Engaged, Empowered and Entertained: Laughter in Wellness Sandy Queen 5439 Vantage Point Road Columbia, Maryland 21044 sjqueen@verizon.net One of our greatest resources in the wellness pursuit, is the power of humor. Whether we are teaching, working, or living a sense of humor is one of our greatest assets. Humor is an invitation to mental, emotional and physical exercise. How s Your SENSE of Humor? As a person who earns her living largely being a humorist, I ve found myself at a party or with a radio interviewer who, without warning, orders: OK, you re a humorist. Be funny. At that moment, my mind goes completely blank and I can t remember even the weakest joke. Why? For one thing, humor arises out of situations or out of connections between people and the situations in which they find themselves. So being brilliantly humorous on command, without a sense of context, is almost impossible. There needs to be a SENSE of connection between the reality and the absurdity of life., There will always be deadlines, budgets, traffic jams, difficult people, and rainy days. Your sense of humor does not depend on avoiding these annoyances, but on how much of their relative unimportance you allow to affect your wellbeing. a sense of humor guards us from taking everything that comes down the pike too seriously. Living with joy is not an option. It is the only healthy choice we have and true joy depends on possessing the ability to see the absurdities in everyday life. According to Mr. Webster, the (second) definition of sense is as follows: ability to estimate, judge, appreciate, or understand, i.e., a sense of humor. So, how do we develop the ability to estimate, judge, appreciate, and understand humor and, more to the point, what IS a sense of humor? Remember that what one considers fun and funny depends a great deal on who is defining those terms. To Bill Gates, writing computer programs that drive most of us nuts, is fun. All we are is the result of how we think. There is no meaning to life except the meaning we give to it and finding the humor in our lives keeps the meaning alive.even in the serious stuff! A friend of mine had to deal with the deaths of several friends in a very short period of time recently. Always the one to put a humorous spin on even the most serious conditions, she emailed me with the question: Why do I feel like I have the undertaker on speed dial? If we can find a sense of the absurd in the negatives in life, then later, when we are put on hold for the
umpteenth time, a little light may start flashing at the back of our minds that may give us the ability to estimate, or judge a different, more productive behavior. Mental health is the ability to keep things in perspective. And what is a sense of humor but a sense of perspective? We all know that a problem that seems to be threatening to overwhelm us can be reduced to its right proportions by the injection of humor. We begin to overcome problems at the moment we make sense of the problem in a lighter framework. It crates a distance between ourselves and the problem. The question is them, fan we become more intentional about developing a sense of humor, or must we always wait for the funny story, the joke, the stand up comic? Some things to consider as you assess your sense of humor: Be aware that the first step in finding humor in any situation is realizing that it is usually missing; Build humor into your environment. Surround yourself with reminders to Lighten Up cartoons, great refrigerator magnets, or Garfield as your bathroom reading; Take the time/make the time to laugh, Even in the most serious times, turn up the corners of your mouth and see what happens: changes your perspective almost immediately, doesn t it? Laugh at yourself Give yourself time. As Carol Burnett once said: Tragedy plus time equals comedy, If I had no sense of humor, I should long ago have committed suicide Mahatma Gandhi Humor is an invitation to mental emotional and physical involvement There are hundreds of activities to invoke laughter and imagination---i.e. fun with a purpose not just playing a game to play a game What do we want to happen? Increase person s willingness to become involved Why Humor? 1. Joy of anticipation/participation/reflection 2. Environment teaching more fun a. participants will enjoy learning b. if enjoy will provide motivation for learning 3 Benevolent binding Leader will come across as human if you can laugh with participants
4. Humor decreases discipline problems 5. Laughter, especially when directed at ourselves, imparts a sense of control, puts distance between us and our pain, gives us perspective and relieves tension. 6. Reduces levels of stress hormones 7. Perks up the immune system 8. Relaxes muscles, clears the respiratory tract 9. Increases circulation 10. Eases perceived pain 11. Increases listening 12. Decreases need to be perfect 13. Increases retention by freeing attention 14. Increases comfort level and energy 15. Promotes positive attitude 16. Enable recharge 17. Add laughter and excitement 18. Makes it easier to hear feedback and new information 19. Gives us perspective on problems 20. Helps us get away from situation to see things in perspective 21. Can be used directly to teach the basics 22. Gives people permission to poke fun at authority and deal with GRIPES of Wrath 17. Decreases need to be perfect because teaches them to laugh at their own imperfections 18. Increases comfort level 19. Raises attention to raise retention 20. Increases self confidence and empathy 21. In helping them develop sense of humor we are helping them develop the ability to deal with problems and challenges 22. Creates positive attitude on part of teacher and student 23. Increases achievement 24. Increases productivity 25. Easier to hear feedback and new information 26. Gives problems new perspective 27. Feel good endorphins flow, blood pressure settles down to below norm and increased oxygen revs up creativity In short, laughter both stimulates and soothes, which is why we often feel enlivened, refreshed and clear headed much as we do after an aerobic workout Laughter may be hazardous to what ails you. That s the message from researchers investigating the physiology of mirth. Not that laughter as good medicine is anything new. Even Hippocrates took note of its effect. Now, though, there are studies to prove in measurable ways that laughter does in fact soothe the mind and restore the body. If medicine could harness the proven health benefits of laughter, says Clifford Kuhn, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, drug companies would be knocking themselves out to get the patent.
In fact, laughter really is a workout, according to psychiatrist William Fry, MD, professor emeritus at Stanford University. it s a total body exercise, he says. What s more, the benefits build when you laugh often and regularly as with any exercise, conditioning requires repetition. Laughter is not a subject that lends itself easily to scientific scrutiny. It s a surprisingly complex physical response to the psychological affects of humor. This seemingly simple act involves most of our body systems, including the brain. The Humor Cure It may seem futile to laugh in the face of pain and fear, but studies show that laughter, with its saving way of shifting perspective, is a broad spectrum analgesic, a balm for both physical and psychological wounds. HAPPINESSISNOWHERE Humor teaches the importance of checking your perceptions. Ten Affirmations of Positive Humor 1. I am determined to use my humor for positive, playful, uplifting healing and loving purposes 2. I will take myself lightly while I take my work in life seriously 3. I will not seek to be offended by other s attempts at humor. When in doubt, I will see others as meaning well 4. I will express my humor physically, using my whole face and when so moved, my whole body. 5. I refuse to use my humor to camouflage hostility or prejudice 6. I understand that the gift of laughter is a treasured gift, so I will laugh generously at other s attempts to be humorous 7. All teasing and ethnic humor will be by mutual consent and will go both ways or I will not engage in such humor 8. I will respect the forbidden subject topics of my listeners. I will avoid giving offense with my humor. 9. If I offend another by my use of humor, I will make amends 10.I will be eternally vigilant for the jokes and absurdities of the universe and will share my observations with my companions in life. Tom Robbins has the best take on humor that I have found almost anywhere: What is it that separates human beings from so called lower animals. Humor, imagination, eroticism, spirituality, rebelliousness and aesthetics, and appreciation of beauty for its own sake since those are the features that define a human being, it follows that the extent to which someone is lacking in those qualities is the extent to which he or she is less than human plus in those cases where the defining qualities are virtually nonexistent, what we have are entities that
are north of the animal kingdom but south of humanity They fall somewhere in between. THEY are our missing links. Imagination and humor being most crucial how only those with imagination could envision improvements and only those with a sense of humor could savor a good laugh when those improvements backfire or turn to crap. The idea of focus on the laugh itself..on the grounds that all of our different expressions of beingness only laughter is pure enough, complex enough, free enough, and endowed with enough mystery of meaning to accurately reflect the soul. To withstand the assaults of man we must fashion shields out of laughter. laughter as if it were a force, a physical force or natural phenomenon. And, within the realm of laughter light and darkness merge, no longer exist as separate or distinct conditions. A people who could live in that realm would be free of all of life s dualities. Given a choice between a folly and a sacrament, one should always chose the folly because we know a sacrament will not bring us closer to God and there s always a chance that folly will Erasmus It is western man s comedic sense his penchant to jibe and quip and pun and satirize and play humorous games with words and images in order to provoke laughter that was his greatest strength his defining talent, his unique contribution to the composite soul of the planet So that is something else you could do for you: teach us how one might remain sensitive and compassionate yet still enjoy oneself in such a defiled destructive age. Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates