You Can Laugh about Anything
If you do not laugh, you are in trouble. Life is not fun for you. You take things too seriously and build stress.
If you do not laugh, you set a negative example for others. People tend to dislike you. Not many people want to help you succeed.
If you do not laugh, you may not sleep well. You might need drugs or alcohol to feel normal. You have health problems.
Fortunately, everyone can laugh, under any circumstances. It truly may be the best medicine and essential to your success.
Health Benefits of Laughter
* Laughter strengthens the Immune System. According to Dr. Lee S. Berk from Loma Linda University, California, USA, laughter improves the quality of your blood.
* Laughter stimulates your circulation. Per Dr. William Fry of Stanford University, one minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine.
* Laughing massages your internal organs. It enhances your organ efficiency, especially with intestines. Experiments also show your blood pressure decreases after 10 minutes of laughter.
* Laughter increases the levels of the natural painkiller called endorphin. In Norman Cousins’ book “Anatomy of an Illness,” he explains how laughter relieved the intense pain of his spinal disease when no other painkiller would help him.
* Younger appearance. Laughter exercises your facial muscles. When you laugh, your face becomes brighter because your blood supply increases. You look more attractive.
How to Laugh
An effective method to generate some laughter is to make your problems seem MORE serious!
“The mechanism* is to make it more and more and more serious until it becomes utterly and completely ridiculous and the person will explode the whole thing off in laughter.” — L. Ron Hubbard (*mechanism: system or process)
You exaggerate your troubles or expand your complaints to such hilarious levels that you and others end up laughing.
Comics use this method all the time. For example, Saturday Night Live has its actors make serious issues seem much more serious, like where John Belushi would get so upset that he would turn red, scream with anger and flop back and forth until he fell off his chair. He was so overly serious, the audience loved it.
You can use the same method to make serious people start laughing.
For example, you go into a bank to cash a check. The bank teller looks at you suspiciously and says, “May I see two forms of identification please?”
You say, “Sure. Here’s my driver’s license and a credit card.”
The bank teller clerk examines your cards without comment. She seems unhappy.
So you pull out more cards and say, “And here’s my Star Trek Fan Club card, my Starbucks Card and my library card.”
The teller tries to stay serious but has to laugh. She cashes your check.
As another example, a serious waitress brings your food and says, “Be careful. The plate is very hot.”
So you pretend to touch the plate, jerk your hand back and yell, “OUCH!”
The waitress is startled and says, “I TOLD YOU…” then realizes you are exaggerating and laughs.
How to Make Personal Problems So Serious That You Laugh
If you are feeling sorry for yourself, make it more serious. Write or say to yourself, “Oh, oh, oh! Woe is me! I suffer so much. POOR MEEEE!!! My life is a complete mess! I’m a victim! I will never be happy ever!”
If you don’t start laughing, make yourself sob, even cry. Be as serious as possible until you feel ridiculous. If you aren’t laughing, bawl as loudly as you can.
If you feel depressed, act it out. Make your frown as ugly as possible. Curl up on your bed and act more depressed than ever.
When you feel afraid of something, exaggerate that fear. Make your body tremble and look terrified! Scream, wave your hands and hide in a closet.
If you feel stressed, act EXTREMELY stressed out. Pretend to have a heart attack. Fall on the floor. Give an Academy Award performance.
If someone gives you some alarming news, grab your collar and pretend to hang yourself. Pretend the world has come to an end until you both laugh. If you are a manager or parent, do this with serious employees and serious kids to get them to lighten up.
“Man, if sane, is a child of laughter.” — L. Ron Hubbard
Try it!