We don’t all laugh at the same stuff. I love Father Ted, but my Mum thinks it’s DREADFUL! But there are some things we can all do to make our lives a little lighter.
- Hang out with kids and kittens. Research shows pets and small people will help us ‘turn that frown upside down’.
- When life give you lemons, make lemonade. Give yourself the challenge of not criticising, complaining or gossiping for 21 days (apparently we whinge between 15-30 times per day – I may be an over achiever in this category…).
- Go check out some comedy. Lazy Susan’s comedy den at the Brisbane Hotel has plenty on offer. You can even give it a go if you like…
- Watch a funny movie. The funniest move of all time according to Time Out magazine is, (drum roll please) This is Spinal Tap. Check out the top 100 here. I’m a little afraid to reveal my favourite comedy movie because it’s sooo low brow.
- Tell a joke. This year’s funniest joke at Edinburgh Fringe Festival was told by Darren Walsh.
“I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans-free.” Check out the others here.
Laughter Yoga
If none of the above suggestions ‘float your boat’, what about laughter yoga? This is a practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter.
Laughter yoga is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter. Laughter yoga is done in groups, with eye contact and playfulness between participants. Forced laughter soon turns into real and contagious laughter. I’ve tried it and it works a treat.
With Xmas on the horizon, it’s important to keep our humour in the face of often increased stresses.
Next month: “Tips on surviving the festive season”.
Until then I’ll leave you with this. I asked my yoga teacher: “Can you teach me to touch my toes?” She said: “How flexible are you?” I said: “I can’t make Tuesdays.”