LOL for HEALTH and WELLBEING

Live Consciously, Take wise ACTION for your Mind-Body and Spirit Harmony NOW. Switch off TV, Make time for relaxation and De-stress with a Healthy Laugh Today.

As a professional Comedian of 17 years, I have felt and have seen the amazing benefits of Laughter. And it is with much gratitude to all that have been present and unleashed their imagination to join mine at my live shows. For it has been the sound of laughter that has lifted the veil of the Black Dog that has been hounding me for so long to create the happiness and wellbeing I have today.

Laughter is strong medicine for mind and body.

This last statement is a fact and I am so happy to be able to share my research and findings from various sources on the benefits of laughter with you, so that it may help you in a positive and powerful way to find happiness, mental health, and wellbeing in your life.

Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert.

With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health.

LAUGHTER IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH.

• Laughter relaxes the whole body: A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
• Laughter boosts the immune system: Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells which fight infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
• Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the bodies natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
• Laughter protects the heart, laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

THE BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER

 Physical Health Benefits:

• Boosts immunity
• Lowers stress hormones
• Decreases Pain
• Relaxes your muscles
• Prevents heart disease

Mental Health Benefits:

• Adds Joy and Zest to Life
• Eases anxiety and fear
• Relieves stress
• Improves mood
• Enhances resilience

Social Benefits:

• Strengthens relationships
• Attracts others to us
• Enhances teamwork
• Helps defuse conflict
• Promotes group bonding

Laughter and humor help you stay emotionally healthy.

Laughter makes you feel good and the good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss.

More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh, or even a smile can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious, just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join the fun.

THE LINK BETWEEN LAUGHTER AND MENTAL HEALTH:

• • Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry or sad when you’re laughing.
  • Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.
  • Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF HUMOR AND LAUGHTER:

• Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointments.

• Laughing with others is more powerful than laughing alone.
• Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds, but sharing laughter and play also adds joy, vitality, and resilience. Humor is a powerful and effective way to heal resentment, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times.

Incorporating more humor and play into your daily interactions can improve the quality of your love relationships, as well as your connections with co-workers, family members, and friends. Using humor and laughter in relationships allows you to:

• Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.
• Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget judgments, criticisms, and doubts.
• Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back and holding on is set aside.
• Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.

Bringing more Humor and Laughter into your life.

Laughter is your birthright. A natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage in life.

Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with working out, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything you do.

Here are some ways to start:

• SMILE: Smiling is the beginning of laughter. Like laughter it’s contagious. Pioneers in “Laughter Therapy”, find it’s possible to laugh without even experiencing a funny event. The same holds for smiling. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling.
• COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS: Literally, make a list. The simple act of considering the good things in your life will distance you from negative thoughts that are a barrier to humor and laughter. When you’re in a state of sadness, you have further to travel to get humor and laughter.
• WHEN YOU HEAR LAUGHTER, MOVE TOWARDS IT: Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s Funny?”
• SPEND TIME WITH FUN, PLAYFUL PEOPLE: These are people who laugh easily, both at themselves and at life’s absurdities, and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter is contagious.

BRING HUMOR INTO CONVERSATIONS: Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?.

Developing your sense of Humor:

Take Yourself Less Seriously

One essential characteristic that helps us laugh is not taking ourselves too seriously. We’ve all known the classic tight-jawed sourpuss who takes everything with deathly seriousness and never laughs at anything. No Fun There.

Some events are clearly sad and not occasions for laughter. But most events in life don’t carry an overwhelming sense of either sadness or delight. They fall into the grey zone, Not the Fifty Shades of Grey zone, No, The grey zone of ordinary life, giving you the choice to laugh or not.

Ways to help yourself see the lighter side of life.

• Laugh at yourself: Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take yourself less seriously is to talk about times when you took yourself seriously.
• Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them. Look for the humor in a bad situation and uncover the irony and absurdity of life. This will help improve your mood and those around you.
• Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. I like to keep a pair of sunglasses with a mustache attached to them in the glove box. When i’m in traffic or at the lights I wack them on and stare at the person in the car opposite. The reactions are priceless and the smiles and laughs I get fuel me for the day. Remember the small things become the biggest moments. Put a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screen saver that makes you laugh.

Frame photos of you and your friends and family having fun.

• Keep things in perspective. Many things in life are beyond your control, particularly the behavior of other people. While you might think taking the weight of the world on your shoulders is admirable, in the long run, it’s unrealistic, unproductive, unhealthy, and even egotistical.
• Deal with your stress. Stress is a major impediment to humor and laughter.

Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lighter and laughing.

CHECKLIST FOR LIGHTENING UP:

When you find yourself taken over by what seems to be a horrible problem, ask these questions:

• Is it really worth getting upset over?
• Is it worth upsetting others?
• Is it that important?
• Is it that bad?
• Is the situation irreparable?
• Is it really your problem?

Using humor and play to overcome challenges and enhance your life.

The ability to laugh, play, and have fun with others not only makes life more enjoyable but also helps you solve problems, connect with others, and be more creative. People who incorporate humor and play into their daily lives find that it renews them and their relationships.

Life brings challenges that can either get the best of you or become playthings for your imagination. When you “Become the problem”, and take your self too seriously, it can be hard to think outside the box and find new solutions. But when you play with the problem, you can often transform it into an opportunity for creative learning.

Playing with problems seems to come naturally to children. When they are confused or afraid, they make their problems into a game, giving them a sense of control and an opportunity to experiment with others in playful ways which help you return this creative ability.

PLAY, CREATIVITY, and LIFELONG LEARNING.

Why play matters for both kids and adults.

Playtime is simultaneously a source of relaxation and stimulation for the brain and body. A sure (and fun) way to develop your imagination, creativity, problem-solving abilities, and mental health is to play with your romantic partner, office mates, children, grandchildren, and friends.

PLAY: It’s not just for Kids.

Play is often described as a time when we feel most alive, yet we often take it for granted and may completely forget about it. But play isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity. Play is as important to our physical and mental health as getting enough sleep, eating well, and exercising. Play teaches us how to manage and transform our “negative” emotions and experiences. It supercharges learning, helps us relieve stress, and connect us to others and the world around us. Play can also make work more productive and pleasurable.

Despite the power of play, somewhere between childhood and adulthood, many of us stop playing. We exchange play for work and responsibilities. When we do have some leisure time, we’re more likely to zone out in front of the TV or computer than engage in creative, brain-stimulating play. By giving ourselves permission to play with the joy of childhood, we can continue to reap its benefits throughout life.

Some of the reasons we play:

• • To Learn
  • To Create
  • To feel challenged
  • To pass time
  • To calm and focus ourselves.
  •  For the FUN of it
  • For the JOY of it.

Take Inspired ACTION NOW… Find your AUTHENTIC EXPRESSION… and JUST BE… BE FUN… HAVE FUN and LIVE a HAPPY and HEALTHY LIFE

“PEACE, LOVE and HAPPINESS my Friends”