5:00 AM: My mind is scheming as I lay awake in bed. “How can I sneak past the puppies’ crates and get to my office without waking them up?”

I’m under a deadline. I want to get to my task. Jump right in. Get it done and off my plate. I don’t want to take time out for puppies this morning, at least not for another hour.

It doesn’t work.

I tiptoe through the great room, past the kitchen and start down the hall towards my office. Sniff. Sniff. My olfactory nerve balks.

I am familiar with that odor. I make an about face and a direct approach to the puppies’ crates. Spirit, my white male Bishon Frise puppy, is no longer white. At 5:00 AM, I’m looking at Spirit, who now looks like pictures of Spot in my first-grade primer. It’s going to be a while before I get to my office.

Have you ever had a day that seems to start with feces all over it (figuratively and/or literally)? How do you respond?

In laughter club, we emphasize easy-to-do daily practices to help us choose a more positive response to life’s circumstances. One of the practices is flexibility.

Here are some suggestions to help you choose flexibility:

• Breathe. Did you know that sixty percent of the toxins in your body are released through your breathing? So, remember to breathe when circumstances are changing and you’re feeling tension. Pause for a moment and take a deep, deep breath. Feel your lungs expand with life-giving substance as air fills your lungs. When you exhale, use your abdominal muscles to push it out. Visualize tension flowing up, up, up and out of your body.

• Smile. It’s hard to be angry when you’re smiling. Plus, the blood going to your brain is cooler and carries more oxygen to the brain. That helps you to keep a cool head so you can come up with creative alternatives.

• Choose to view the situation as amazing or amusing rather than speaking unkind words or feeling disgust and anger. Ask yourself, how can I respond to this situation in a loving way?

7:00 AM: Spirit is once again a fluffy, white puppy. Precious, my female Shih Tzu, who is very good at modeling behavior, is clean, too. Both puppies are frisky and ready to play.

What’s so amazing and amusing?

I don’t need to take them out for a morning walk. I can go to my office and tackle my deadline.

Sometimes you just gotta laugh. So, C’mon, Let’s Laugh!