When was the last time you laughed really hard; a good belly laugh? Do you remember how it made you feel? What changed for you as a result of the laughter? Did you feel better? Did life seem lighter and a bit less serious?
As far as I’m concerned there’s very little that can bring life into perspective as quickly as laughter. It really is quite magical in its ability to dissolve worry, anxiety, resignation and sadness. I love that humour is a great leveller. It has the ability to cross human boundaries and create a sense of unity, a shared good feeling and a sense of lightness. People from all walks of life can laugh at things that are silly, incongruous, and ridiculous. Best of all, we know we are really “growing up’ at an emotional level when we can laugh at ourselves…a lot.
My question for you is this…as we’re surrounded by technology bringing us news from all over the world, as we’re constantly bombarded by the negative, do we laugh less? Have we become heavier and weighed down? Are we saturated with trying to keep up in a world that moves so quickly and leaves us frequently feeling a little left behind and a little overwhelmed?
Well, if that could possibly be the case them I’m going to start laughing more. And what am I going to start laughing at, you might ask? Well, myself, of course. I’m going to laugh when I take myself too seriously, when I lose perspective and when I lose the plot! I’m going to laugh at myself when I worry about anything (because it’s pointless, right?) and I’m going to laugh at myself when I can’t find anything to laugh about!
And you know what? If I do that, according to a study in Psychological Science reported last month in the New Zealand Herald, I might just make my smile broader and my laugh lines deeper, causing me to LIVE LONGER. Researchers studied 230 photographs of US major league baseball players who started playing before 1950 and grouped them according to their smiles. As of 1 June last year, those in the no-smile category lived for an average of 72.9 years, those with partial smiles (only muscles around the mouth involved) died at 75 and those with full smiles (mouth and eyes smiling and cheeks raised) lived to almost 80.
So there’s a good laugh in itself. Deep laugh lines around the eyes are an indicator of emotional well-being and those who have them may well live longer! Let’s banish that Botox from our thoughts, celebrate our crows’ feet and keep on laughing
