ellen wisdom

I’m starting with this wonderful video that made me laugh out loud all by myself in front of my computer the first time I watched it. It’s just. That. Good.

Like pretty much everyone else in America, I want to be friends with Ellen. Like, in real life. Like, for real.

And it’s a funny thing, because I’ve honestly hardly ever watched her show since it’s on while I work and I don’t pay much attention to TV anyway.

But I did read her most recent book, “Seriously … I’m Kidding,” a couple years ago, and by the end, my Kindle had been highlighted to death with all her funny little insights on life and her clever wisdom. She seems like a normal person, one that’s afraid of the dark, one that hits writer’s block sometimes, and one that occasionally goes off on long tangents about who knows what. All of those things related to me.

But my favorite quotes, my two very favorite quotes, were about happiness and contributing to the world. Remind me someday when I have to get rid of all my jeans with holes in them that I should still be happy.

“The thing everyone should realize is that the key to happiness is being happy by yourself and for yourself. If everything you have got stripped away – your home, your job, your family, your things, your favorite T-shirt with all the holes in it that you won’t throw away even though it reveals a large part of your stomach region – if you lost all of those things and you had to live in a cave all alone with absolutely nothing, you should still be happy. Happiness comes from within. You have the power to change your own mind-set so that all the negative, horrible thoughts that try to invade your psyche are replaced with happy, positive, wonderful things.”

“Contribute to the world. Help people. Help one person. Help someone cross the street today. Help someone with directions unless you have a terrible sense of direction. Help someone who’s trying to help you. Just help. Make an impact. Show someone you care. Say yes instead of no. Say something nice. Smile. Make eye contact. Hug. Kiss. Get naked.”

Now, let’s end with another video gem from Ellen which aired last week. If I ever really get to be friends with Ellen, I’m gonna hug her a million times like this kid. Or maybe that would be weird. I’ll try to judge the situation accurately when it happens.