Laugh As Much As You Can
I’ve always been someone who laughs a lot. It’s not that I force myself, it’s just that I have been brought up this way by my parents. My parents always loved to make fun of one other lightly and my father, for the longest time, has been making the stupidest dad jokes and word plays.
This grew on me and despite the fact that stupid jokes are usually looked down upon, I have kept on doing them. To this day, my favorite joke is the below foolish one:
“It’s a guy who comes into a bar and says: ‘Hey! It’s me!’ Everybody turns around… and it wasn’t him.”
Now, the reaction to this one is usually either a puzzled face due to a lack of understanding or a nice laugh. No matter the reaction, this always makes me laughs and be proud of myself for saying it.
Just thinking about it right now made me smile quite a bit. While simple, it just is funny to me so I enjoy it.
Whenever you recall a pleasant experience or day, what comes to mind? I suppose there are many times when you will recall times when you were laughing or smiling, whether in group talking with friends or simply watching a funny video or TV show.
The reason for this is because our body feel the need to appreciate the moment. Without our knowledge, the brain reacts to our laugh automatically and saves this feeling into our body for some time after the laugh.
This is due to the creation of dopamine within our body when we laugh. Smiling works a similar way but has a less remaining impact on our body.
Dopamine, also called “the laughing hormone”, is a neurotransmitter that acts on our brain and body. I am not an expert in the matter but from what I have read, it appears that it affects memory and thus your learning processes. This is why it is easy to remember experiences when we were having fun.
Furthermore, dopamine is connected to the reward center of the brain. For this reason, if activated, our brain feels motivated to remember things.
Due to the above effects, if also creates what is sometimes called “molecules of happiness”, thus bringing our mood all the more up.
As a result, while laughing itself doesn’t feel like something crucial to our lives, it actually brings a lot of rewards to ourselves.
So, try to laugh!
There’s a reason why “laughing therapies” have been created in the recent years. Research has proved the benefits of laughing so it would be a shame not to take advantage of such an effective, pleasant, action.
Even alone, why not find a few stand-up comedians that you like or watch comedies? I have been in love with the TV Show “How I met your Mother” for years and whenever I feel down, I just watch a few episodes to bring myself back to a happy place.
This way, you will find happiness again and your motivation to keep this pleasant mood will only grow further and further.
Just don’t end up in a Netflix spiral from which you won’t get out of course ;)
