One of the best way to relieve stress is to smile and to laugh. Children laugh all the time, but something happens to us as we grow up. We aren’t laughing nearly as much as when we were children. As adults we are saddled with responsibilities and numerous challenges that occur on a daily basis. We work or go to school or are busy raising a family. Sometimes we are juggling all three at this same time. The point is that we aren’t looking for opportunities to see things or find the humor in common situations that occur throughout the day.
I tell you these things because we are living in desperate times and we need an outlet to relieve our stress. For some of you it might be exercise, meditation, or prayer, perhaps all three. These are excellent strategies and now you can add humor. But laughter is one of the quickest way to change your emotional state. Worry, doubt, anger, and fear are all negative emotions and they don’t do your body or your mind any good. You must rid yourself from this negative thinking as quickly as possible. Again laughter is the quickest way to get your body and mind into a positive state. Endorphins and other positive hormones are released that put you in a terrific positive state.
Norman Cousins who was a journalist and editor of The Saturday Review suffered from a terminal degenerative collagen disease. He concluded that if his negative emotional states created a chemical imbalance in his body perhaps an opposite positive emotion would reverse the chemical imbalance in his body. He concluded that humor is a very positive emotion that would help quickly to change his state.
He quickly discovered that laughter was the antidote to worry and fear and other negative emotions. He also found out that an hour or so of serious laughter allowed him to stop a morphine shot. He would watch various funny films that kept him laughing for at least an hour. He was one of the pioneers of laughter therapy used in many hospitals today. To make a long story short Norman Cousins added 20 more years to his life. He attributes laughter as significantly contributing to his successful longevity.
In these trying times with Covid still hanging over our heads we need to find natural outlets to relieve our stress. I encourage you to add some daily humor and laughter into your lives. You will feel better and it will give you a sense of well being. Until the next time. Laugh your heart out if you can, and you can. Godspeed, Carbie.
The One-Minute Prisoner 