Wellness Focus: Laugh the Blues Away.

Unfortunately daily life can be a bit sobering. Stresses on the job, stresses at home, stress filled friends and family, and political conflicts with others can quickly limit our experiences of joy in our daily lives. Financial pressures and multiple losses can slowly eat at us and make it difficult to keep an upbeat and positive attitude. It's time to engage in some laughter therapy.

Laughter and the use of humor as a healing force has been researched and written about extensively. A well known pioneer in this arena would be author/journalist, Norman Cousins. I highly recommend his book; "Anatomy of An Illness".

When you laugh there is an actual release of natural endorphins which are known to elevate your mood and feeling state. Endorphins are natural pain killers that our bodies manufacture. The best medicine is laughter.

Need a little more laughter in your life right now? Here are some quick and simple remedies:

1) At risk of appearing goofy; try these fun tongue twisters alone or with your kids and get ready for some laughter. I find myself laughing at other people laughing:

"Spindly Flanagan finagled a fake Finback Fluke".

"Smooth Smimy Spoofmeister spoke spasmodically".

"Bonnie Betsy bit bonified Bon Bon"

What do you think? I made them up myself and you can make your own or have a contest with your kids. These don't work unless you try to say them five times as fast as you can! For even more fun say them with saltine crackers in your mouth.

2) Put on a hilariously funny old movie i,e., Marx brothers, or Laurel and Hardy. Or how about the Naked Gun series? I'm a fan of Jack Black. He always makes me laugh. Or Ed Bassmaster Youtube videos. Or Mr. Bean? The list is endless. The nice thing about these videos and movies is that it only takes one scene to get the laughter started. It's always great fun to laugh until tears are streaming down your face. This seems to happen when you least expect it.

3) See the humor in everyday situations. There are humerous situations that occur around us everyday especially when small children or animals are involved. For example I was lucky enough today to catch a performance of my dog singing. I remember when my daughter was very young she would walk around with her clothing on her head. Sometimes people just randomly say funny things and we all could stand to give our inner comedian some practice. I have a friend who snorts when she laughs and everyone starts laughing when they hear her. Hang a humerous picture or poster on the outside of your cubicle or next to the water cooler. Make it a goal to make the biggest sour puss in your office smile. I've also noticed at family or class reunions where there is plenty of reminiscing going on, what follows is a lot of laughter. It's always good if you can laugh at yourself.

4) Here's a challenge: Memorize a joke that you can share and get everyone laughing. Thank the internet for a plethora of jokes from which to choose. (Steer clear of ethnic, crude, political, and blonde jokes).

Although brief, I hope these ideas will give you a great start on a day full of laughter and joy! Laughter is infectious and will draw people towards you because they want some of that happy stuff too. Once you get going you may not be able to stop. Some people are just naturally funny and it's a gift to have them around but for those of us who are not natural comedians it really doesn't take too much effort to bring a smile to someone's face.