We all could use a little more laughter in our lives.
Unfortunately, we live in an angry world. Many people have short fuses which often escalate into an unusually high amount of violence over what I consider to be extremely small things. Our always connected world provides information at a rapid pace, which means we see, read, and hear about these situations every single day.
At a conference I attended, a young girl shared her story about the 100+ seizures she experienced on a daily basis. She explained that brain surgery, in which a large portion of her left brain was removed, was the only solution to her problem. Sounds bad, right? You would never know it by listening to her. All this little girl did was laugh and crack jokes. During her talk, she said: “I’m always in my right mind. It’s all I have. I can never be wrong.”
Laughter and humor changed her attitude—they are both very therapeutic. She became a member of a group called The Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor that taught her the value of laughter.
Research reinforces it:
- Children laugh more than adults—300 times a day vs. 15
- Both laughter and humor reduces stress and elevates our mood
- Humor increases our energy
- Laughter increases oxygen flow which aids in healing
- Humor improves communication, which breaks down walls
“When you laugh, your mind, body, and spirit change.” —Mark Twain
Our world needs more humor and laughter. Make a commitment to laugh more—it has many benefits!
Have a great weekend.
—Vijay
About Friday Food for Thought (FFfT)
I frequently attend conferences and retreats on entrepreneurship and leadership and while I am away, the J2 team picks up the slack, allowing me to learn to be better at what I do. I wanted to share what I was learning with my team, so I created the weekly FFfT emails in November of 2015 and have been writing them ever since.
Before long, the J2 staff began sharing the FFfT emails with their friends and family and now other leaders have asked to be included, which led to the creation of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy!