wanted to “bash us for bashing Obama” (like we would ever bash a puppet; the way Geppetto pulls the strings is never Pinocchio’s fault).<\/p>\n And those people said nothing about the inspirational video clips we supplied to you. They are focused on politics as one of their main value systems, and as a result they notice only the small political references, even while threatening, “don’t make this into a political blog, or I’ll unsubscribe!”<\/p>\n KEY NOTE<\/strong>: If reading our stuff, which we wholeheartedly KNOW ahead of time will trip some people’s triggers (i.e. ruffle some feathers), offends your sensibilities, then just do it — just “unsubscribe”. Don’t throw some cheap warning our way about it. Our LWL brand has never been about “glorifying and ‘pedestal-izing’ fundamental LOA-thinking” and our motto has never been: “Life 100% Filtered For Your Protection.”\u00a0 We’re here to explore, to discover, to debate, to engage, to compel critical thinking, and to encourage you to SEE life with your EYES wide open.\u00a0 The last thing we care about is keeping people on our list who feel a Life Without Limits means “you should filter what you say, regardless of how you see it, research it, or know it to be, because people have feelings.”<\/p>\n Hmmm, last time we checked, there are about 10,000 other communities out there who will fill you up with niceties and motivators from the same grade-school self-help primer. Life involves more than analyzing yourself to death, or discussing the merits of gratitude, or constantly trying to hone your meditation and intuitive skills. Self-exploration, when done with the right approach and in the right context, is a MUST; yet, while Barry and I shake our heads because we even have to mention this (it’s obvious, but NOT to some of our readers), we’ll REPEAT it again: Life\u2019s about politics, economics \/ wealth, travel, business, marketing, health, family, relationships and more, and we’ll continue to provide commentary and products that sync up with a well-rounded view of living.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Those who place value in thinking for themselves and standing up for what they believe in saw the beauty in the video clips instead, and chose to comment on that.<\/p>\n Essentially, even though Dr. D. doesn’t come out and say this verbatim, people’s personal realities are greatly influenced by the mis<\/em>interpretation of what’s going on around them based on their own values, agendas, and skewed perceptions.<\/p>\n So let’s bring this back to comedy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Some people may have gotten angry about Jon Stewart’s recent bit on The Daily Show<\/em>, where he took a stab at CNBC and their reporter, Rick Santelli, who had backed out of an agreement to appear on the show.<\/p>\n Here’s the video, in case you haven’t seen it yet; watching it before we go on will give you the best perspective on the discussion to follow.<\/p>\n [youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DoVYE4aVugY[\/youtube]<\/p>\n The video you just watched caused a lot of people to take notice, and post it on websites across the nation — it was funny, it was relevant, and it was spot-on.<\/p>\n “You’re just bitter because he canceled on you!” Santelli’s supporters cried. “You’re bizarrely obsessed with him,” said Santelli’s own people.<\/p>\n So they, like many people who want to explore personal development but not actually do<\/em> anything about the weaknesses and blocks they find, are avoiding personal accountability and seeking to blame.<\/p>\n We call that “victimitis-thinking”.<\/p>\n Sure, stand up for yourself if someone wrongly accuses you of something and you can make a case for the truth. But never simply run away and cry, “That’s not fair!”<\/p>\n The bottom line is that the research done by The Daily Show<\/em> was better than the research done, on an ongoing basis, by CNBC.<\/p>\n The Daily Show<\/em>, produced as a comedy and supposedly just a spoof of journalistic shows, showed better-quality journalism than CNBC, which is produced and presented as factual news.<\/p>\n Now THAT’S<\/em> funny!<\/strong><\/p>\n CNBC is, based off the evidence shown by Stewart, a great example of “journalism-lite” masquerading as serious business news, the same way some spiritual growth teachers are “love and light” masquerading as serious personal development.<\/p>\n There’s nothing wrong with talking about “love” and “light” in the sense that they are basically the same thing, and form the essence of the energy that makes up us, and everything around us.<\/p>\n But using “love and light” as a catch-phrase to mean, “I’m enlightened and you can be too, if you just follow what I say,” can be extremely misleading, if not downright dangerous.<\/p>\n See, we know far too many teachers who say, “love and light,” or “Namaste,” or “many blessings,” and yet they are not practicing what they preach. They teach how to have a healthy relationship as they go through a divorce, or they write a book about attracting wealth when they’re flat broke or owe three years’ worth of back taxes.<\/p>\n They think that by putting up a false image of who they are, they can hide from the truth.<\/p>\n If discovered, they justify this by saying it’s important to teach what you need to<\/em> know, not what you already<\/em> know.<\/p>\n And they think that by presenting themselves as not only “enlightened” but as “nice”, they can escape the critics.<\/p>\n But fakers can never escape criticism, no matter what their public image is; someone will always ferret them out.<\/p>\n Jon Stewart did it with CNBC, and we’ve done it with personal development mentors, speakers and authors. We’ve also done it with political figures; if they don’t walk the talk, they need to stop talking.<\/p>\n As for “nice”, well, Dr. D. points out the truth we all know deep down; that one single action can be interpreted as “nice” by one person and “mean” or “demented” or downright “wacky” by another. “Nice” is subjective, just as “positive” and “negative” are; and, like beauty, they are only and always based on the beholder’s value system.<\/p>\n And the perfection in this life comes in the perfect balance; for every yin<\/em> you have a yang<\/em>; for every up<\/em> there’s a down<\/em>, for every back<\/em> there’s a front<\/em>, and for every hater<\/em> there’s a liker<\/em>; and that never, ever changes, no matter how often you say, “We’re all connected,” because there is duality within the non-duality, and vice-versa (the opposites can’t exist without each other, so they are intimately connected). Perfection!<\/p>\n Back to the “journalism-lite”<\/strong>:<\/p>\n I got my start as an interviewer in current affairs TV programming, which included a little bit of entertainment, a little bit of politics, a little bit of local events, a little bit of this-and-that.<\/p>\n I’ve been accused more than once of asking questions that were too “hard” or “tough” in entertainment, personal and business development interviews, like there’s an unspoken need to pander to the expert or celebrity and not ask them about their own personal conviction and congruency.<\/p>\n That, my friends, does not serve the audience, who are always the most important party in any given piece of media (whether by “media” we’re talking TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, book or internet).<\/p>\n I once got turned down for a follow-up interview that had already been agreed upon by the head of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (the Canadian equivalent of the organization that puts on the Oscars) because she said that the questions I was asking the nominees and winners at her awards show were “too hard”.<\/p>\n That means that instead of gushing, “Who are you wearing?” like all the other reporters, I was asking things like, “What does it take to be a success in this industry?”<\/p>\n Oooh, I made them formulate some thoughts rather than simply spouting off unimportant drivel. How dare I!!<\/p>\n And that unimportant drivel, that pandering gushing, is what CNBC is serving up, masqueraded as important hard-hitting business news.<\/p>\n But thought-provoking and revealing conversation is what has always driven me.<\/p>\n Life is part of a continual process of exploration, not just with ourselves, but with “others” too.<\/p>\n And when you strip away all the fluff, hyperbole, and timid behind-the-computer communication, you\u2019re only left with fresh, candid, uncensored conversation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That basis is the root for nearly everything we do \u2014 and that\u2019s because secrets are discovered, ideas are created, thoughts are provoked, and answers are revealed during the course of asking the right questions of the right people.<\/p>\n So whether you\u2019re talking interview, candid discussion, or formal consultation, the art of conversation is what sows the seeds that the greatest a-ha moments spring from.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Barry and I continue with that quest together, when we research, write and interview both the celebrities and hidden gems that can honestly teach us all how to live a Life Without Limits.<\/p>\n So I feel a certain kinship with Jon Stewart, as if he’s like the comedy-world equivalent of us: investigating congruency, tearing down myths, turning icons upside down, and coming out with jaw-dropping facts at the end of it all.<\/p>\n Is it “mean” when he does it? <\/strong>No, it’s all in the spirit of comedy… and the revelation of truth.<\/p>\n Is it “mean” when we do it?<\/strong> No, it’s all in the spirit of substantive<\/span> personal development… and the revelation of truth.<\/p>\n So, to finish this up<\/span>: I challenge you to take off your blinders, unplug your ears, and uncover your mouth (oh, wait we already threw those three little monkeys under the bus a few blog posts prior! :)… but, BEFORE you see, listen, and speak,\u00a0 give yourself the benefit of the doubt by THINKING first.<\/p>\n If the above hits home for you (if\u00a0 “the truth hurts”), then it was supposed to!<\/p>\n We welcome, adore, and cherish your commentary back to us. Again, as I said above, interactive (as much as you can get by commenting below) communication and expression RULES.<\/p>\n But passionate introspection about what we (and others) say and\/or write can fuel that expression with intelligence, creativity, and on-target, topic-at-hand responses, NOT reactions.<\/p>\n Or, as Lif Strand, one of our community members, put it:<\/p>\n “Here\u2019s a simple way (in my opinion) to separate who understood the point of Barry & Heather\u2019s email, and who didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Those who got defensive and those who pointed blame didn\u2019t get it. Those who got it know that individuality is about taking responsibility for one’s own actions, and acting from Source and center, not from reaction to the outside.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rick Santelli, in the story of this post (way, way above), REACTED<\/strong> (i.e. no thinking involved FIRST)!<\/p>\n Jon Stewart RESPONDED<\/strong> (i.e. thinking involved FIRST)!<\/p>\n If you’re going to join in our discussions, we definitely prefer the latter!<\/p>\n Your Partner in the Quest For \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Does comedy make you angry? Does personal development cause you to stunt your own growth? Does looking at the big picture cause you to shut your eyes? Yes, these questions might sound somewhat facetious. 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\nLiving a Life Without Limits<\/em>,<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/heathervale.com\/images\/sigHVG_2.1_blue.gif\" "\\"Heather")
<\/p>\n