RELAX - You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left : Using the Power of Humor to Overcome Stress in Your Life and Work

**The best-selling author of __Life Is Short—Wear Your Party Pants__**Loretta LaRoche has been called "the Erma Bombeck of stress reduction"—and in the helpful and hilarious pages of this entertaining book, her enormous talent for finding the funny detail to defuse even the most difficult situation has never been sharper. __Relax—You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left__ is filled with practical exercises, hilarious anecdotes, and specific advice for coming to terms with today’s ever-increasing stress levels—it’s a remedy for anxiety and a prescription for laughter. In sections such as "If You Don’t Have to Suffer—Don’t Practice," "My Mother the CEO," and "I’m Not Afraid of Heights, Just Widths," Loretta dismantles our American predilection for taking ourselves too seriously and shows us how to live longer, happier lives using the healing power of the absurd. "I'm always reminding people that the one constant you can count on is that things happen--and usually when you're not in the mood for them." It's now a proven medical fact that good humor reduces the negative effects of stress. Over the course of twenty years, millions of people have learned this lesson while being entertained and enlightened by Loretta LaRoche in one of her enormously popular series of lectures given in public seminars; in corporate environments for clients like IBM, Reebok, Fidel-ity Investments, and Blue Cross, Blue Shield; and most recently in nationwide broadcasts on public television. Now she puts her sensible, sensational philosophy on paper--and gives readers the tools they need to laugh themselves to less stress and better health. "One night I greeted Bob at the door wearing nothing but his wing-tipped shoes. I was laughing hysterically about how I looked. Bob didn't crack a smile. Instead, he bellowed, 'What are the neighbors going to think?' " 'I don't know,' I replied, 'I haven't shown them yet.' " Loretta LaRoche has been called "the Erma Bombeck of stress reduction"--and in the helpful and hilarious pages of this book, her enormous talent for finding the funny detail to defuse even the most difficult situation has never been sharper. "Buy something silly and wear it. A Groucho Marx nose, mustache, and glasses are my favorite. When the stress seems unbearable, when you've really reached the limits of your endurance, go into a bathroom, look into the mirror, put on your glasses, and ask yourself, 'How serious is this?' " Relax--You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left is filled with practical exercises, hilarious anecdotes, and specific advice for coming to terms with today's ever-increasing stress levels--it is a remedy for anxiety and a prescription for laughter. "Most of us don't realize what an impact we have on the world around us. A positive energy field is going to affect others in a beneficial way, even if you don't notice it at first. Why not ask for a standing ovation once in a while? When you go in to work, say, 'I came in--it wasn't easy. I could have gone somewhere else. I'd like a standing ovation.' " In sections like "If You Don't Have to Suffer--Don't Practice," "My Mother the CEO," and "I'm Not Afraid of Heights, Just Widths," LaRoche dismantles our American predilection for taking ourselves too seriously and shows us how to live longer, happier lives using the healing power of the absurd. PSYCH LaRoche is Erma Bombeck with a wellness agenda. A motivational speaker with her own company, The Humor Potential, LaRoche has been featured on PBS and serves on the faculty of Boston's Mind-Body Institute. Her theme: laughter is important for reducing stress and maintaining a healthy life. In chapters with headings such as 'If you don't have to suffer, don't practice' and 'How to prevent hardening of the attitudes,' LaRoche dispenses practical wisdom laced with laughter and lampoons the human potential movement while subtly delivering its most important messages. Using illustrations from 'the committee,' her Italian American extended family, she encourages women to look for the humor in every situation ('look at parts of your life as a sitcom, with you as the star') and use it to defuse stress. Included are addresses of organizations and a list of resources for 'health, healing and humor.' Recommended for popular psychology collections. Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA- The best-selling author of Life Is Short—Wear Your Party Pants Loretta LaRoche has been called "the Erma Bombeck of stress reduction"—and in the helpful and hilarious pages of this entertaining book, her enormous talent for finding the funny detail to defuse even the most difficult situation has never been sharper. Relax—You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left is filled with practical exercises, hilarious anecdotes, and specific advice for coming to terms with today’s ever-increasing stress levels—it’s a remedy for anxiety and a prescription for laughter. In sections such as "If You Don’t Have to Suffer—Don’t Practice," "My Mother the CEO," and "I’m Not Afraid of Heights, Just Widths," Loretta dismantles our American predilection for taking ourselves too seriously and shows us how to live longer, happier lives using the healing power of the absurd. Relax - You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left is filled with practical exercises, hilarious anecdotes, and specific advice for coming to terms with today's ever-increasing stress levels - it is a remedy for anxiety and a prescription for laughter. In sections like "If You Don't Have to Suffer - Don't Practice," "My Mother the CEO," and "I'm Not Afraid of Heights, Just Widths," LaRoche dismantles our American predilection for taking ourselves too seriously and shows us how to live longer, happier lives using the healing power of the absurd.

"Once called the 'Erma Bombeck of stress reduction', Loretta LaRoche, a popular lecturer in the corporate world and on public television, now offers her stress-reducing techniques in this humorous and helpful resource."

Loretta LaRoche has been called?the Erma Bombeck of stress reduction? - and in the helpful and hilarious pages of this entertaining book, her enormous talent for finding the funny detail to defuse even the most difficult situation has never been sharper. Relax - You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left is filled with practical exercises, hilarious anecdotes, and specific advice for coming to terms with today's ever-increasing stress levels - it's a remedy for anxiety and a prescription for laughter. In sections such as?If You Don't Have to Suffer - Don't Practice,??My Mother the CEO,? and?I'm Not Afraid of Heights, Just Widths,? Loretta dismantles our American predilection for taking ourselves too seriously and shows us how to live longer, happier lives using the healing power of the absurd "Relax - You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left is filled with practical exercises, hilarious anecdotes, and specific advice for coming to terms with today's ever-increasing stress levels - it is a remedy for anxiety and a prescription for laughter." "In sections like "If You Don't Have to Suffer - Don't Practice," "My Mother the CEO," and "I'm Not Afraid of Heights, Just Widths," LaRoche dismantles our American predilection for taking ourselves too seriously and shows us how to live longer, happier lives using the healing power of the absurd."--BOOK JACKET Introduction: three one-dollar bills Four hundred times a day The need to do everything perfectly Awfulizing and catastrophizing If you don't have to suffer, don't practice Don't "should" on yourself Worrywarts Lose your baggage Going global Relationship killers : the blame game and directors of the universe How to prevent hardening of the attitude Loretta's joy journal. Offers helpful and hilarious advice in this entertaining book. Her enormous talent for finding the funny details that will defuse even the most difficult situation has never been sharper