Hello. I’ve been waiting for you. In fact, I was a little early so I’m on my second chocolate chip cookie and my tea is a bit cold. I’ve been sitting here wondering how many cookies I could eat before it would be over-doing it.

I never tell you anything you don’t know. We just share our ideas. But, have you given any thought to excesses? I think there are only two things in our lives that we can’t do to excess. Tell me if I’m wrong.

We can over-eat, over-drink, over-spend, over-dress, over-exercise, over-sleep, over-state, over-step, over-work, and a whole bunch of other “overs.”

The two things we can’t over-do are loving and laughing. I can’t take care of the loves in your life, but I am hoping to get you to the place where you almost over-laugh. I don’t mean hysteria. I just want you to start looking at life in a different way, one that will show you the humor in many problems.

I haven’t been able to find a statistic that shows the average amount of time an adult laughs during a day, but I bet it’s not very long. I had to stipulate that we’re talking about adults because most children laugh a lot during a day. Well, at least the elementary age kids. Things get more serious by the time they are in middle school.

We, as mature humans, are so hungry for laughter that we spend hours watching shows that we hope will make us laugh. We idolize Ellen, Tina and Oprah for many reasons, but a biggie is because they make us laugh and do it without insulting people or using horrible language. Their job is not telling jokes; they understand that humor comes right out what goes on in our lives. That’s the place for you to look as you go through your day.

I believe if you read my book, “Ticked Off and Tickled About It,” that you will begin to see how to find those funny moments for yourself. Also if you keep visiting me here, we’ll continue to keep looking at how humor can be found in everyday problems.

In case you haven’t read my book yet, let me explain that it is not a textbook. It is a book of 40 humorous essays that came right out of problems I’ve experienced.

I really look forward to your ideas about putting more laughter in your life.

Meantime, I’ve decided eating a third cookie might be over-doing it but the idea of downing all that chocolate just gives me the giggles.

COMING NEXT: FIVE HORSE TALES