You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile

Wisdom Nugget: "A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired"

Smile
Source: Photo Pin

“If you can find humour in anything, you can survive it.” - Bill Cosby

Laughter is physically good for you like a vitamin - it relieves muscle tension, improves your memory, boosts your immune system and helps prevent heart disease; among other things. It’s worth it to even fake laughter at your boring friend's "unfunny" jokes. It calms you down, why deny yourself the pleasure? A little drop of healthy humour will settle things down between friends after a bitter argument, faster than anything I know. Irrespective of the weight of that burden, it’s shattered under the strength of a generous dose of healthy humour - humour makes burdens light keeping them from crushing us.

Just in case you're one of those who find almost every joke not funny enough, here are a few pointers to (help) make you laugh.

1. Think of something you find funny. Not surprisingly, the easiest way to laugh is to think of something that you personally find very amusing. This can be useful for those occasions where everybody but you is laughing at a joke. Hear Agnes Repplier, "We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh"

2. Smile: If you do want to fake or create a laugh, start with a smile. Scientists have found that genuine laughter is almost accompanied by the contraction of about 15 facial muscles, most of which are the same you use when you smile, it can actually put you in a better mood and make you more apt to laugh. Smiling has been shown to make you feel good; therefore a smile precedes laughter, as you have to feel good before you laugh.

3. Laugh at the appropriate time. Genuine laughs almost always begin at the end of a phrase or sentence.

4. Watch one of your favourite comedies, or ask your friends for a funny movie they have recently watched. You could go watch it with them for more laughs.

5. Talk about something cheerful or funny.

6. Have your own sense of humour too. Make your own joke - something that is truly funny to you.

Laughter is contagious. It’s also beneficial to life and relationships. Laughter reduces stress and tension. Laughter stimulates the immune system. Laughter increases natural painkillers in the blood leading to a decrease in systemic inflammation. Laughter reduces blood pressure and lifts your spirits. Laughter brings couples closer - it keeps a relationship fresh. Jay Leno puts it thus, “You can’t stay mad at somebody who makes you laugh.”

Our emotional, spiritual and physical health improves with daily doses of joy in the Lord. So today make sure you take some time to laugh and rejoice. Joy, smiles, gratitude and laughter are perfect medicines for our soul, available to everyone without negative side effects. Why not give yourself a generous dose of laughter today? 

Seriously? People Don't Laugh?

"A day without laughter is a day wasted" - Charlie Chaplin

Wisdom Nugget: "Whatever you are capable of doing, do with all your might because there's no work, thought, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, which is where you are headed"

Joy
Source: Photo Pin

As a young child growing up one of the most beautiful things I appreciated about living was "Laughter". I just loved to watch people laugh hilariously from the heart. For me it made life so beautiful. But as I grew older I noticed that lesser and lesser people laughed. Unfortunately in today's society, as with happiness in general, we seem to have forgotten how to laugh.
Dr. Michael Titze, a German psychologist tells us that,  in the 1950's people used to laugh 18 minutes a day, but today we laugh not more than 6 minutes a day, despite the huge rise in the standard of living Children can laugh up to 300-400 times a day, but when we grow up to be adults this frequency comes down to less than 15 times a day, if at all.

So why has laughter declined? Here are a few answers.  First there's the stress of living in a fast world, which is increasingly dominated by anxiety and fears. Telecommunications have made bad news instantly accessible to millions, thus accentuating the anxiety and fear. People are working long hours, under pressure to move fast. Transport is congested. Cities are crowded. Divorce and family break-ups are high. So negative stress levels are constantly on the increase. Moreover, many people live in the past, feeling guilty or resentful whilst others worry about the future. Often the cause of perceived difficulties is attributed to something or someone else. So we don't take true responsibility and find it hard to live in the moment - which of course is where laughter occurs.

During a trial, in a small Missouri town, the local prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand. The witness was a proper well-dressed elderly lady, the grandmother type, well spoken, and poised. She was sworn in, asked if she would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, on the Bible, so help her God.

The prosecuting attorney approached the woman and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?" She responded, "Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a young boy and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, cheat on your wife, manipulate people and talk badly about them behind their backs. You think you're a rising big shot when you haven't the sense to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper-pushing shyster. Yes, I know you quite well."
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"
She again replied, "Why, yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, has a bad drinking problem. The man can't build or keep a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. Yes, I know him."
The defense attorney almost fainted. Laughter mixed with gasps, thundered throughout the courtroom and the audience was on the verge of chaos. At this point, the judge brought the courtroom to silence, called both counselors to the bench, and in a very quiet voice said, "If either of you morons asks her if she knows me, you're going to jail."

If you are laughing, Laugh out loud my dear. Many people envy you that you can. Besides our wisdom nugget says that when you finally die, there will be plenty of time to keep a straight face void of any emotions in the quiet and lonely confines of your own space, uninterrupted by any intruders, six feet beneath the earth. Now that you can, laugh with all your heart!!!