“Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” – Lord Byron
Humor has been shown to boost mood to make it through difficult moments and has even been successfully used at times in the long term to recover from debilitating illness. Humor can neutralize negative thoughts and emotions by focusing attention on funny, humorous and uplifting sides of life experiences.
Norman Cousins, author of the book Anatomy of an Illness, faced his difficult illness by learning all he could about his disease. He discovered a strong correlation between stress and his disease. He posed the following question.
“If negative emotions such as guilt, worry, and anxiety are thought to be related to, and perhaps even to promote, disease, is it possible for positive emotions to maintain health or even restore one’s health?”
He obtained copies of humorous movies and television shows, checked into a hotel room, and spent lots of time watching them. He concluded that “ten minutes of laughter allowed two hours of pain-free sleep.” After some time he went home and his disease had gone into remission.
Seek out humor in everyday life. A few ways to open ourselves up to more laughter includes reframing our perceptions, trying new creative hobbies, and establishing a humor library. Other ways to increase our sense of humor are to learn not to take life too seriously, to find one humorous thing a day, and to work on improving our imagination and creativity.
And now for your entertainment, a 1:37 minute cartoon, Cat Man Do…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q