Can you guess what it is? It’s laughing of course.
Laughter has often been called the best medicine.
Why it is good to laugh
When laughter is shared it can bring people together. It can help heal hurts, misunderstandings and controversies bringing about a sense of peace and harmony. This emotional sharing can create a strong bond between people.
Laughter has great mental health benefits also. It makes you feel good and that good feeling lingers on long after the laughing has stopped.
What I am still laughing about
One time a bunch of us went to the Pru Center for a concert. Of course, after the concert, the parking lot was jammed with cars trying to get out. My brother gave the parking attendant $10.00 to let us be the first ones out of the lot. He got in the car saying he took care of everything and that we would be the next car to leave…….well, 25 cars later, we are still in the parking spot with all these cars going ahead of us. At that point, we were teasing him so much about the $10.00 and being among the first to get out. We were all laughing so hard. Even now, when we talk about it, we still laugh.
We could have been upset about still being in the parking lot and wasting the $10.00 but we all (expect my brother of course) found it extremely funny. We were able to see the humor in the situation even though we were waiting in the lot.
Finding the humor
Laughter can help calm and rejuvenate you. It can quash stressful feelings. It is hard to be anxious, sad or angry when you are laughing. By reducing stress and increasing energy, it can make you stay focused and this way you can accomplish more. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations and disappointments. Seeing the humor in a situation puts it in a less menacing and more realistic light.
Obviously, some life events are dreadful and do not call for laughter. But most life events don’t carry a crushing sense of either sorrow or bliss. They fall into the category of ordinary life thus giving you the choice to laugh or not.
For me, I choose to laugh!
Things that make me laugh: myself when I do something silly, my family, Mel Brooks movies, Monty Python, The Princess Bride, Beetlejuice, The Big Bang Theory, the car commercial with the boy dressed as Darth Vader, the Elmer Fudd Gieco commercial, a funny joke, my dog, some Youtube videos and an array of everyday things.
Let us know what makes you laugh!