Friday, October 26, 2012

The Brain and a Good Laugh

When was the last time you laughed? I mean really let hardy laughter rip from the depth of your being? Experts say laughter is good medicine. It’s a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster to bring your mind and body back into balance. Humor lightens your burden, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, alert. With the power to heal and renew, laughter is a tremendous resource and supports both physical and emotional health. Let’s discover the precious gift of laughter:

1)     Ways to help yourself see the lighter side of life:
§         Laugh at yourself: Share your embarrassing moments. Come on! You’re only human!
§         Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them. Look for the humor, the irony and the absurdity of life.  
§         Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up: Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.  
§         Keep things in perspective: Many things in life are beyond our control—particularly the behavior of other people. While you might think taking the weight of the world on your shoulders is admirable, in the long run it’s unrealistic, unproductive, unhealthy, and even egotistical.
§         Deal with your stress: Stress is a major impediment to humor and laughter.
§         Pay attention to children and emulate them: They are experts on taking life lightly and at play.

“Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails.” --- Max Eastman

Bring more humor and laughter into your life:
§         Smile: Smiling is the beginning of laughter. The act displays positive body language and sends messages to your brain that happiness is within your reach. Conversely a grimace displays negative body language and sends unhappy signals to your brain. So! Have you smiled today?
§         Count your blessings. By considering the good things in your life, you’ll create a distance from negative thoughts. When in a state of sadness, we have farther to travel to get to humor and laughter...and how sad is that?
§         When you hear laughter, move toward it, and ask, “What’s funny?”
§         Spend time with fun, playful people. Search for those who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities. This playful point of view is contagious.

Remember humor shifts perspective and allows you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. So take a break and laugh!
“Carry laughter with you wherever you go.” --- Hugh Sidey

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