Simple ways – laughter leads to life

It’s still summer people. There’s no reason not to have a good time, except that we just get into these bad habits. So, this month resolve to use some simple, fun ways to step out of those habits. Change your habits into more positive things.

Start with a little laughter. Have you ever heard of Norman Cousins? He’s got this great story. The journalist and political activist was faced with a painful disease. As he went through the treatments at the hospital, he felt like the atmosphere and habits he formed there were making his disease worse. So, he told his doctor he wanted to check out. He went home and changed his habits, finding that watching funny movies of the Marx Brothers really made him laugh.

He put himself on a regimen of laughter and high doses of Vitamin C, and believed that both became the key to healing his pain. He believed that laughter was as good for the body as exercise. His story was made into a move in the mid -1980s. Check an excerpt from the movie here for some inspiration.

In the meantime, think about what makes you laugh. Do Tell author Kathy Jacobson agrees that finding fun in our lives can change our whole perspective. “I think it literally changes our set point – our vibration,” says Jacobson. “It gets us out of our normal routine. It reminds us that we’re here to have fun. Laughing changes our constitution.”

She suggests another technique to try. Smile before you do something. Even if you’re talking on the phone with someone, they can feel your smile. Heck, maybe that smile will even come through when you type a text.

Laugh out loud on purpose. Try doing something completely different than you normally do. Try standing backwards in an elevator. Pretend to be a kid. Find a blog you like, or get on someone’s twitter feed that you just find hilarious, because life really is kind of funny if you think about it. We just get stuck in our ruts and forget to look for the laughter.

Even our worst situations usually have something so ridiculous that you can’t do anything more than laugh about it. If that’s truly not the case for you, then try Cousin’s technique, find a silly comedian and rent a DVD and watch until your cares melt away. Even if it just works for a couple of hours or a couple of minutes, it will give you a break you deserve.

This month on the Do Tell blog we’ll be talking about simple fun techniques to lighten life and recapture that part of your life that lives in laughter.

We hope you’ll join us on the ride

and remember life is better when it’s fun.

“Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.”  – Norman Cousins