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If we bring more laughter into our lives will it make our lives better?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Laughter is the best medicine haven’t we all been taught that and yet do we laugh enough? Do we see the humor in the situation? Sometimes I think we are in a bit of a mirthless time as people who see the funny in situations that aren’t really funny are called out as not being politically correct enough.

But, isn’t empathy and seeing the humor from the victim’s point of view two ways of looking at the same thing? When we choose to laugh instead of cry over whatever has happened isn’t that better? Gallows humor might not be politically correct, but when we can’t laugh about horrendous situations they will bring us further down than if we can find the humor in what really isn’t a laughing matter, but laughter may be the best way to get through it.

Don’t we love to spend time with people who make us laugh? Are we someone that makes someone’s day with a laugh or are we bringing them down with the dark and dreary news and wringing as much angst and fear out of life that is possible?

Laughter connects you with people. It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’ve just howled with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy. John Cleese

We aren’t getting out of this life alive, whether we look on the bright side or the dark side. There is a lot of laughter in our house right now because the antics of a fourteen-month-old give us a lot to laugh about. When did we lose this natural enjoyment in life? Have we quit giggling with joy? Have we quit seeing the funny side of life because we fear we might offend someone?

If we can’t greet negativity with playful optimism and if we can’t find the funny in a situation it makes sense we will feel worse. Laughter may be one of our greatest self-help tools, the problem might be when we most need a laugh is when we find life the hardest.

When we are in a group of strangers if we all laugh at a joke the ice is broken. A good sense of humor will help us get along in life. One of the reasons we enjoy time with friends is we spend so much time laughing.

Can I bring more humor into my life? A long humorous life will be more enjoyable than one where we always look for the sad, unfair, and injustice in life. What if looking on the funny side of life could put things into perspective for us? What if for life to change we have to change, one of the best ways to change might be to look at our life with gratitude and see the humor in the big and little things in life.

Do we have enough humor in our life? How can we smile more, laugh more, and enjoy life more?

Your body cannot heal without play. Your mind cannot heal without laughter. Your soul cannot heal without joy. Catherine Rippenger Fenwick

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine. Lord Byron

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. Victor Hugo

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Posted on by BWThomas

Laughter is the best medicine. Bringing more laughter into our lives, looking on the funny side of life.

Bringing more laughter into our lives, looking on the funny side. Laughter is the best medicine.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Laughter is an instant vacation. Milton Berle

Last evening we had our second module for the course I am taking. What a fun group to be part of. We are an amalgamation of people from different groups in Mississauga. Our guest facilitator was Anto Chan a performance artist and comedienne. If I get a chance to catch one of his shows I’ll take it. Two of the funniest women I’ve met in a long time stayed back after the course, they work together and must play off each other all day. They both have self-deprecating humor and Anto offered them a chance at performing stand-up. They are that good.

I tried stand-up one night. In Toastmasters a woman was putting on a comedy show at a local bar. She was looking for Toastmasters to step up and I took the challenge. I got compliments on my material which was observations about life, men, and women, but I hardly got a laugh. Humor is not easy but some people are naturals at it.

Listening to the two of them made me think I need more humor in my life. I’m not sure how it will go over if I start making jokes about some of the serious stuff in life. There are things I can’t change and instead of letting them get me down maybe a good laugh would be better. My husband will be looking at me wondering what got into you. Maybe I’ll get a smile or even a laugh and won’t that be better for both of us.

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. Victor Hugo

One of the questions we were asked is what metaphor would we use for ourselves when we are at our best, challenged, and at our worst. When I look at my notes I think we were to try and make it funny. I missed that. Here is what I came up with.

When I am at my best, I am like a tree with deep roots and large branches giving my gifts to the world. When I am at my most challenged I am like a desert, dry, hard, and unyielding waiting for the rain to soften me and bring forth flowers.

I could have tried to come up with something funny, but I didn’t because funny isn’t my go-to. Could it become my go-to? Would that be irritating to those I live with as they feel I am making light of what they face? One of the goals I set last night is to listen with an open and reflective heart. I sometimes think people think I belittle what they feel like they should get over it, and move on. I’ll have to be careful with the humor as feeling laughed at isn’t better.

If I can bring self-deprecating humor into the situation will that be the balm that makes things better? They say when the student is ready the teacher appears. I expect to get a lot out of this course because we are learning about each other’s stories and everyone has a story to tell. When we find our voice we find ourselves. This course is all about finding our voice, telling our stories, and connecting with others.

Is laughter the best medicine? Do we have enough of it in our lives?

Laughter is the sound of the soul dancing. Jarod Kintz

A day without laughter is a day wasted. Charlie Chaplin

When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am tempted to ask, “Compared to what?” Sydney Harris

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Finding the funny in life. Looking on the funny side may get us through the tough parts of life.

Looking on the funny side may get us through the tough parts of life. Finding the funny in life.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

What soap is to the body laughter is to the soul. Yiddish Proverb

I’ve visited three Toastmaster clubs in two days as part of my duties as Area Director, I’ve laughed hard at each of them. Tonight is my home clubs contest and I expect more great laughs.

We are told humor is the best medicine. If we laugh the world laughs with us if we cry, we cry alone, doesn’t this seem to be true? Laughter is infectious and there is nothing like a good laugh to make us feel better.

When I got home I watched some British clips on YouTube with my husband that had us doubled over laughing. They are called “Loose Women” and if you want a good laugh, look for them.

People who are able to get their message across to us effectively often use humor. The more comfortable we become the more our natural humor surfaces. The more we want to impress the stiffer we seem to be.

Laughter is said to improve our immune system, and in this season of colds and flues may be just what we need. Laughter also blocks pain. It definitely helps us deal with difficult situations, and when we are in a tense situation if we can laugh everything seems easier.

Every time you are able to find some humor in a difficult situation you win. Unknown

We may not get someone else’s sense of humor. Sometimes my husband and daughter are almost writhing on the floor in laughter and I hardly see what is funny. She says the same thing happens at her work where she is the one with the wry smile on her face and everyone else is killing themselves laughing. Other times we all get each other’s humor.

Not taking ourselves too seriously is another way of telling ourselves to find the humor in situations. It is great if we can laugh at ourselves but is bad form when we laugh at the expense of others.

We can find funny stories, jokes, shows, and talks to bring humor into our life. We can make an effort to bring more humor into our lives. Do we look at the bright side of things? Often there is humor in the worst life has to offer us. Finding humor is a way to get through the dark times. Sharing a laugh with someone brings us closer.

Have you had a good laugh today? Are you finding the funny in life?

Laughter will always be the best medicine, silence will always be the best revenge, and love will always be all you need. Unknown

Laughter is an instant vacation. Milton Berle

Always find a reason to laugh. It may not add years to your life but will surely add life to your years. Unknown

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Laughter Totally is the Best Medicine Paperback – Oct 16 2018

by Reader’s Digest (Editor) 4.0 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

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Stand-up comedy. Take the opportunities that present themselves. Confidence grows when we accept the call to adventure.

Confidence grows when we accept the call to adventure. Stand-up comedy. Take the opportunities that present themselves.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Everyone needs a friend that will call and say, “Get dressed, we’re going on an adventure. Unknown

We can take a chance and grow or we can hang back. That’s our choice in life. Last night was comedy night, and I did my first attempt at stand-up comedy in a bar. It was a friendly Toastmaster event, it wasn’t that big of a leap, but it was a leap.

Comedy is hard, some people are naturally funny, and I’m not one of them. My strengths, I’m told is I’m insightful and inspiring, implied with that is, I’m not funny. The people who can get up there and talk without being too scripted I envy. If one gets up on stage often enough a stage presence gets developed. A lot of it is practice, practice, practice. It was a fun night, and if laughter is the best medicine we laughed a lot.

Our crowd was smaller than it would have been if the Raptors weren’t playing their sixth game against the Golden State Warriors. The woman who put on the events parents were in the audience, her father had his phone on so he could keep track of the score. We were losing when I left the event but by the time I got home, we were up by one point, for about a minute.

I couldn’t stay awake and went to bed. My family might have been relieved to see me go as I didn’t stay up for most of the games, and staying up for game five they might have thought I jinxed it. That any of us have that kind of power is ridiculous? It seems silly we think we might affect something we have no control over, but we don’t think we have that kind of power in our own lives.

When we get the chance to dance, we should dance. We never know when new opportunities will come our way. We grow when we grab onto the ones that do, we stagnate if we don’t look for new ones.

That is will never come again is what makes life so sweet. Emily Dickinson

Once we’ve tried to write a comedy routine, we’ll never look at a comic quite the same way again. There is the material which might be great, the delivery which might be great, great delivery, or great material. It really works when the delivery and the material resonates with the audience.

A drink was included in the evening. My drink ticket was left on the table; I drank lemon and water. This morning my daughter and husband said I should have had the drink, “It would have loosened you up.” I don’t want to be that kind of speaker, performer, comic, the one who needs a few drinks. What if I had that drink and put on the best performance of my life. Would I always be trying to recreate that? Could it become a problem? One drink worked once, but then you try two, and then three, and then… Am I worried about a slippery slope I don’t need to? Then, of course, there is driving home. I’m always comfortable if I can truthfully say, “Officer, I had nothing to drink.”

If the opportunity presents itself I would do a standup routine again. Will I seek one out, probably not? If you receive a call to adventure will you take it?

Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken. Frank Herbert

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The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom–The Comedy Writer’s Ultimate “How To” Guide Paperback – Sep 5 2001

by Judy Carter (Author) 4.2 out of 5 stars 34 customer reviews#1 Best Sellerin Theatre

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Fun and frivolity, laughter and karaoke. Do we have enough fun?

Do we have enough fun? Fun and frivolity, laughter and karaoke.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing your life can be. Maya Angelou

Last night we went to Karaoke and potluck night at a Toastmaster buddies house. Her husband is a musician/singer and most of us are not singers, karaoke or otherwise.

“I’m not singing, are you singing,” we all asked? No one was going to sing and yet we had a great time laughing and singing. Most of us got up and did our rendition of something. The music and the words on the laptop were not always in sync. Sometimes singing was in the song we thought was instrumental. We laughed our way through songs, we were good sports, we got up as groups and sang loudly, and exuberantly.

If we were all practiced karaoke people we might have been put off by the music and words not being quite in sync, or someone singing in what we thought was an instrumental version. We might have taken our performance too seriously; we might have let trying to be perfect interfere with having fun.

The karaoke part of the evening turned out much better than I expected. We were better sports than I thought we’d be. We got out of our comfort zone, we had fun. So much of our entertainment these days is watching someone else, play a sport, sing a song, dance, act, etc. We forget how much fun it is to participate and create our own fun.

Being part of a group means we can participate in fun activities, we can be light-hearted, we can play, we can get out of our comfort zone, and we can laugh.

Laughter is the best medicine. Karaoke is available to all of us who have access to YouTube and a laptop.

Game nights are ways to get people together to have fun being participants instead of viewers. Another Toastmasters group is putting on a comedy night at a local bar. The organizer would like four members of our Toastmasters group to step up and perform.  I’ve never done comedy, this may be an opportunity. When an opportunity presents itself, do we grab it, or do we spend the rest of our life thinking we wish we’d done that?

Stop dreaming about your bucket list and start living it. Annette White

It won’t change our life. We are unlikely to be discovered as the next singer or comedian if we step up, but we can say we did it. We got out of our comfort zone; we took a walk on the wilder side.  We had fun; if no one is willing to participate it is hard to put on events. If we participate when someone else puts something on and they participate when we do, events go well, everyone has fun, and people are willing to host, plan, and put on events.

Are our lives about wringing as much fun as we can out of our life? When we show up with our party face on, ready to participate and have fun we are doing our part.

Are we having as much fun as we can? Do we laugh enough, with others, and at our selves, or do we take ourselves too seriously? Do we only want to participate when we can shine, and be the star? If we want more fun in our lives, we have to get out and participate. Sometimes we have to be the catalyst for the fun, and sometimes we have to join in.

When we sit back in the corner, sometimes the party is over before we get up the courage to take our turn. All of a sudden everyone puts their coats on and the party is over. We missed our chance to bring more fun into our life, step out of our comfort zone, grow, be silly, or do something we secretly long to do. We never know when we’ll get another opportunity. If we grab hold of every opportunity when it presents itself, don’t we live a life with fewer regrets?

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are moments when we touch one another. Jack Kornfield

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Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and LeadPaperback – Apr 7 2015

by Brené Brown (Author) 4.7 out of 5 stars 184 customer reviewsAmazon Charts#6 this week

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Choose to bring more laughter, fun, frivolity and humor into our lives. See the funny side.

See the funny side. Choose to bring more laughter, fun, frivolity, and humor into our lives.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing. Michael Pritchard

Last night at Toastmasters our theme was humor. Everything was geared to humor. It was a light-hearted, funny evening.

A few people throughout the evening noted that some people have a humorous side and some of us don’t seem to. We see the more serious side of life. We were born to laugh, look at a baby and see how often they laugh. What happened to all that laughter we had as children?

Do some of us have a humorous disposition? What do the rest of us have, a miserable one? Is it possible to develop a humorous disposition? One of the best things in life is shared laughter. We look forward to seeing certain people because they always make us laugh. Is there anyone that looks forward to seeing us because we make them laugh?

Researchers have discovered that people who hold a pencil between their teeth in an artificial smile found funny videos funnier. If we did it in front of other people they would laugh and then we would laugh. It is like the anti-negativity rock I picked up, one for mom and one for me. As my sister says whose boss gave her one, every time I rub the anti-negativity rock all over myself, it makes me laugh; the laughing is probably what produces the anti-negativity.

We can have a joke a day sent to our inbox, or we can browse Facebook or YouTube for funny videos. There is always a laugh on Facebook and bless the people who look for the funnies and post them.

There is humor all around us. If we look for it we will find it, if we want to be serious, dour, and miserable that is our choice. If we want more laughter in our life we can even try fake laughter, which if we try it, often turns into real laughter.

A good laugh is sunshine in the house. William Thackeray

If we want more laughter in our life we are told to surround our self with funny people. This is great advice but not everyone has access to a new group to socialize with. It may be easier and better to figure out how to bring more humor into our life than look for other people to bring humor into our life. We need to bloom where we are planted. It may be hard to bring more mirth into a very serious, uptight family.

It doesn’t mean it is impossible. We may even think certain groups are not where funny happens. Toastmasters are a group that a lot of people think is staid, serious, not for me, until they come out to one of our club meetings. We have guests all the time who seem surprised they enjoyed themselves. They didn’t know what to expect but it wasn’t a fun evening of laughter.

Joining groups is good for our health, and one of the reasons joining groups is good for our health is probably because in groups we laugh, joke, and look on the lighter side of life.

If we look at life as serious business, we might find it hard to see the funny in our life. One of the things my husband says to me is, “I love to see you laugh.” We need to laugh, when we can laugh together we see the funny side when we don’t laugh little things can become irritants.

We hear from people who have lost spouses that they miss the little things. They miss the shared laughter, fights, and rituals. Don’t we love to hear a joke and share it with our partner? Don’t let the funny moments in our lives pass without laughing and sharing, we don’t know how long we will have to laugh, let’s make the most of it.

Laughter is like the oil that makes our lives run smoothly if we can see the humor it can take the sting out of anger.  We naturally turn our anger, frustration, annoyance, and irritation into laughter, eventually. Some of our funniest stories are about things that happened to us that weren’t funny at the time, but through the virtue of time and distance, we can see the funny in them.

The problem is eventually is too long to wait. How can we speed up the process? We find it easier to laugh at other people’s mistakes quicker than we laugh at our own. If we can remove ourselves from the story maybe we can see the funny quicker. After all, we’d be rolling on the floor if it happened to someone else. It’s our choice to see the funny side of life, or not.

A well-balanced person is one that finds both sides of an issue laughable. Herbert Procknow

As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it. Lao Tsu

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, laughter, and love.

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Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic Paperback – Sep 13 2005

by Henri Bergson (Author), Cloudesley Brereton (Translator), Fred Rothwell (Translator)