Stop focusing on counting calories and rigid exercise programs, pay more attention to laughing, smiling, and overall just having fun. Lighten up, there is too much serious stuff going on in most of our lives to not take a break from it as often as we can. Worrying about something normally does little good and often can be harmful.
Everything you feel and do starts in your mind. The more you laugh and smile the better you will feel and the better others will feel being around you. This will generate more fun situations and in the end make you a healthier person.
Laughter is a natural stress reliever. It can also serve as protection from emotional issues that are consciously or unconsciously affecting the way you feel. Research has demonstrated that the more humor that exists in a person’s life the greater chance they have of holding it together during stressful situations and the less chance they have of getting stress related ailments such as headaches, stomach problems, or worse yet, heart related illnesses.
Most of the suggestions I came across advising people on how to increase their laughing, smiling, and having fun seemed a bit impractical to me as these factors were viewed as separate activities. I believe that mind, attitude and physical characteristics are all tied together. Just watching a funny movie once a week or joining a “tell a joke” club, isn’t going to improve a negative attitude, at least not over the long term.
I believe a direct change, everyday approach is more effective. Look at your daily activities and try to figure things you can do to make them more pleasant. Try some of the following:
- Appreciate what you have and don’t dwell on what you don’t have. When you awake in the morning, don’t grumble about wanting more sleep. That is a waste of time and energy. Play the hand you are dealt, which when you think about it, could be a whole lot worse. People in other parts of the world are waking up under-nourished because they don’t have enough to eat or some may be afraid because they live in an unsafe area. Others may be in poor health and haven’t felt well in years. Thinking about these situations make missing out on a little sleep seem minor.
- Once you face the fact you are up and out of bed, try to think of something positive as the first thought of the day, instead of worrying about all you have to do. View your daily events more in terms of absolutes. For instance, the day will end and in most instances you will likely complete all of the things you absolutely needed to do. Scientific research and human nature support this statement. So, that begs the question, why worry about it. Actually by not worrying about it, you will get more accomplished. Now smile to yourself, and don’t hide it from those around you.
- Next up, eat a healthy breakfast, whatever you want, something you will enjoy. Smile some more.
- Out the door into the world is where things get tougher. It may seem everyone is attempting to take your mood down. Don’t let them. Again, smile, laugh, tell a positive story, but do not allow people who thrive on the negative to affect you. Instead try to turn their day around by just being nice to them. It may seem there are a lot of jerks in this world but after looking deeper into most people’s disposition, I find there are almost none. Mostly these people are angry at themselves for one reason or another and they are jealous of others who like to put a positive spin on everything. They are likely to be good people inside, but unfortunately that doesn’t often surface. These individuals require an extra big smile.
- Throughout the day, whether it is work, play, or an obligation, look at the upside of everything you do. Think about those less fortunate. Make the best use of time and most importantly try to have fun at everything you do. At the end of the day you will accomplish more and feel a whole lot better. And yes, keep the smiles coming, unless of course your boss is presenting terrible company performance data, which hopefully is an exception. If that situation does occur, try to steer the conversation to what can be done in the future to make performance better rather than gripe about it. If people buy in to the positive suggestions, now may be the time to smile or joke around.
- Wrap up the day on a positive note. Think about all you accomplished, not what you didn’t. Once more, think about how lucky you are compared to others less fortunate. Think about all those people you came in contact with today and jacked up their mood with a pleasant smile. As you are going through this thought process, yes, smile again.
I have done a considerable amount of research on the common attributes of people living to be 100 years old and overwhelmingly, this group has a positive outlook on life, love a good story, and smile and laugh a lot. I realize that hard core medical evidence may be lacking in tying together laughter and fun with health and longevity but from everything I have observed there sure seems to be a real strong connection.
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