8 Ways to Induce Laughter in Your Life

Madhuparna Roy Sukul, TIR, 27 August 2014: Laughter they say is the best medicine for the overall well being of an individual. We have been hearing this saying since time immemorial and it still stands true in these times of stress and anxiety. We tend to get upset with small things, display rage openly or suffer from depression quite commonly in the recent times. Fortunately as humans, we are blessed with this reflex action which is otherwise absent in other creatures and demarcates us from an animal. Laughter is the chief ingredient of our happiness quotient, but with increasing tedious lifestyles we have almost forgotten to even smile.

As per the recent researches a child laughs 300 times a day but, an average adult only 17 times, proving that we lose that humor quotient gradually, as we grow up with rising responsibilities, commitments and other worries. However, inducing that much required humor factor with some laughter dose in your daily life helps boost immunity & energy, brings about healthy anatomical changes, reduce stress and heals pain. Above all it adds on to a fun dose in your daily life absolutely free of cost making even the most mundane day special.

1. Have Fun Company: You may have friends who are harrowed most of the times with their own issues in life and end up being grumpy and irritated; on the other hand some may be full of fun & life in spite of any hindrances. However, since the diplomat you are, you need to strike a balance between the two types of friends and find ways to spend more of your time with those who trigger your funny side. Both behaviors being contagious you need to be tactfully involved more in a fun company to add on to that humor factor.

2. Get Nostalgic About Happy Moments: Find an old school/college mate and spend some light moments by reminiscing those fun old memories rather than the ones that brought sadness. Remember how you would trouble that English teacher, bunk classes for movies of your favorite actor or any such activity that would bring about a shared moment of joy for both of you.

• 3. Daily comic relief : 
If you are a television freak, watch something that tickles your funny bones before going to bed than those crime files that may otherwise create a disturbed mind. Play your favorite show or a classic film that will lighten your day with some playful dialogues and funny undertones that will help you unwind at the end of the day. Like the ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil Sharma”, ‘Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma or that “Herapheri’ DVD can do that magic for you. You can even load your Smartphones with some fun videos, sound clips or forwarded ‘WhatsApp’ messages that can provide you that comic relief at intervals during a hectic day of work which will keep you going for the rest of the day.

4. Find fun with children : Children are small bundles of joy that can instantly give your otherwise pensive mood a lift with their innocent prattles and activities. So whether it’s your own kid or your brother’s or sister’s, get involved in their small world, play with them, have fun and laugh along with the same childlike attitude, and feel the difference with their breezy, candid and infectious approach to life.

• 5. Dig into your classic collections: 
Find time to relax with your favorite cartoon character or that comic book that can give you a laugh even today. We may have grown out adolescence and have different preferences with age, but spending some time with those classics occasionally like, a Chacha Chowdhury comic strip or that Tom & Jerry movie will not only brighten up your day with that innocent smile on your face but you may also wish if you were back to those golden days.

• 6. Learn to laugh at yourself : W
hether at work or at a casual do, engage in conversations with a playful undertone, however, remember that laughing at others may be easy but the happiest are the ones who can laugh at themselves. We all enjoy jokes thrown at others, but not many take it in a positive note when it comes to them, hence learn the art to find humor in yourself (drawing a line), have a laugh at your flaws (for example at your awful singing skills) and feel the difference.

• 7. Be a kid again : 
Behaving like a kid does not cost you any money and neither do you need to feel embarrassed since it eventually makes “you” happy, hence shrug that shyness off your shoulders and visit a zoo, amusement park or go to those fun zones in the malls and try your hands on those kiddie games. Not only does that let you share a laugh with others around and at your own childish behavior, but also sheds of that gloom from your life quite easily.

8. Explore something new:  When nothing seems to work and there is a lot of heaviness around, join a laughter class which experiments with yoga or meditation to induce that laughter dose in your daily life. Not only that the activity engages you in a joyful ride, but you also get to connect to a larger group with the same infectious happy energy.

As rightly said by Charles Dickens ‘There is nothing in this world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor’, let us create a world full of happiness by inducing that much needed laughter dose in our daily life.