With all of the crazy things going on in our world, it is easy to look at things and say, ‘what’s the point’ or ‘why bother?’ As the winter months are upon us, seasonal depression can be prevalent in homes and communities throughout the U.S. While I’m not as smart as any doctor, I’d like to offer a remedy to the winter blues: Laughter.
In an interview at Laughter For Health, “Liz Brunner reported that the average American child laughs 200 times per day, while adults only laugh about 15 times.” What is it about kids that make it easier for them to laugh. Is it because they have less problems, less things to worry about? Or is it something inside them that is still open to looking at the world ready to laugh?
About.Com says that, “Research has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings to increasing one’s threshold for pain. There’s even an emerging therapeutic field known as humor therapy to help people heal more quickly, among other things. Humor also has several important stress relieving benefits.”
Laughing can reduce the level of stress hormones in your body, provide a physical and emotional release, give you an internal workout with your abs and diaphragm and be a distraction. Along with the social benefits of laughter, bonding through telling jokes or laughing with a friend. Laughter can change your perspective. It can make you feel more optimistic, excited about the future, assured that things will work out. Often when a perspective changes, so does an attitude, followed by an action, followed by a result. Laughter CAN change your outcome.
Having the perspective of looking at life with a laugh can be a great resolution for this new year. Looking at things with a different lens. There were two business names I saw this past week that made me laugh and change my perspective. One was “National Self Storage”…a place to store yourself? Or “Sheriff Detention Center” where the cops go when they misbehave in class.
So put on laughter lenses this week and take a look at life with a laugh.