The Healing Power of Laughter

Take Time to Laugh

Eric Idle sang at the closing Olympic ceremony, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” And it was funny! Laughter is positive energy and it creates good feelings. People, pets and situations around us are all affected by moods, but a little bit of laughter can help life and situations become less stressful. Naturally, there is always a serious side, and we cannot laugh all the time, but by becoming less restricted in our thoughts, we can also lighten the worry loads and pick ourselves and others up, too.

It is important to be able to smile and laugh about certain personal traits because this creates a less critical view. And it can help to have a more relaxed, positive outlook towards others. If we can learn to balance the serious with the fun, we will feel a better flow and feel a positive energy boost, which in turn we can pass on.

While looking on a Web site for a gift, I saw “Jesus” soap. It’s a bar of soap to wash away your sins. Does that mean that we can also wash away our problems, or the negatives we have committed? By combining a belief with a smile, it could easily be viewed as a gimmick but it can also have another purpose—it’s funny and it made me laugh. Laughing and smiling aren’t sinful!

By having less restrictive thoughts, we can improve relationships, our family connections, finances and even the unexpected events in our lives. Balancing emotions and how we deal with our fears about money, jobs and romance can sometimes be difficult, but it can also be less stressful if we lighten the task a little. Therefore, when problems do arise in these areas we are able to deal with them and make better decisions.

There are small things in life that can bring a smile to your face, and sharing these things helps happiness grow. The healing power of laughter becomes a reality.

So can the lighter side of life help us in relationships?

Laughing with a partner gives out so much positive energy. In polls, a sense of humour is highly favoured as a top attribute in a partner. When someone shares their happiness or makes another person laugh, it connects to self-esteem, enjoyment and even physical attraction. By learning to capture this approach, we learn to understand, and it can help in other areas like interviews, jobs, money, self-worth and friendships.

Laughter is such a beautiful and helpful emotion. Sometimes, there is too clinical an approach to life and laughter can be the bridge crossing many barriers.

Relationships, money and jobs are two-way streets, and not a one-way road, so less rigid thinking and finding a common understanding helps to enhance all areas of communication and get on better. In some Japanese businesses, “laughing breaks” are encouraged to boost energies. It brings to mind our troubled world. Maybe those with power should get together at their summits and focus more on what makes us happy, and what connects us all naturally as a race, instead of focusing on individual beliefs, cultures or faiths. This is a way to increase universal understanding. It could even end up saving lives.

Have we lost the sense of value towards the simple things that make the world go round?

Smiling should be so natural to us, however, our values on technology and material things are placed sometimes higher. Yet, sharing laughter is recognized the whole world over. People react to other’s reactions, and by bringing fun and laughter to someone’s life, they will pass it on like a chain. We may not end up falling about laughing when the TV breaks down, but we may realize the whole world is not falling apart.

Here are some ways to make yourself laugh:

• Have a doom- and gloom-free day! Don’t listen, look or read anything that is related to sad or upsetting events. Turn off the TV and radio.

• Dance to some music (Close the blinds if you want.) and feel young and happy to be alive.

• Look for some funny videos or clips on the Internet, and have a funny hour.

• Think about today and live the moment. Life is too short to take everything seriously!