Laughter Helps
Posted On: October 9, 2020“Be BrainWise and Be Happy” is the topic of this month’s BrainWise newsletter. The article discussed the importance of using your Constellation of Support to improve the likelihood that you will love a long and happy life. Supporting these findings is additional research that identifies laughter to exit your Emotions Elevator. Researchers have found that laughter has been shown to reduce stress hormones and boost feel-good endorphins, helping us remain resilient in the face of problems and adverse events like COVID 19. Humor keeps negative emotions in check and allow us to see some of the bad things that happen to us as a challenge, rather than a threat. Add humor to the “do something else” activity to lower your Emotions Elevator. Here are some ways suggested by medical experts:
- Write down the most difficult and annoying things about the problem situation. Look at them and see if you can find any humor in your situation.
- When appropriate, use a touch of playfulness or kindly humor during a painful situation. When a widow at the funeral service distributed gift box of the deceased’s ashes to his friend, the surprised recipient joked that he never expected his friend to always be with him.
- Keep a “laughter first-aid box” that contains joke books, feel-good sayings, and other props that bring smiles.
BrainWise teaches that you may not have control over things that happen to you, but you do have control over how you react or respond to them. Stop and think about how you can use humor to lighten up your feelings and stay low or off your Emotions Elevator.
