How to Laugh about Anything

How to Laugh about Anything

If you cannot laugh, you are in trouble. Life is not fun for you. You take things too seriously and build stress.

If you cannot laugh, you set a negative example for others. People tend to dislike you. No one wants to help you get ahead.

If you cannot laugh, you may not sleep well. You need drugs or alcohol to feel good. You have health problems.

Fortunately, you can learn to laugh.

Benefits of Laughter

* Laughter strengthens the Immune System. According to Dr. Lee S. Berk from Loma Linda University, California, USA, laughter helps increase the count of white-blood cells and antibody levels.

* Laughter stimulates heart and blood circulation better than other aerobic exercises. Per Dr. William Fry of Stanford University, one minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine.

* Laughing provides a good massage to internal organs. It enhances blood supply and organ efficiency, especially with intestines. Experiments also show your blood-pressure decreases after 10 minutes of laughter.

* Laughter increases the levels of the pain killer endorphin. In Norman Cousins' book "Anatomy of an Illness," he explains how laughter relieved the intense pain of his spinal disease when no painkiller would help.

* Younger appearance. Laughter tones facial muscles and improves facial expressions. When you laugh, your face becomes red due to an increase in blood supply. Laughing people look more cheerful and attractive.

An average four-year-old laughs 400 times per day while "solid-citizen" adults average 15 laughs per day. Ideally, you laugh every five minutes (200 times per day).

A New Laughter Tip

Previous TipsForSuccess articles describe the Joy of Creating and the insanity of seriousness.

Another way to find joy and laughter in life is to make your problems 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 get laughs when they make things extra serious. Remember Saturday Night Live television shows where John Belushi would express his opinion with such force, 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 would scream with laugher.

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 ID please?"

You say, "Sure. Here's my driver's license and my credit card."

The bank teller clerk examines your cards without comment. She seems unhappy and very serious.

So you pull out more cards and say, "And here's my library card, BlockBuster video rental card, Star Trek Junior Cadet Club card and my Yo-Yo Association card. My name is on all of them."

The teller tries, but can't stop laughing.

A serious waitress brings your food and says, "Be careful. The plate is very hot."

So you grab the plate, jerk your hand back and say, "Oh Man! I burned myself!!"

The waitress realizes you are exaggerating and laughs.

More Ways to Make Things More Serious

If you are having a pity party, 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 devastated! I will never be happy ever!"

Do all you can to be a poor victim. Feel really sorry for yourself. Boost your feelings of self-pity to new levels.

Make yourself sob, even cry. Be as serious as possible until you feel ridiculous. If you aren't laughing, bawl as loud as you can, just like Lucy Ricardo on her television show, I Love Lucy.

Repeat each time you start to feel sorry for yourself.

If you feel serious and 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 or tie, stick out your tongue and pretend to hang yourself. Pretend the world has come to an end until you and the other person laugh. If you are a manager or parent, do this with serious employees and serious kids.

"Man, if sane, is a child of laughter." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce you to the technology of L. Ron Hubbard.

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