Laugh more and stress less

How do those words sit with you?  Quite frankly, I like the sound of them. I tend to be a very serious person, so laughter is a powerful antidote for me.  It lightens my load and adds levity to my life.  When is the last time you really had a good, hard laugh?  It truly is the best medicine for all of us, and it requires no prescription.  But I must warn you—it most certainly has several side effects that you just might want to discuss with your doctor. 

You see—laughter releases stress, anxiety, worry, fear and probably most of all it adds joy to your mind, heart and body.  Wow!  What do you think?  Is it worth the investment?  When I am able to look at my life and the events in it with a smile and a laugh, I lighten my load and I actually feel better.  Laughter helps me cope with issues that occur and with situations that often filter through my daily life.  I have discovered that when I can take a serious situation and make light of it, it diffuses the emotional trauma associated with it and enable me to better deal with life.

Each one of us has the power within our consciousness to find pain and suffering in everything or we have the ability to lighten our load and dismantle the fuse that is about to ignite.  If you are able to smile at life, you automatically feel better about it.  Your body doesn’t feel quite so heavy and your head is allowing you to relax and shift gears as you begin to see things in a different way. 

If you can stop for a moment and listen to these words, you just might look at life differently. Our minds, bodies and soul are interconnected at a deep cellular level so when we have a negative thought that produces greater stress and anxiety, those reactions will cause an internal imbalance that can and will often lead to sickness and disease.  If, on the other hand, you attach a positive thought to your cells, you actually bring forth positive energy that improves your overall sense of wellbeing.

Like everything in life, when we feed the mind and body with positive thoughts, feelings and laughter, we are nurturing it and helping it heal. Research has proven that laughter therapy produces endorphins, which in turn helps the body’s immune system become more active as it works to fight infection.  There are great healing powers in laughter so I suggest that you make an effort to bring more laughter into your life today. “Laughter is an instant vacation.”-- Milton Berle

I, for one, can use an instant vacation; one where my overall health and wellbeing is brought into harmony and balance and at the same time where the price is right.   How about you?

Joan Marie Ambrose

Author, Creative Writer, Motivational Speaker