Laughter 101 by Ekekere Samuel Ufot - HTML preview

6

TAPPING FROM LAUGHTER’S BENEFITS

How do you tap from the enormous benefits of laughter? Its great knowing all the great things one could get from developing a laughing life. The other side is the conscious walk that it involves especially if you haven’t being enjoying these benefits.

Laughter has great health benefits, lifestyle benefits, even industrial effect. Laughter just may be the best medicine for both good health and optimal workplace performance, two studies show. One study found that watching funny films may improve your job performance if your work involves creativity and solving problems with more than one possible answer—and if you happen to be male. Allan Filipowicz, of INSEAD, showed students a short comedy tape—a clip of Bill Cosby or the movie Liar, Liar—or a neutral video, then had them build a Styrofoam bridge or tower that was as long and aesthetically pleasing as possible. Men who viewed the funny film did better than men who viewed the neutral one, but women who saw the comedy tape performed slightly worse than those who didn't. Unlike women, men became more alert after watching the comedy clips, sparking creativity.

Bruce Avolio, director of SUNY-Binghamton's Center for Leadership Studies, notes that telling jokes can boost leaders' skills, too, if their managerial style is transformational—meaning they urge workers to question norms—or if it's laissez-faire—that is, they leave workers alone. But his office surveys also show that humor hurts "contingent reward" leaders—those who ask workers to obey explicit instructions—since it distracts employees from following strict orders.

If laughter has these great benefits, how then can one manage to tap from this huge “in us” resource that has often being overlooked? Though it’s natural that we laugh as part of a normal lifestyle, most persons struggle to activate that laughing side of them.

You sure want to laugh and laugh for the rest of your life so as to benefit from the huge benefits that comes with this action.

How do you go about it?

Creating opportunities to laugh

• Look at funny movies or TV shows. These days there are a plethora of TV shows and comedy movies that you can spend your time to watch and laugh off.
• Go to a comedy club.  Comedy clubs are scattered all over your town, places where you could run to and spend your time laughing from comedians who ply their trade by making people laugh.
• Read the funny pages on news papers or journals. Newspapers often carry comics describing current trends in a satire way. You can always visit such pages. There are also web pages on the internet that are also sources of things to laugh about.
• Seek out funny people. There are always funny people everywhere who may not necessary take comedy as a professional but as a lifestyle. Being around such persons will keep you always lively with lots of things to laugh about. Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities– and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious. Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”
• Share a good joke or a funny story. You could also have great amusing experience to share. Everyone does. Share them with others and let others join in the laughter.
• Check out your bookstore’s humor section. There are lots of comedy books you can find in the nearest bookshop. Try your hands on them.
• Host a game night with friends. Hosting a game or attending one could be a great way to ease yourself off any burden or depression and this could keep you lively
• Play with a pet. Having pets around could be a great way to relieve you. Pets are fun to be around. Most of us have experienced the joy of playing with a furry friend, and pets are a rewarding way to bring more laughter and joy into your life. But did you know that having a pet is good for your mental and physical health? Studies show that pets can protect you depression, stress, and even heart disease.
• Go to a “laughter yoga” class.
• Goof around with children. Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing.
• Do something silly.
• Make time for fun activities (e.g. bowling, miniature golfing, karaoke).
• Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take yourself less seriously is to talk about times when you took yourself too seriously. Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them

Look for the humor in a bad situation, and uncover the irony and absurdity of life. This will help improve your mood and the mood of those around you. Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up.

Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.

Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds, but sharing laughter and play also adds joy, vitality, and resilience. And humor is a powerful and effective way to heal resentments, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times.

Always keep things in perspective. Many things in life are beyond your control—particularly the behavior of other people. While you might think taking the weight of the world on your shoulders is admirable, in the long run it’s unrealistic, unproductive, unhealthy, and even egotistical.

Deal with your stress. Stress is a major impediment to humor and laughter. Just laugh anyway and anyhow. You deserve it.