Meeting Recap for April 8, 2013

Members of Rotary Club of Sacramento who attended Monday’s weekly luncheon received a rare and valuable gift from guest speaker Jim Pelley: the secret to happiness.

Pelley, a Folsom-based internationally known motivational speaker, business consultant and owner of Laughter Works, was making his third or fourth appearance as an RCS speaker.

A member of the Folsom Lake College Foundation and Mercy Hospital Folsom boards, Pelley is himself a Rotarian. He co-founded the Historic Folsom Club and is a past-president.

Introduced by chair of the day Kevin Smith-Fagan, Pelley recalled that, “Last time I spoke to your club, it was in a really small church basement with really bad parking.

“I’ve always wanted to speak at the Woodlake, or whatever this is. And its pretty impressive to be speaking to a club that will soon have its own casino.”

So what is the secret to happiness? More on that in a moment. The primary focus of Pelley’s talk was on humor in the workplace, a topic on which he has lectured for 26 years.

Laughter is a tool, Pelley maintains, that can make people more creative and productive by making them less stressed. “Smarten up by lightening up,” is how he puts it.

“I think of it (humor) as a ‘can opener for the brain,’” he says. “If you can get people to laugh about something, you can get them to think about something.”  That gets things moving forward.

How can you find humor in difficult situations?  Pelley, a former stand-up comic who also was a contributing writer for the original Saturday Night Live TV show, has three suggestions:

“First, ask yourself how your situation could be even worse. Ask how your favorite comedian would handle the situation. And remember that the time to have fun is now.”

OK, you still want to know the secret to happiness, right? Here it is: Lower your expectations. “That’s it?” you ask. “That’s all there is to it?”

According to Pelley it is. Nothing in perfect. Things happen. People tend to hang onto the negative too long; let it get in the way of moving forward. “Smarten up by lightening up.”

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Bob Miller from First US Community Credit Union became RCS’ newest member, installed by President Peter Dannenfelser II. Miller was sponsored by Don Baird and Todd Andrews. The latter presented him with his pin.

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Jay Lowden provided the thought for the day and Dick Osen, one quarter of The Four Way Test, led the club in singing “God Bless America” and will be singing the National Anthem before tonight’s River Cats baseball game.  Don Brown sponsored the wine reception and Randall Friedman provided piano music.

Past President John Frisch was recognized for articles in the Business Journal and Comstock’s magazine, where it was noticed the lack of the Rotary pin on his jacket.  President Peter encourages us to wear our pins daily and with pride.

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