Laughter is a universal language that everyone on earth, regardless of where they come from, can understand. Laughter is a gift to the human race, and something we are born with. Babies start smiling at only a few weeks old and laughing only after a few months, way before any syllables can come out of their mouths.
Do you remember how often you used to laugh when you were a child? When I was a kid I had bursts of what we call “crazy laugh” as the literal translation to the French expression goes, what is called giggles or belly laugh in English. Unfortunately, we tend to lose this ability to laugh hard as we get older. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that the average child laughs around a hundred and eighty times a day while the average adult laughs only a dozen times a day.
So, why is it so important that we laugh in our daily lives, and what can we do to make us laugh more?
The Physical Benefits of Laughter
Laughter has physical, psychological and emotional benefits and we should not take laugh lightly “so to speak”, but find ways to laugh on a regular basis. Why am I saying this? Well, let’s see what the benefits of laughter are, and why you should laugh every day.
As most of us know, but worth a recap, laughter releases natural chemicals in the body called endorphins. Endorphins promote a sense of well being. Laughter boosts the immune system, relieves stress, decrease body pain, improve blood flow and blood vessels functions and even improves weight loss. Laughter brings the mind and the body into balance and relaxes your muscles until much after your laughter is over.
Indeed, laughter is a natural medicine that won’t cost you a dime and that has no side effects, except those that you only wish for.
The Psychological and Emotional Benefits of Laughter
Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.
Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D.
Laughter has many emotional benefits. When you laugh your mind is in bliss. While you are laughing it’s impossible for you to be able to concentrate on anything negative. You can’t feel bad, sad, angry or anxious when you laugh. A simple way to describe it, laughter makes you feel good. As any student of the law of attraction knows, feeling good raise your vibrations and high vibrations bring more positive things into your life.
Laughter is also a relationship enhancer. It brings people closer to one another, it lessens judgmental behavior and improves forgiveness. There is absolutely no downside to laughter and it really helps you to be more in alignment with every positive psychological and emotional aspect of your life.
What Does Laughter Have to do With Prosperity?
As I mentioned above, laughter raises your vibrations and vibrations have everything to do with what you attract in your life. When your vibrations are low it’s usually the result of feeling bad, sad, depressed, doubtful, angry, anxious and all such negative feelings. When you are feeling negative emotions, your vibrations are low and you are bringing about results of the same vibrations which means that you are bringing negative results into your physical world.
Laughter, on the other hand, will annihilate all such negative vibrations and replace them with healthy vibrations that are looking to line-up with positive results. In the end, positive results will bring you closer to the prosperity you are after.
How Can you Increase your Opportunities to Laugh?
First thing you need to do to be able to laugh more is to surround yourself with fun people.
Life has enough drama so we don’t need to surround ourselves with people who have no sense of humor whatsoever and who take everything seriously. Laughing is contagious but, so is gloom. If you surround yourself with gloomy people it will most certainly affect you. On the other hand, if you surround yourself with people who like to laugh and who enjoy life, it will rub on you, and ultimately you will benefit from that.
I try to avoid gloomy and negative people by all means. The more I surround myself with happy people, the happier I am.
Laugh at Yourself
Too many people are taking themselves too seriously. Laughing at yourself is the best way to make it through the day, no matter what happens.
A few years ago, I was in a department store with my mother and aunt and my aunt and I needed to go to the bathroom. I guess we waited too long, and we really had to rush pretty fast to the restrooms. Because of this, by mistake, we entered the men’s rooms. There was nobody in there, so we just went each one into a stall without realizing that we entered the men’s rooms. As I came out I saw a man there. He really looked terrified and so did I. When I realized that we were in the men’s room I really panicked and was yelling at my aunt to get out of there like from a house on fire.
I felt so embarrassed for a moment. However, later, thinking about this made me laugh so hard, my stomach hurt. That guy’s face, when he saw a woman in the men’s room was a mixture of confusion, surprise, and disbelief. Then, I can still see my aunt and I running out of there like something very dangerous was pursuing us. Frankly, that was a funny situation. To this day, I can’t help but laugh when I think about this.
Do you laugh at yourself or do you take everything seriously? Life is not always fun and things that happen to us are not always laughable, but unless it’s really serious, do try to see the funny side of it. Keeping good spirits at all time is using the law of attraction to your own benefit. It works and it never fails.
So, when was the last time you laughed hard? Please, do tell… in the comment area below for the world to know and laugh with you!
First your story about the men’s bathroom made me laugh, then your video made me laugh, so I got my dose today 🙂 Thank you! I think it’s so important to remind ourselves to laugh and to really practice doing it. There is really no point in dwelling on negative feelings. They don’t help anyone, least of all yourself, and they don’t solve any problems. But taking a different perspective can.
I bet you can relate to this one: You know how sometimes you go to the grocery store and you stand there on line, and the person in front of you has about a million things, and the cashier rings it all up, and the person waits to get the total – and THEN they take out their wallet and start fishing out dollar bills and pennies. And then they don’t have enough money so they decide to write a check. But then they need ID so it takes them time to find it. And then they want cash back so they have to add it up all over again. And it goes on forever…. (kind of like this sentence!)
Ok, I know this happens to other people, too! It used to drive me absolutely nuts and one day I was standing there getting madder and madder and suddenly I thought… holy cow, this is so ridiculous! And I laughed about it and after than whenever it happened again, instead of getting mad I would make fun of the whole thing in my head and just laugh.
I know that’s a small, silly thing but every day there are a million annoyances and things that can go wrong. So if we take a moment to stop what we’re doing and choose to laugh about it instead, it can make all the world of difference!
PS: Cat videos make me laugh most 🙂
Carol Lynn invites you to read..The “Who” Matters: Defining Your Target Audience
Hi Carol,
You’re story made me laugh too, so this post is accomplishing its purpose. Yes, there are so many things that if we take too literally will make us angry and mad, but really, stepping back a little like you did, will do the opposite and make you laugh instead. Much better outcome with benefits.
I’m glad the cat video made you laugh. Cat videos are one of the funniest things 🙂
Thanks for your feedback, Carol 🙂
Great post, Sylviane! You have a lot of interesting information about the benefits of laughter. I also had no idea just how much more kids laugh than adults. (I figured it was more, but not that much more.) I think that you are so right about how important it is to have the ability to laugh at yourself and not take things too seriously. If you don’t, it is amazing how much things will pile up.
Steve Nicholas invites you to read..What if You Keep Living?
Hi Steve,
I love when I see someone new at me blog. Thank you so much for coming and taking the time to leave your insights.
Before I did some research and found this information about laughter, I didn’t know that kids laughed about hundred times more than adults do either, but at the same time I’m not surprised, because I remember that I laughed way, way more when I was a kid. Maybe that’s why Jesus said that “unless you become like a child, you can’t inherit the kingdom of God”.
Thanks for coming 🙂
Haha … Your video is really funny. especially when I saw the cat in action. Now I lost the feeling of stress, and my stomach hurt because most of laughing. Hopefully you keep updating videos like this.
win invites you to read..Garmin Forerunner 405 Cx
Hello Win!
Glad to see you here and I’m glad you enjoyed the video. There will be more videos in the future 🙂 Thanks for passing by.
Hey Sylviane,
Normally, laughter is not a problem for me. Of course right now I need to get that back but I will in time.
One thing I do have to say is that if that were true about the weight loss due to laughter, I would have always been thin and I never was. So I don’t necessarily believe that. Only because I’ve always been a very happy person and laughter is a BIG part of that. I think they threw that in for encouragement.
But I do love to laugh at funny pictures, videos and jokes. All the time so it really is good for you and will make you overall a much happier person.
Great post and tips on this wonderful subject.
~Adrienne
Adrienne invites you to read..Some Really Cool Stuff
Hi Adrienne,
What do you mean you’re not thin? You look pretty thin to me 🙂 I know that you are naturally a happy person, it’s just that sometimes it’s harder than others, believe me I’m with you on that one.
Laughter is definitely good for you, for everything, really, and we should laugh as much as we can.
Thanks for coming Adrienne.
Aloha Sylviane, what a sweet post and video. You are absolutely a blessing to know that laughing does heal the body and plus keeps your mind refreshed with good thoughts. I know I feel the same when I see too much negative input I am out of there and if I had a wand I would poof myself away from there and hopefully in a better happy environment. I’m glad I came by and thanks for sharing! Mahalo, Lani 🙂
Lanikee invites you to read..Modifiy Spam Comments To Increase Your Page Rank
Hello Lanikee,
Thank you for coming and nice meeting you. Always glad to see new faces.
Looks like you are from Hawaii, certainly a place that makes your joyful.
Thank you for coming by 🙂
Hi Sylviane,
Laughter is so good for us – and you’re right the proof is in the children. Children love to laugh and laugh a lot more than most adults! Life is just so much more fun and interesting for them. We tend to get stuck in the stresses or perceived negatives.
That’s one reason that I’m so glad to have my kids. They love to laugh and they get me laughing. Just hearing their laughter can make me laugh, I have recorded their laughter so that I can remember it for years to come. What a gift!
Stacy
Hi Stacy,
What a great idea to record your children’s laughter. A lot of people say that having kids help them stay young. Laughter is certainly something that kids can teach their parents “again” and it will help them stay young longer.
Thanks for coming, really appreciate it 🙂
We should all consider this as a reminder that even if we have bunch of problems, we still need to spend time smiling and laughing. There is a saying that laughter is actually the best and most healthy medicine.
Hi Liane,
I have hear that too, that laughter is one of the best medicine. No doubt it’s true since it was scientifically proven to be beneficial for our overall health.
Sylviane, aloha. Easy to answer when I last laughed because it was as I watched the cat video. Truly some great moments in that and I know I will return to watch it again.
Also, I have to confess, I laughed when I read the bathroom story because I can just imagine it and I can understand how it still causes you to laugh. As a matter of fact, as I type this thinking about your story, I am smiling.
Once we learn to laugh at ourselves, we start to come into being who we are and can be.
There’s a lot of truth to the statement “Laughter is the best medicine.” Along that same line, I like what Norman Cousins said:
“Laughter is like inner jogging.”
Doesn’t that make you smile just to read that and think about how that’s true?
Thanks for the reminder to laugh well and often, Sylviane.
Best wishes for a terrific weekend. Aloha. Janet
Hi Janet,
Since that bathroom story still makes me laugh after some 7- 8 years, I purposely put it there for every one to laugh with me or even at me 🙂 The video should do a good job as well, I watch it like 5 times by now 🙂
I think that “laugh being an inside jogging” is the perfect image. When we have a good belly laugh it hurts so bad 🙂 just like after a good run. Really well put.
I am so glad if this post could help you laugh a little more 🙂 Janet. Have a great week end!
Hi! Thanks for this post! Lately, I find that I’m actually quite happy but haven’t laughed so hard in a lonnng time! I was thinking that I miss laughing heavily at something till my eyes tear up and my stomach hurts. But sometimes when someone is telling me a ‘funny’ story, its like I over anticipate the punch line and end up producing a ‘polite’ laugh. I appreciate your tip, especially on how it brings good vibrations to and from you! Thanks again!
Hi Zena,
Thanks for coming here for the first time I think. I think that when we want to laugh we should really let go. It’s OK, to be polite, but do not try to refrain from a good laugh!
Have a great week end and thanks again for your feedbacks.
Oh this was right up my street Sylviane – there’s nothing I enjoy more than having a good belly laugh. If I haven’t had my dose during the day, then a good tickle fight with the children usually does it – especially as my son seems to have inherited my insane seizure when anyone tickles my neck – I love doing the same to him and it’s making me laugh just thinking about it.
Loved the video too – we are just about to collect our new puppy, so I will be sure to keep the camcorder handy!
Thanks for bringing a smile to my face with your blog post!
Nicky
Nicky invites you to read..Network Marketing Success Tips for Downline Retention
Hi Nicky,
I see that you are like me about tickles. I get completely paralyzed if someone tickles me. Children are indeed a great source of laughter and so are pets. Please, do share your puppy videos. I love pet’s videos.
Thank you for coming and have a great week end!
Loved the post!
I think without laughter in our lives, there would really be nothing, and even if it’s not a full-fledged laughter, a smile also lightens your heart and has the same benefits I think as a laugh has.
Speaking of myself, my laughter is real loud and infectious (whenever I really have a hearty laugh!) And more so, if I see some movie or videos like the one you put up, it can get me into splits of laughter any second. 🙂
I loved the benefits and things you shared about laughter too, and I think you live much longer if you laugh a little daily. I guess some people don’t have a reason to laugh at times, but then reasons can always be created and a smile costs nothing but gives much – isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing and a wonderful reminder to always keep smiling 🙂
Harleena Singh invites you to read..Why Does Love Hurt in a Relationship?
Hi Harleen,
Yes, laughter is contagious and I am sure that if I heard you laugh I would too 🙂 Sometimes I see things on You Tube or movies that make me laugh quite a bit, so I know what you mean. I love humor and funny stuff.
Thanks for coming by 🙂
Hello Sylviane,
“To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.” — Charlie Chaplin
Laughter truly is the best medicine! A person is never in pain when they are laughing! This is not a coincidence! Thank you for pointing out a power we all have, but seldom use as we get older!
Hi Akos,
Thanks for your coming and thank you for this beautiful quote by Charlie Chaplin who has always made me laugh like crazy.
Take care and come again 🙂
Great article. I think laughing is underrated. It is so important, I tell my clients daily and actually have a post about it scheduled for this month! You are giving me good ideas to incorporate! Thanks, Jodi Lobozzo Aman
Hi Jodi,
Welcome here and glad you like the post. Yes, laughing is such a great an natural health supplement. We need to laugh more.
When I was in high school my friends use to call me Sunny. Why? All I ever did was smile. I realized early on that putting a smile on your face calms people and makes them wonder why you are always so happy. I can’t say I was, but they never knew that. I always had friends around me and till this day, that is the one thing my friends remind me the most of.
Now laughing..that’s a beautiful thing. When you laugh, it just does something for your soul. When I am having a bad day and someone does something so funny that I get this giggle inside me where I can’t stop laughing. It’s like the breather your body needs to relax and mend. A miserable person never stays in a relationship long and believe me I have seen a few myself.
Not everyone can be happy or laugh all the time, but I attribute mine to my life. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. We have to take advantage of the time we have with our family and friends now. Enjoy each others company and continue creating beautiful memories.
Sonia invites you to read..Do You Trust Guest Posts For Your Blog?
Hi Sonia,
Even though I’ve only seen you in picture, I can well imagine that you always have a smiling face. People are, indeed, attracted by smiling and happy people.
When I was a child myself it’s like I had two lives. There were the two of me. One was very happy and the other was miserable. The happy one was at home with the ones she loved, the miserable one was at school because she was the victim of bullying for years.
I wish I had been then like I am now, much stronger and fearless, bullying would have never happened. But we can’t be the same when we’re twelve and when we’re 40 can we?
Thanks for your feedbacks, Sonia 🙂
I admit it, a day without a smile is a wasted one… Laughing increases our dopamine level and this way it makes us feel healthier and fitter. So, everybody, put that smile on your face!
Jane invites you to read..Natural Ways To Wind Up Dealing With Stress
Hi Jane,
That’s right, laughter is very good for you, and even a simple smile can affect your moral and your whole being.
Thanks for passing by.
This is definitely a post i can relate to. I love laughing and truly believe that laughing is the cure to just about anything. Thinking about it and as you mentioned as a child you do tend to laugh a lot more than adults do, which i think is sad. And well laughing at your self… I am soooo Guilty of that people can never understand how i can just laugh at myself. A very interesting post, Thank you.
Thanks for making me laugh!
Great story and video!