Wellness Theme:  Joy & Laughter

Real Talk:  When was the last time you had a full on, pee your pants a little bit, belly laugh?  The age-old saying “Laughter is the best medicine” has some truth to it.  Laughter triggers a physiological response that actually reduces stress!  Increasing our ability to find humor in our daily lives will positively impact our wellness.  I don’t know about you, but I am always up for fun and easy ways to minimize stress.    

Self-Assess:  Are you able to find humor in your daily life?  Do you find it difficult to laugh at yourself?         

Take Action:  So how can we increase the amount of laughter in our lives?  We must seek it out.  Spend time with people who make you laugh.  It’s so true that we become like the people we surround ourselves with.  If we seek relationships with individuals who are positive and able to look at the humor in situations, we will be more likely to match those characteristics.  It’s okay to laugh at the craziness of your situation!  Sometimes laughter is the only way you can keep from crying, and that’s okay.    

Each of us has a laundry list of stories we could share about the most extreme situations that we have encountered in our day or even in our own families that you could literally ‘write a book about’.   There is definitely something to that.  I encourage you to write down the funny things that people say or experiences that make you laugh.  If you keep sticky notes or a little journal of silly quotes that you’ve collected along the way, it can help you during the times when things really aren’t that funny.   

Lastly, I encourage you to do something fun!  Remembering how to have fun can bring back your joy and laughter.  If you aren’t having any fun in your position, you need to create fun around you.  It could be as simple as finding the most random item you can think of and secretly putting it in a friend’s mail/email/voicemail. (By random, I’m thinking of some really funny meme that had you laughing out loud and sharing).  The main thing is to find ways to have fun wherever you are.       

Challenge:  Seek out ways to have fun and laugh this week!  What sorts of things make you laugh?