A Funny Thing Happened...

Did you know that laughter came before language, as we understand it now?
Was laughter the first language?
A precursor to language, laughter is a universal communication tool understood and shared by every human being who ever lived.

Laughter developed as far back as 10 million years (actually up to 16 million years ago by some accounts), which means it is not limited to human beings - biologists tell us that all mammals laugh.
Who knew that a rat can giggle when tickled?

Everywhere in the world, we teach our babies to speak, but they already know how to laugh when they are a few months old. That is how they start communicating. They laugh when things make sense and cry when they are bored or disconnected.

Laughter has amazing power.

It is as contagious as the meanest flu.
A good laugh is an instant path to a good mood. In a good mood we bond and create relationships, we get creative and productive.
When we laugh we are attractive. We love it when others laugh with us.
Laughing is a social connector.

Laughter also creates inner peace because the stress hormone cortisol is decreased when we laugh, and cortisol and laughter do not make good neighbors in the body. Laughter always wins and kicks cortisol to the curb, right out of the body with a nice little: ”this body ain’t big enough for the both of us…haha.”
Now that laughter has eliminated its enemies, it releases endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers. Now we feel even better. And it all happened during one laugh without us even being aware of what went on inside of us, transforming our chemistry in seconds.

If this was not enough praise for laughter as a free tool to exercise often, laughter has more healing power than we can comprehend. The studies are endless, the results universal, unchallenged, and ubiquitous:
Laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress and stress hormones, increases muscle flexibility, and boosts immune function. The list of health benefits is long.

Science and medicine inform us of the benefit of laughter on everything from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases to chronic pain and arthritis. There are many studies and stories of peoples who have improved or even been healed from serious illness through laughter, for example:

      Researchers in Japan found that people with rheumatoid arthritis experienced a
      significant decrease in their pain and stress hormone levels as well as an
      increase in two immune-enhancing chemic when they watched “rakugo” or
      comic storytelling.

      Or read about the famous case of Norman Cousins, who bypassed his doctors
      and inspired new research when he took matters into his own laughing belly
      muscles:  http://www. laughteronlineuniversity.com/ norman-cousins-a-     
      laughterpain-case-study/

Think of all the varied things we laugh at and situations that make us crack up:
There is the nervous laughter, awkward laughter, we laugh at stupid jokes, comedy, funny faces, hilarious situations, in finding solidarity, whoopee cushions, and skits. How about the endless YouTube movie clips of silly cats, dogs, and laughing babies?

We laugh together, sometimes alone.
We laugh at others, and when we are at our best – at ourselves.

Anger and depression are relieved or even eliminated when we laugh because we cannot experience emotional distress and emotional uplift at the same time.

Laughter may also make us smarter. We get insights when our brain chemistry lights up and we are happy. Our focus changes, our awareness is sharpened, and what we didn’t understand yesterday is sometimes suddenly crystal clear.

But this is not only a laughing matter. Some serious movements exist in the world to spread laughter and the understanding of its true power.

Clowns without Borders – they work to create resilience through laughter for people in traumatic circumstances (http://www. clownswithoutborders.org/).

or

The Center for the Promotion of Laughter in Holland founded by Dhyan Sutorious, who teaches people in large groups to laugh intentionally, deeply, and regularly. Suturious suggests:

   Close your eyes and list your top 10 problems. Concentrate on it for a bit.  
   Just lay out your worst troubles. Participants start to relax their shoulders,
   and instructed to let their chins hang loose, their throat muscles relax.
   They start to smile a little, one at a time, and slowly laughs are formed
   and roar through the crowd.

or

World Laughter Day – a free event that started in India in 1998 and is now taking place in all the major capitals of the world on the first Sunday of May each year. From these events, Laughter Clubs have sprung up in many places (http://www.worldlaughterday. com).

Can you think of any good reason to not want to laugh more? 

We can laugh even when we are in a bad mood because it is an act we can will, that involves our muscles and our choice to want to laugh.

The best way to start laughing is to just laugh. There are no special secrets, no training program needed. We may have to learn to let go and to lighten up, but that starts with the decision to do so. It's easier to just laugh than to work on a decision or work on letting go because when you laugh, you no longer need to decide to or not, and you have already let go and relaxed.

How many things in life have such instant results as to immediately shift our perspective?

Laughter may be the ultimate life skill. It creates resilience, compassion, empathy, bonding, the ability to forgive, tolerance, and much more.

Go have some nonsense today. You can’t be silly and serious at the same time. Get carried away; give yourself permission to commit acts of silliness.
Allow some inner alchemy.

Look for humor in your life to start laughing a little more, maybe this way:

    Watch silly things in small daily doses. Old episodes of Marx Brothers or 
         Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks will do it for most people.
         Do I need to mention YouTube?

    Share embarrassing stories  

    Skip down the street

    Think of your of favorite problems and laugh

    Try to see your own dramas as the best script for a comedy

    Think of how hard it is to keep a frown on your face and laugh at the  
         ridiculousness of trying so hard

     Create your own laugh club with your friends

     Hang out with funny people

     Make laughter a routine. Why not assign a daily dose just like we do with  
     exercising, yoga, meditation, special coffees or reading the news?

“There ain’t much fun in medicine, but there’s a heck of a lot of medicine in fun.”
 Josh Billings, Famous 19th century humorist.

 
If you have any funny or silly ideas you want to share or ways to make yourself or others laugh,
consider sharing them below.