{"id":41332,"date":"2023-05-12T01:44:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T08:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=41332"},"modified":"2023-05-11T17:25:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T00:25:01","slug":"get-ready-to-laugh-it-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/05\/12\/get-ready-to-laugh-it-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Get ready to laugh it up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carol Ann Fried as herself, and as Groucho Marx. Fried presents the program Laughing Matters at the May 28 Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum. (photos from Carol Ann Fried)<\/em><\/p>\n

Carol Ann Fried helps people find their \u201cjoy spot.\u201d When she brings her interactive presentation to the Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum May 28, she promises: \u201cMy goal is it\u2019s going to be the most fun meeting they\u2019ve ever attended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fried is a Halifax-raised, Montreal-educated, Vancouver woman whose Friedom Training and Coaching Services include keynote speeches, workshops and meeting facilitation. She is also chief executive officer of Playfair Canada, which offers noncompetitive adult play experiences, especially to first-year students on Canadian campuses.<\/p>\n

The joy spot is found in many ways, but it always involves connecting people with one another, she told the Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do it by getting people to interact in creative and fun ways, toward some kind of end, if it\u2019s a theme or team-building or fun at work or fun at home,\u201d she said. \u201cThis can happen in various ways, but the way I do it is to get people up moving, usually, interacting with each other, talking with each other, doing some kind of activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, she does this with businesses, organizations and teams. In her program with the Jewish Seniors Alliance, laughter will be a core objective.<\/p>\n

While members of the JSA may be longtime friends or acquaintances, Fried promises that, by attending her program, \u201cThey are going to get to know each other in new ways. They are going to make new connections, they are going to laugh. There will be laughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

After growing up in Halifax and studying at Dalhousie University, Fried got a master\u2019s degree in counseling at McGill University in Montreal and eventually made her way west. She has served on the board of Or Shalom synagogue and is currently the chair of the membership committee.<\/p>\n

If she has one piece of advice for people \u2013 attending her program or not \u2013 it is \u201cBe courageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

That can mean something as simple as being willing to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our world, people somehow have the idea that play is for children and that we have to get serious when we get taller,\u201d Fried said. \u201cThe idea of it is pooh-poohed by a lot of people. But my work is about getting them to do it before I tell them what they\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In corporate settings, she calls this \u201cManaging to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love jazzing up meetings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fried also has an affinity for doing programs with food.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do a lot of things around food \u2013 Jewish people and food,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can have a bag and in the bag are a variety of implements that are anything but cutlery. One of them could be the egg beater, the carrot peeler, a salt spoon, the things that you find in that drawer where you throw everything. People pull a ribbon and they have to eat their whole meal with that one thing. There are no forks, knives or spoons in there. It\u2019s super-fun and it would be great for one of these family meals where you\u2019re worried about how people are going to get along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another idea is a \u201cbackwards meal\u201d \u2013 spoiler alert: it\u2019s eating dessert first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe that shared laughter and play are essential to a healthy lifestyle,\u201d said Fried. \u201cWhen we are playful, all sorts of good things happen in our body, all those horrible hormones decrease and all the good ones increase. It affects morale, it affects creativity, all very positively. They\u2019re going to experience each other in different ways than they otherwise would or that they are used to or that they have at other times.\u201d<\/p>\n

JSA\u2019s Spring Forum takes place May 28, 2 p.m., at the Peretz Centre. Fried\u2019s program is titled Laughing Matters. Call 604-732-1555 or email office@jsalliance.org for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carol Ann Fried as herself, and as Groucho Marx. Fried presents the program Laughing Matters at the May 28 Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum. (photos from Carol Ann Fried) Carol Ann Fried helps people find their \u201cjoy spot.\u201d When she brings her interactive presentation to the Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum May 28, she promises: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[21389,6977,2406,614,1997,3714,20626],"class_list":["post-41332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-carol-ann-fried","tag-healthcare","tag-jewish-seniors-alliance","tag-jsa","tag-mental-health","tag-seniors","tag-wellness"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}