Pictured:  the Bosphorus Bridge, connecting the European side of Istanbul to its Asian side.  

Today's Comedy Around The World traverses two separate continents.  While crossing the Bosphorus on the ferry, I was fascinated by all the diversity I saw.  Georgian vessels passed us by.  So did Greek luxury liners.  The Bosphorus is the only waters available to Russian ships.  Million-dollar yachts sailed the same waters as the fishing and shipping freighters.  

Turkey is a land of contrasts.  It is a country that has been overrun, overruled, overwhelmed.  Yet still the people are eating sandwiches [or, rather, Borek] every day.  They are going to school, work, shopping, talking, and of course, eating.  How can these people possibly maintain or preserve an authentic identity, especially amid all the chaos swirling around them?

That's like our sense of humor.  We all have stress--some people more, some less.  But we have commitments, appointments, responsibilities.  We, like the Turkish empire, are pulled in many different directions.  So, how do we keep our authenticity amid all the chaos swirling in our lives? 

The key is finding your own style of humor.  Knowing what makes you laugh, and then owning that.  It requires knowing who you are, your values, what you stand for. 

If you can create a built-in stress-busting mechanism like humor, you can cope with the chaos.  You can maintain your identity--not to mention your sanity--no matter what ships are passing by.  

"Get Your SHINE Together!" and get real.  Soon.