Laugh Anyway

Wisdom Nuggets: "No matter what your heartache may be, laughing helps you forget it for a few seconds."
                                                                                                   - Red Skelton

Source: Photo Pin

Research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-reaching. Bill Cosby said "Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it."

1. When you make fun of yourself, you disarm those who would make fun of you and defuse possible confrontations.
2. Laughter relieves tension, stress, anger, irritation, grief, and depression. Similar to crying, laughter lowers emotional barriers, allowing the release of pent-up emotions. After a hearty session of laughter, you experience a sense of true well-being.
3. Medical researchers have found that laughter boosts the immune system.
4. Laughter reduces pain by releasing endorphins that are more powerful than equivalent amounts of morphine.
5. Humor helps merge the 2 hemispheres of the brain. The left hemisphere is used to interpret the verbal content of a joke. The right hemisphere interprets whether it is funny or not.
6. Laughter adds spice to life. Laughter is to life what rain is to the earth.
7. When you develop your sense of humor, you become more productive, communicate better, and tend to be a better team player.
8. Laughter provides the balance we need to get through the many hurdles of life.
9. Laughter is another form of exercise - According to Dr. James Walsh, "it massages all the organs of the body"
10. Laughter/humor helps you to rise to any challenge and handle the unexpected with ease.

Many adults avoid doing fun things because of what I'll like to call "FOWOT", fear of what others think! The bad news is we let this fear control a chunk of our lives and yet the truth is that no one else is ever thinking about us. They are too busy worrying about what WE are thinking about them - how ironic?

Alan Alda says "When people are laughing, they're generally not killing one another" and Red Skelton concludes, "No matter what your heartache may be, laughing helps you forget it for a few seconds" and its usually a great feeling.