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Life is funny. If you stop and take a good, long look at all the crazy things going on in this world, you will have ample opportunity to laugh. Have you noticed what a mixed-up group of weirdoes we are? It’s pretty hilarious when you think about it.
Go find a public place today and sit down and observe the human species in action. You can choose to go to a park, the library, a coffeehouse, or a mall, whatever makes you happy. Pick a place where you will have an opportunity to observe a lot of people. Bring your journal with you and jot down some of the things about this world that are really funny to you when you look at them. Study the way people interact with each other. Observe how they dress and talk and the kinds of gadgets they use when they’re out and about. Take apart every facet of our civilization and look at it as if it you have never seen it before.
Ask yourself what you have learned about life in the last twenty years that makes you laugh when you think about the absurdity of it. You may draw a blank at first, but think about this question for awhile, and soon you will probably come up with quite a few answers.
Life is wonderful and funny and crazy . . . and a little absurd. Enjoy it. Laugh at it. When you stop thinking of the world as a place that’s doomed and start thinking about it as a beautiful, unique, and very funny mix of opportunities, then the door is open for change.
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Laughter provides a great buffer. If you completely mess something up, but you are able to stop and laugh at yourself, then you are in great shape. Have you ever tried it as a response to failure? It works beautifully. Laugh first, and then think about what to do to make it right.
Laughter gives you distance. It takes away the personal sting of falling short. Everyone screws up sometime, and it doesn’t feel very good when it happens. For some reason when we fail we think that no one else in the entire world has ever done so. That’s simply not true. If you want to prove your success, then don’t bother trying to be perfect. A sign of a successful person is how he or she deals with the aftermath of a mistake. Try laughter this week as a first step in dealing with failure. You will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you are able to recover from disappointment.
Laughter puts that cushion between you and the event. It lets you drop your ego and pick up the pieces and move on. When you put a little distance between yourself and your failure, you can see more clearly what needs to be done to make things right. On the other hand, if you are not able to laugh at yourself and you take failure very personally, you will dig a pretty deep hole of disappointment, and change won’t happen anytime soon.
Laughter is a wonderful—and efficient—coping mechanism. Practice using it whenever you face a disappointing outcome.
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Never pass up a chance for a good laugh. The healing effects of laughter are no joke. Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, and those are your body’s own natural painkillers. Recent studies have found that laughter can actually help prevent heart disease. It can also relieve stress, restore hope, and enhance your immune system. It keeps the cognitive function of elderly individuals in shape and lowers blood pressure. It’s even a good exercise for deep breathing techniques.
So why not laugh whenever you get a chance?
Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m just not that funny.”
You don’t have to be. There are loads of comedians out there. They need an audience. You can add humor to your life just by reacting to funny people or situations— or laughing at yourself in funny situations. Don’t worry; you don’t have to come up with your own material. Day-to-day circumstances will provide more than enough opportunities to laugh.
Maybe you’re afraid that you don’t really see the humorous side of things. Do you take life more seriously than everyone else most of the time? That’s okay. You can practice humor. Watch what other people find funny and observe their joy. Soon you may be able to identify with their humor and let go of your serious side a little. It’s not healthy to be serious all the time. It’s not going to make you successful faster. Learn to laugh, and then take advantage of this free medicine whenever you get the opportunity.
