Daily Doses of Laughter

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

─ Psalm 126:2

A giggle, snicker or chuckle describe laughter. Interestingly, even the words we have for laughter sound funny to most of us.

Dr. Lee Berk and Dr. Stanley Tan, researchers at the Loma Linda University in California, have found laughter has many health benefits. From reducing stress hormone levels, to lowering blood pressure, to improving our immune systems and cardiac health – laughter produces a general sense of wellbeing (and can also work our abs). The research supports the idea all of us need to laugh more frequently.

Here are some helpful hints to ensure we get our recommended daily doses of laughter. We can:

• Refuse to take ourselves too seriously.
• Smile more. Smiling leads to laughter. Even if we’re having a rough day, practice smiling at those we encounter throughout our day.
• Revisit funny stories. As we reminisce about a funny time we’ve shared with others, it renews the relationship with laughter.
• Seek out laughter by spending time with the funny people in our lives. We all have those who truly make us laugh.
• List our blessings – literally write them out. Counting our blessings can move us from a negative to a positive frame of mind and position us to celebrate with laughter.
• Move toward laughter when we hear it. Usually the storyteller is more than happy to revisit the story and laugh again.

Today’s One Thing

Bring humor into your world. This week, ask others to share with you the most amusing thing that’s happened to them lately, or the funniest story they’ve heard.

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