The venerable Mark Twain once said, "The human race has only one truly effective weapon, and that is laughter." For some time now, I have made it my daily motivation to make at least one person laugh before I called it quits. Laughter crosses cultural barriers, connecting absolute strangers together for even the most brief of instances. I will go so far as to purposefully let others laugh at my expense.
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Laughter connects us with others. Also, laughter is contagious, so if you bring more laughter into your life, you can most likely help others around you to laugh more, and realize these benefits as well. By elevating the mood of those around you, you can reduce their stress levels, and perhaps improve the quality of social interaction you experience with them, reducing your stress level even more!
Instead of complaining about life's frustrations, try to laugh about them. If something is so frustrating or depressing it's ridiculous, realize that you could 'look back on it and laugh.' Think of how it will sound as a story you could tell to your friends, and then see if you can laugh about it now. With this attitude, you may also find yourself being more lighthearted and silly, giving yourself and those around you more to laugh about. Approach life in a more mirthful way and you'll find you're less stressed about negative events, and you'll achieve the health benefits of laughter
Man, I love to laugh! It's a workout, it eases my mind, and yes! It's very contagious! Dimitri you are right about being able to laugh at yourself when things seem to be going wrong. Getting upset and stressed doesn't do anything positive for your body or the circumstance, and while laughing may not get you out of trouble, it will sure protect your sanity and like you said, your stress levels. I try to remember this when I'm struggling, and it isn't always easy. But all the times I have managed to laugh in spite of failure/mistakes/negativity have made a huge difference in my circumstance overall!
ReplyDeleteI especially like the laughter where you can barely breathe, and you go on for minutes dying of how funny something was and you remember it forever!
Yup!! Laughing makes memories!
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