0:00

So I had a solution,

0:00

this is indoor composting with worms.

0:03

Um, and all I could see was, you know,

0:03

I'm an avid gardener and composter.

0:09

So I know, I see organic matter and I

0:09

look at it different than most people.

0:12

People think of it as trash

0:12

or something you throw away.

0:16

For me, it's, it's a resource that to

0:16

make something better, like, to make

0:20

more soil, make more nutrient, rich soil.

0:23

Um, so I set out, and my goal

0:23

actually was not about the soil,

0:26

it was about waste management.

0:29

I'm George

0:29

Siegal, and this is The Tell Us

0:32

How to Make It Better podcast. Every week we introduce you to people

0:33

who are working on real world problems

0:37

and providing actual solutions.

0:40

Tell Us How to Make it Better is

0:40

partnering with The Readiness Lab,

0:44

the home for podcasts, webinars,

0:44

and training in the field of

0:47

emergency and disaster services.

0:50

Hi everybody. Thank you for joining me on this week's

0:50

Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast.

0:54

Every week on this podcast, I try

0:54

to introduce you to somebody who

0:57

has identified a problem and rather

0:57

than just sit around and complain

1:01

about it, they're actually doing

1:01

something to try to make it better.

1:04

Well, my guest today is, uh, working

1:04

on a couple of things that really can

1:08

make a big difference with people. One has to do with something that

1:09

could really help the environment and

1:13

the amount of stuff we throw away. And the other has to do with laughter.

1:17

Are you stressed out and find that stress

1:17

is really weighing you down in life?

1:21

After you listen to today's guest, you

1:21

might have a way of reducing that stress.

1:26

My guest today is Cathy Nesbitt.

1:28

She's a health and wellness advocate

1:28

and founder of Cathy's Crawley

1:31

Composers and Cathy's Chuckle Club.

1:34

Cathy, welcome.

1:36

Thank you, George. I'm excited to be here.

1:38

Yeah, I'm excited to have you. You know, I found you through the

1:39

internet where, um, it was about

1:43

the Crawley creatures and the

1:43

composting, and I, I remember when

1:46

I was a little kid, I loved worms.

1:48

Now as I've gotten older,

1:48

I'm not as crazy about 'em.

1:53

When you were a kid, were you in

1:53

into playing with stuff like that?

1:55

I mean, how did you evolve

1:55

into something like that?

1:59

I was not, no .

2:01

George Siegal: Okay. So how did you end up doing it? I believe it was

2:04

why I was put on Earth . Yeah.

2:08

So, um, I just saw a big problem.

2:10

Uh, I'm, I'm located, uh, just

2:10

north of Toronto and Canada.

2:14

Largest city in the country. And in 2002, our landfill closed.

2:19

Uh, it filled up. And although Canada's second largest

2:20

country in the world, we couldn't

2:23

find a place to cite a new landfill.

2:26

And are you ready? We started to export

2:27

our garbage to the U.S..

2:28

Nice. We appreciate that when that happens.

2:30

By the way, we need more garbage here.

2:33

Right? Well, we paid a lot for

2:33

the privilege by the way.

2:36

So it was bad for both countries, and

2:36

it, I'm not talking about the people.

2:41

This is the government's,

2:41

uh, bad business ideas.

2:43

Right. Um, yeah. And we, and you know, it was a thousand

2:45

trucks a week, 200 every day like

2:50

honking and 18 wheelers full of garbage. Yikes.

2:53

So I had a solution, this is

2:53

indoor composting with worms.

2:57

Um, and all I could see was, you know,

2:57

I'm an avid gardener and composter.

3:02

So I know, I see organic matter and I

3:02

look at it different than most people.

3:06

People think of it as trash

3:06

or something you throw away.

3:10

For me, it's, it's a resource that to

3:10

make something better, like, to make

3:13

more soil, make more nutrient, rich soil.

3:17

Um, so I set out, and my goal

3:17

actually was not about the soil,

3:20

it was about waste management.

3:23

So did you have to do some studying? Did you have to learn about

3:25

that To, to be good at it?

3:27

Like if, if I decided tomorrow I wanted to

3:27

start doing that, I probably would have to

3:32

Google a bunch of things, get some books,

3:32

figure out what the heck I'm even doing.

3:35

How did, How did that process work for you?

3:37

Yeah, thank you. Beautiful. Yeah, it is a process.

3:40

Absolutely. So, 93, I bought my house, moved outta

3:41

Toronto into a smaller place, and a

3:45

teacher friend in 93 asked me to look

3:45

after her worm bin for the summer.

3:49

I was afraid of worms. I was like, Ugh, worms in my house.

3:52

Get out. But I think that we should

3:53

do things for ourself.

3:55

You know, People will be like, Oh, you won't like that. Oh good.

3:58

Thanks for saving me the time. , right?

4:01

So I took on the challenge

4:01

as an avid gardener.

4:03

I knew the value of the worm compost.

4:06

I just didn't wanna do the process. So I took on the challenge.

4:09

It was horrible. Um, I had a house full of fruit flies, and

4:10

I was like, I'm never doing this again.

4:14

I kept the worms alive for my

4:14

friend, thank goodness, . Uh,

4:18

and then, uh, at the end of that

4:18

summer, I was like, Okay, that good.

4:21

I tried that. That's it. I didn't like it. . And then, uh, so 93.

4:25

Fast forward, I got up my psych

4:25

degree in 2000, got a job at a

4:29

group home working with challenge

4:29

folks, and they didn't compost.

4:34

So they had 10 homes and a

4:34

farm and a vocational program.

4:38

And I was like, Wow,

4:38

why don't they compost?

4:40

So when I spoke to management about

4:40

composting, they said, We don't need

4:43

the fertilizer because we have cows. So they had the, the cow

4:46

patties to fertilize the, the,

4:50

you know, the, the gardens. And I was like, Wow.

4:53

People don't even connect what they're doing. Like they're creating all this

4:54

food waste over here and then

4:57

paying over here to get rid of it. When they could just make

4:59

something better, right?

5:02

Worms are the original alchemists, Um, and then the greenhouse manager

5:05

said, Hey, what about ver composting?

5:11

And I don't know if you've ever

5:11

done anything that you're like all

5:14

excited about and that it doesn't

5:14

work out like you think it's going

5:17

to, and you're like, And you're

5:17

like, I'm never doing that again.

5:21

But then somebody says, Hey

5:21

George, why don't we, And

5:23

you're like, Oh no, I did that. I don't wanna do that.

5:26

That's what happened. I got that feeling. I'm like, Oh no, no.

5:29

Being down that road. But I was like, Wait a minute.

5:31

This is an institution. They're not getting worms tomorrow.

5:35

Let me do some research. So you're right. I did some research and, and

5:36

then I discovered the magic of

5:40

these worms, Red wiggler worms.

5:42

They eat half, half their

5:42

weight per day in food scraps.

5:46

They turn garbage into black gold.

5:48

They have five hearts each. They live up to 10 years.

5:51

I mean, all these things. I was like, Oh, and I heard that a

5:52

pound of worms in their descendants

5:56

could transform a ton of organic waste

5:56

in a year and and the average Canadian,

6:01

I'll say Canadian slash American family

6:01

produces a ton of organic waste in a year.

6:06

So I was like, Wow, every, every

6:06

family needs a pound of worms,

6:10

and I'm just the one who put a

6:10

pound of worms in every house.

6:13

The challenge was, or one

6:13

of the challenges was that I

6:16

didn't have any business acumen.

6:19

I don't, I don't have anybody

6:19

in my family that's in business.

6:23

Uh, none of my friends were in business. So it was, uh, not that it was

6:24

a solo mission, it was just I,

6:28

I felt on purpose and people

6:28

needed what I had , so I set out.

6:33

Now. So if I wanted to do that in

6:33

my garage, Is that, do you

6:36

need a lot of room to do that? Do you just need a big pale?

6:39

How do you keep the worms in there? I mean, how difficult is it

6:40

for somebody to actually, um,

6:43

put this plan into action?

6:46

Very easy. Oh my gosh. It's so simple.

6:48

They're the wonderful, most wonderful

6:48

pet . And so yes, any container will do.

6:53

Florida. Beautiful. You could do it in your garage.

6:55

Absolutely. Year round. Um, so we'll say a rubber made container

6:57

for, for the do, do it yourselfers.

7:02

Um, all you need is a carbon nitrogen mix.

7:05

So the carbon is, uh, the bedding. Shredded paper leave straw, cardboard,

7:07

all your kind of browns and the

7:12

nitrogen is your food scraps. You add both of those materials

7:13

in, add your worms in.

7:17

It would have a lid on it, some

7:17

holes for it's aerobic process.

7:21

Um, and then, yeah, you just

7:21

set about feeding your worms.

7:24

Not really much to do. You feed them maybe once or twice a week.

7:29

Um, feed 'em and leave them. Right? They live in the dark.

7:31

They don't want you to play with them. Don't take them out and, you

7:32

know, pet them and no walk,

7:35

Don't walk 'em or anything.

7:36

Don't talk to them. They don't like vibration. ,

7:40

George Siegal: and, and Ah, no, it does not.

7:45

It's aerobic process, meaning with

7:45

oxygen, um, like aerobic exercise.

7:50

Um, if it smells bad, it's

7:50

like a built-in mechanism.

7:54

Um, it, it, the oxygen gets

7:54

converted to methane, so if

7:58

it smells bad, it's methane.

8:00

So we can't breathe methane,

8:00

neither can the worms.

8:04

Okay. Yeah. Well, it sounds interesting, but now

8:05

interestingly, that's not even the

8:09

main reason you came on because I

8:09

always ask my guests, Tell me what

8:14

the problem is that you are working

8:14

on or that you've identified and

8:17

what you're doing to make it better. You didn't even come

8:19

back with the worm thing. You came back with stress and

8:21

how dangerous that is for us.

8:24

Tell, tell me about that.

8:26

Yeah, so it was about 2012.

8:28

It's the 20th anniversary

8:28

of my worm business.

8:30

And many times over the years people

8:30

had said, Oo, worms in the house.

8:35

And I wasn't listening. 20 12, 1 more person said it

8:36

and I heard it and I was like,

8:39

Oh my gosh, this is so hard. Why do I care so much?

8:43

And I really was questioning my motive. And then, um, I was about to

8:45

doff my word mission and I was

8:49

introduced to laughter yoga. So that was 2012.

8:52

I've been laughing full on for, for 10.

8:54

Over 10, well, 10 years now. And it helped save me in my worm business.

8:59

And I, I realized that what, like, and.

9:03

And then Covid came and

9:03

everything got shut down.

9:06

And so I, so especially during this, this

9:06

time that we're in, we really need this.

9:10

We had a, we had a mental

9:10

health crisis before.

9:13

It's just much bigger now because

9:13

so many people have been isolated.

9:18

It's a global. It's a global thing that's happening.

9:21

And, um, yeah, when, when you're in a,

9:21

So I, so I really do my, the, the problem

9:26

that I'm solving is waste management,

9:26

keeping things out of landfill.

9:30

I really want people to care about the

9:30

planet, but if you're in a mental crisis,

9:34

you can't care about anything other than yourself.

9:37

Now when you say laughter

9:37

and yoga, I always laugh when I think

9:40

of yoga because it looks like something

9:40

that would be so ridiculously simple.

9:44

And when I've taken some

9:44

classes, I'm sweating like a pig.

9:47

I mean, I'm, I find it very challenging

9:47

and it, it, it's not easy to do.

9:53

So that's where the

9:53

laughter comes in for me.

9:56

How do you mix the two in your opinion?

9:59

So, uh, the

9:59

laughter yoga, it's, it isn't

10:02

actually doing yoga and laughing. Um, it's, it's, um, the yoga part

10:04

is the deep diaphragmatic breathing

10:08

and the practice of the laughter. So, so just, you know, deciding to do

10:10

it and it, and it's not, I, I didn't

10:14

make this up, it's a real thing. uh, started in 1995 by

10:16

a medical doctor, Dr.

10:19

Madden Ateria, and his goal is

10:19

world peace through laughter.

10:24

Um, it's a global movement. Uh, I think we're over 120 countries

10:26

now where there's laughter gloves,

10:30

uh, and during covid I've been, I,

10:30

I'm being called more for laughter

10:34

to, I'm getting more paid gigs for

10:34

laughter than worm worms right at this

10:38

time.

10:39

So, have you ever done standup comedy?

10:41

I'm working on a show. Thank you for that, .

10:45

George Siegal: Really? So it's about my worms.

10:48

Okay. Um, cuz I, I, again, I feel

10:48

like I'm still meeting people.

10:52

20 years in, I chose me media

10:52

as my marketing strategy.

10:55

I've had over 300 articles, tv,

10:55

radio, I have a documentary,

10:59

um, and I'm still meeting people

10:59

that haven't heard about it.

11:02

And I say without awareness,

11:02

action is impossible.

11:06

So, um, yeah, so I, so I decided that

11:06

maybe I should just do a standup show.

11:10

You can imagine selling worms

11:10

by the pound for 20 years.

11:13

I have a lot of stories, Sure.

11:16

A lot. And so I thought I would

11:17

bring the fun to it.

11:19

So I did a standup course, I did improv

11:19

course, and I still wasn't ready.

11:23

I was like, what if they don't laugh? And then I, I then I became trained

11:25

as a laughter leader and I was

11:28

like, Now I have the trifecta

11:28

for a successful standup show.

11:33

Cuz we'll start with laughter yoga. You know, George, if you go to

11:36

a comedy show, you wanna laugh.

11:39

You paid to laugh, In fact. So if this, if the comedy, if the

11:41

comic is not funny, it's really hard.

11:45

It's like, Come on buddy , we wanna love.

11:50

And every great

11:50

comic that I've heard interviewed

11:52

talks about they have bombed before. It's not, I, I've tried it a couple

11:54

times and I think I have so much

11:58

respect for people who can do that

11:58

and are, and are so good at it.

12:00

And there's a lot of great ones. That's difficult because it's those

12:01

moments of silence after you say something

12:05

that you've worked on that you think is

12:05

funny and there's people just looking at

12:08

you like huh, That's a lonely feeling.

12:13

It's a lonely feeling. It is. Yes. Uh, I would, I would compare it

12:16

today to doing, um, Zoom workshops

12:20

where everyone has their camera off .

12:23

George Siegal: Yeah. That's a little frustrating when you

12:23

can't actually see the other people

12:25

and, and, and Zoom is such a, I

12:25

actually did my first podcast, um,

12:30

last week where I went to the location

12:30

and interviewed the, the people.

12:34

And that's the way I've came up

12:34

in media is, is being in person.

12:39

Zoom is so impersonal. Um, it's very difficult.

12:42

If you and I were sitting in a room or if you and I were out at the composting bin, I think we would

12:44

have a completely different podcast.

12:48

Hmm, absolutely. Yes. Agreed. So it's thank, thank

12:50

goodness for the technology.

12:52

Oh, absolutely. You know, this is, is better than nothing.

12:55

Right. Um, so what advice do you have

12:56

to people that are under stress?

12:59

I mean, you know, it's one thing to say,

12:59

Hey, you just gotta laugh a little bit.

13:02

But, you know, as we talked about in

13:02

the beginning, before we went on, um,

13:05

I'm in Tampa, Florida as we're recording

13:05

this podcast, we have a major hurricane

13:09

heading towards us, and there's a

13:09

lot of people that, um, sadly are

13:13

going to get it pretty bad from this.

13:16

How, how do you find

13:16

laughter in bad situations?

13:19

Yeah, it's essential. Um, because it, it's

13:21

a, it's like a release.

13:23

It's like when people laugh in

13:23

inappropriate situations, like at a

13:27

funeral or whatever, because there's so

13:27

much pressure built up and then it's just

13:32

that release and once somebody starts

13:32

laughing, it's contagious and everybody

13:36

gets to feel that kind of euphoric

13:36

moment where you're just like, Wow,

13:40

thank goodness I'm not holding that in. And so we're not laughing at the situation

13:42

during this time, during this covid time.

13:47

Laughter Yogis jumped online and, and

13:47

you can laugh 24 7 in a laughter club.

13:53

And that's why you need a

13:53

laughter club because it is

13:56

challenging to laugh by yourself. Like, just laughing, ha ha ha.

13:59

There's no jokes or comedy. It's not, you know, And if you're watching

14:01

a show, if you're la doing your laughter,

14:06

yoga, like, just laughing, ha ha ha. Um, you're gonna miss the, the next line.

14:11

Or if you're at a comedy club, you'll get kicked out because you're making too much noise.

14:15

or the comedian will start picking on you.

14:17

Right, Exactly. Yeah.

14:19

So this is, um, In a laughter

14:19

session, it's um, you know,

14:25

it's a cardiovascular workout. Our diaphragm is attached to all of our

14:26

organs, so when we laugh, we're moving our

14:31

diaphragm, which is like internal jogging.

14:33

Um, you need about 10 to 15

14:33

minutes of sustained belly

14:36

laughter to get the effects. But there are so many benefits.

14:40

It's the, it's the fastest Happiness

14:40

hack gets us outta stress in a moment.

14:45

At least for the moment. It doesn't take away the problem, but it

14:46

certainly makes it easier to cope with.

14:51

And I'd love to give an example

14:51

since you talked about, um, this

14:55

big weather event that's coming. Mm-hmm.

14:57

, there's a documentary called Laughology

14:57

by Albert Nuremberg about laughing, and

15:03

he was going to interview Madan, Dr.

15:06

Kataria in India. It was the day after the Mumbai bombings.

15:11

And so he, he said, I, Well, I

15:11

guess we're not filming today.

15:15

And Dr. Kataria said, Oh, we must. We must do this because we need to

15:17

laugh more than ever, not at what's

15:21

happened because of otherwise we're

15:21

afraid, like cowering in the corner.

15:26

We need to laugh and connect

15:26

because our brain requires 25%

15:31

more oxygen than the rest of our

15:31

body as an operating principle.

15:35

When we're stressed, we're not

15:35

breathing properly, so our brain's

15:38

not getting what it needs and.

15:40

Like ever lost your keys and

15:40

you're flopping around . Yeah.

15:45

Right. You're never finding your keys

15:45

or bone glasses in that state.

15:48

You need to stop, take a deep

15:48

breath, laugh it off, apologize to

15:51

everyone, and then you'll find them.

15:54

Yeah, I mean, that's a, if

15:54

that's a great way to get off of panic.

15:57

I mean, I always tell people, especially

15:57

as people are preparing for a storm, you

16:01

wanna get your work done first because in

16:01

that panic moment, It's hard to get things

16:06

done when you're, when you're stressed and

16:06

you gotta find those keys when you have

16:10

to get something done, bring furniture

16:10

in, do something at the last minute,

16:14

you're almost paralyzed at that point. And so if you had a way to relax, I

16:16

imagine that could be a tremendous asset.

16:21

Yes. And when we're laughing, we're

16:21

secreting the love drugs.

16:25

Right. Ever heard laughter's the best medicine?

16:28

I have heard that, right. Everyone's heard that it's

16:30

a universal expression. Um, but it's true.

16:34

So I say, have you had your

16:34

daily dose, dopamine, oxytocin,

16:38

serotonin and endorphins versus

16:38

cortisol when we're stressed.

16:42

So when we're stressed, cortisol's

16:42

creating through our body to get us going.

16:46

Right. To bring all that fluid to

16:47

our muscles so we can escape.

16:50

Um, but nothing's in our brain.

16:52

Like most of the stuff leaves

16:52

our brain because we don't

16:55

need to think about something. We just need to escape.

16:58

Did you ever see, Did you

16:58

ever watch the Mary Tyler Moore show?

17:01

Was that big in Canada? Yes. There was an episode where she was at

17:02

a funeral, I think it was for Chuckles,

17:06

the clown, and she started laughing

17:06

uncontrollably and it just completely

17:12

derailed what was going on in the funeral. But it was one of the funniest

17:14

scenes I've ever seen in a TV show.

17:18

It's absolutely

17:18

the, That's, that's what I was

17:20

talking about with, you know, at the

17:20

funeral or at an inappropriate time.

17:23

You start laughing and

17:23

it's just a release.

17:26

It's not laughing at

17:26

it seems inappropriate.

17:28

Um, but it really is not, It's

17:28

just a natural, like a almost

17:32

a survival mechanism almost.

17:36

It can be painful though. When I worked in the TV news

17:37

business, there was a few times

17:39

where we started laughing during

17:39

the broadcast and we couldn't stop.

17:44

And you know, people that are just

17:44

flipping the dial and coming by that

17:48

see these idiots on camera laughing and

17:48

have no idea what the reason was that

17:53

triggered that, Um, it could be really

17:53

uncomfortable to stop that laughing.

17:57

It's hard to do.

17:58

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Blooper reel

18:01

.

18:01

George Siegal: Yeah, that definitely, uh,

18:05

One of them when I was, um, in San

18:05

Antonio actually was written up by one

18:08

of the media critics calling, uh, the,

18:08

the news team, immature , for laughing.

18:13

So , I guess you gotta

18:13

take the good with the bad.

18:17

Um, So what advice do you

18:17

have for somebody who, what

18:21

would be the first step? I know you have these online, uh,

18:22

classes, I guess you would say,

18:26

so I'm feeling really stressed. I need to find a way to, to, to kick that.

18:29

What are you gonna tell me to do? Yeah, I'm gonna tell,

18:31

tell people to come to a laugh, to

18:34

go to a laughter club and, and plan

18:34

to attend more than once because

18:38

the first time will be weird, right?

18:40

Whenever we do something new, it's awkward

18:40

cuz we don't know what to do, we don't

18:44

know what's gonna happen and all of that. A laughter club is no different.

18:48

It's, it is awkward because

18:48

we've been trained that we

18:50

need to laugh at something. Like somebody tripping or , you

18:52

know, or, or like slap step

18:56

comedy or, or a joke or something. This is, um, intentional laughter

18:58

exercises designed to make us feel good.

19:03

So the laughter leader, you

19:03

know, guides you through that.

19:06

There's, um, there's

19:06

clapping and chanting.

19:08

So the clapping, you clap palm

19:08

to palm, so you're activating the

19:11

meridians and it's ho, ho ha ha ha.

19:14

Or 1, 2, 1. 1, 2, 1 2, 3 . And, and then

19:16

there's little, just little games.

19:21

So little games to inspire the laughter.

19:23

Um, yeah. And it's just moving

19:25

around and connecting.

19:27

So eye contact and, and we,

19:27

we do feed off each other.

19:32

It's just energy, right? So it's just, um, high vibe, energy that

19:33

just, we feel good when we're in it.

19:37

Now are you doing those in person now or you still do those over zoom?

19:41

Uh, my, my,

19:41

my online club is on Zoom.

19:44

Um, yeah, it's nine 30 every Tuesday

19:44

at nine 30, and I get people Eastern

19:49

and I get people from around the

19:49

world, but I am doing, uh, in

19:53

person, uh, engagements as well.

19:56

I'm, I'm, it's, it's amazing to

19:56

me how people are finding me.

19:59

I know the internet, but , you

19:59

know, I just think when you're on

20:03

purpose, I thought I was here for the

20:03

worms and I am, I'm a really great

20:06

laugher and I'm really good at it. And I've incorporated tapping,

20:09

emotional freedom technique, brain

20:13

gym, and other healing modalities

20:13

because my whole objective is to

20:17

help people get out of stress. And my very soft spot, my

20:19

demographic that I really love

20:23

working with is special needs. Um, so I've been doing,

20:25

I've had a year project.

20:29

Every Friday we meet in

20:29

person and it's so beautiful.

20:33

Chatty Cathy is my name, and so I

20:33

can only imagine if you're nonverbal.

20:38

And so your whole life, people

20:38

are telling you, Here, eat this,

20:41

go here, wear this, do this. So how frustrating.

20:44

No wonder there are behaviors, you

20:44

know, people get frustrated and act

20:49

out, um, because that's not what they

20:49

want, but they can't verbalize it.

20:53

So the laughter is, is a magic thing.

20:55

And I, I would love to give an ex

20:55

example of one of my, um, experiences.

21:00

Sure. I was going in, um, there's

21:02

an organization called Larsh.

21:05

I was started by a gentleman in France.

21:07

He actually just passed, um, working

21:07

with special needs and, and he's created

21:13

these wonderful, um, supportive networks.

21:17

So I was, I was, uh, invited to

21:17

come and do laughter yoga, and so

21:21

I would go, I think we were doing

21:21

monthly at that organization and

21:25

there was a nonverbal young man. Who would come every time He loved it.

21:30

And we did a balloon blowing

21:30

up exercise, so put your hands

21:33

that you blow up as you breathe.

21:35

And as we got the full balloon, when

21:35

we got to the top, this gentleman

21:39

that doesn't talk said bang. And we got like silence in

21:42

the room from all the staff.

21:44

We were just like, Oh, oh my gosh. Wow.

21:48

Like, and so I feel like his brain got

21:48

oxygenated so he was able to verbalize

21:53

what he was feeling at that moment.

21:56

It was, it was really a beautiful moment.

21:58

Oh, that's awesome. And there's so few times we get to

21:59

really feel like, Wow, this made

22:02

a difference what I was doing. And you see something work

22:03

that had to feel really good.

22:06

Oh, is, is so beautiful. I've had so many wonderful.

22:10

I could give a, I could talk just about

22:10

the experiences that I've had with

22:14

people who, Some people come, they're

22:14

very serious, arms are crossed, and

22:18

they're not smiling, and they're there

22:18

because, you know, somebody brought

22:21

them to the event and they're, and I,

22:21

and I kind of focus on them because

22:25

I just think it takes so much energy not even to smile . Yeah.

22:29

Like to be like, Nope. Mm. Mm. . So it, it just, it kind of makes

22:33

me laugh, you know, because we are

22:37

very serious, um, society, right?

22:39

Oh, we can't laugh. There's too much things going on.

22:42

Yes. There's always gonna be more things

22:42

heaped on that can make us afraid.

22:47

And we can either choose to be paralyzed

22:47

by the fear, as you said about when

22:51

you've gotta move furniture when a storms coming or something.

22:54

Right? Or, or we can um, kind of go with it.

22:58

This is gonna ha things are gonna happen. So we can, as long as we have tools and

23:00

the laughter, I believe makes us more

23:05

resilient, I feel much more resilient.

23:07

And I would love to give

23:07

an example of driving.

23:10

Sure. Everyone has driving things, right?

23:13

So rather than, um, doing road rage,

23:13

here's something that I would suggest

23:18

to people . Cause it's way better. So when I get cut off,

23:20

And it's never personal.

23:23

We take it personal like,

23:23

Hey, why did they cut me off?

23:26

But they're not like, Hey, there's

23:26

George, let's get in front of him.

23:29

. You hope not when people, Right. Yeah. You hope not.

23:32

Oh, there's that guy, that kooky

23:32

guy from the , the podcast.

23:38

So if I get cut off,

23:38

um, I'm like, Oh good.

23:41

It primes me to do my laughter yoga.

23:43

I'm like, time to do laughter yoga. And I, I flail my arms around.

23:46

I'm like, Ha ha. They look like a, a

23:47

cookie nut in, in the car.

23:50

And the person that cut me off,

23:50

cuz you know when you do, when

23:53

you've cut somebody off, you know

23:53

that you have, but you needed to

23:56

do it like you had to get in there. So they're looking in their rear view

23:58

mirror and they can see that I'm like, so

24:01

it looks like I'm mad, but I'm laughing. So I arrive at my destination.

24:05

Oh, oxygenated all like relaxed and

24:05

all the love drugs careening through

24:10

my body and that person's stress and I

24:10

actually get more space cuz they think

24:14

I'm mad, they think I'm, you know, So instead of road raging, just laugh

24:18

and it, it will change your life.

24:22

Sure. And it, I think it's an example

24:23

of how I can't control what you

24:27

do, but I can control what I do. And if you can tamp down those emotions

24:29

and calm down in those situations, it

24:34

could probably make a huge difference.

24:37

Yes. Because when we get stressed again

24:37

back to the cortisol and our heart's

24:41

racing and, and then it takes time,

24:41

It, I think I heard one time like

24:45

when you get angry it takes like five

24:45

hours for your body to calm back down.

24:51

And the reverse is true when you have

24:51

a laughter fit, with your friends,

24:56

whatever, that that experience, that those

24:56

benefits last in your body for hours.

25:03

Excellent. Now, you, you seem like such an

25:04

entrepreneurial person with the, the two

25:07

things that we were talking about today. So with this podcast, I like to encourage

25:09

people if you have an idea or something

25:12

that you wanna do to make it better to,

25:12

to improve the world or do something

25:16

positive instead of just complaining

25:16

about it, what would you tell them

25:20

to give 'em that boost to get going?

25:22

Similar to what you've done?

25:24

Yeah. I would say if you have an

25:25

idea, you know, we get these

25:27

inspired thoughts where we go. I'm gonna do that.

25:31

I'm so excited about this. Maybe, maybe not like that.

25:33

Maybe that's just me. , Right?

25:36

And then what happens after that moment?

25:39

Um, many times people will

25:39

either talk themself out of it.

25:43

Like, they'll be like,

25:43

Oh yeah, oh, last time.

25:45

Oh yeah, I don't have time right now for that. I'm just gonna put that on the shelf.

25:49

Don't, I would say, when you

25:49

get that inspired thought,

25:52

it came from the universe. And if it's an I, like

25:54

say a business idea.

25:57

And you're like, No, not right now. I'm busy or whatever.

26:00

Six months down the road, you

26:00

might see your business idea in

26:04

like that's unfolded and you're

26:04

like, Oh my God, that was my idea.

26:07

That's right, because that was

26:07

given to six people and they

26:10

took action and you did not. So take action.

26:13

Write it down. If you get a thought and you're like, I

26:14

wanna do that, don't tell the people that

26:17

are, that are gonna talk you out of it. You know?

26:20

It's like if you're a smoker and you

26:20

wanna quit smoking and your friends

26:23

are like, Oh, you're not gonna quit. You can't come on, let's go for a smoke.

26:26

Because if you quit smoking,

26:26

What does that do for them then?

26:30

Oh, they gotta quit. Or someone's gonna be bugging them.

26:33

It makes 'em, you know, put sep

26:33

so if you don't change, they don't

26:36

have to change and all as well.

26:38

Yeah, I mean, I know people that have talked about things for years and nothing ever changes.

26:42

And I think it's that getting past

26:42

that fear of failure, cuz some

26:46

of the most successful people in

26:46

the world have failed many times.

26:49

But it doesn't stop them.

26:52

No failures just

26:52

a, it's just a lesson as you

26:54

just get up, you try it again. Oh, not that way.

26:57

Over here. Maybe another way. Yeah. Just like, you know, we we're

26:59

so afraid to make a mistake.

27:03

Just so what, Who cares?

27:05

Like it's all that's on you. And we we're, so we look at what

27:07

other people are gonna think about

27:10

us, otherwise we wouldn't care. Like, Cause what?

27:14

What? Right. Why do we care if we fail? If it's just on us?

27:17

If, if we're the only ones that are gonna

27:17

be judging us, which we are . Right?

27:23

That voice in your head is never your friend. You would never pick somebody like that.

27:27

You'd be like, Get outta here. You can't be my friend.

27:29

You're, You're too mean . George Siegal: Exactly. Now, there's a lot of ways to follow

27:32

you and consume you on social media.

27:36

I'm gonna put 'em in the show notes

27:36

so people can easily find you.

27:39

But what's the best way for somebody to reach out? And, uh, and consume what

27:41

you're putting out there.

27:44

So my worm website

27:44

is probably, if they're wanting, you

27:47

know, a whole sustainable life, worms

27:47

and laughter, everything's there.

27:51

It's cathy's composers.com

27:51

or cathy's club.com for the

27:55

laughter. Very good.

27:58

Well, hey Cathy, thank

27:58

you for your time today.

28:00

Thank you for coming on. How soon can we expect to see

28:01

you doing your standup comedy?

28:04

Where? When's that show gonna be on comedy central?

28:06

Oh my gosh. Oh, no pressure.

28:10

No, I would, yeah, I would.

28:12

I would love, yeah, Comedy Central. If you're listening, contact

28:13

me . We do need more women comics.

28:19

I believe that we do need

28:19

more women, uh, speaking out.

28:23

Absolutely. And there's some great ones. I mean, there are some I, you know,

28:25

I just like, and if somebody's

28:28

funny, I like to listen to 'em. That's my thing. Absolutely.

28:32

Thank you. All right, well listen, thank you so

28:32

much and, uh, look forward to following

28:36

you and seeing that comedy sometime.

28:38

Thank you, George. I appreciate it.

28:40

Thank you so much for listening to today's Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast.

28:43

All the information to get in touch

28:43

with Cathy is in the show notes, and

28:47

there's also a contact form there. If you have any ideas for future guests

28:49

that you would like to see or any thoughts

28:53

about something that you've listened to

28:53

in the past, just fill out that form.

28:56

I would love to hear from you. Thanks again for listening.

28:59

See you next time.