One Sunday, I was golfing with my wife. She asked me, “If I died, would you get married again?”
I was surprised, and answered, “No, my love, I wouldn’t.”
But she persisted, “I’m sure you would.”
So I said, “Okay, I would.”
Then she asked me, “Would you let her sleep in our bed?”
At this, I replied, “Yes, I guess so.”
Then my wife asked, “Would you let her use my golf clubs?”
And I replied, “No, she’s left handed."
What is the funniest thing you’ve done in the last year? What did you learn? Humor gives you a perspective on life. Sometimes your mistakes, in hindsight, and with a time, the humor of the event teaches you the most. Find humor in your past, make light of it, and learn from it.
Humor has been found to release dopamine into the brain when you laugh. For that reason, movies, stories, or just hanging out with people that make you laugh will physically, as well as psychology, make you healthier.
Research repeatedly tells us how important laughter can be. Andrew Osawald recruited students and had them watch funny movies and found that participants were able to perform some math problems better than a control group. When you make something funny, you can be more productive, produce better work, find yourself less distracted and even enhance your memory. In Social Psychology Quarterly, researchers O’Quinn and Aronoff pointed out that that humor will also get buyers to pay more. They found that when the sales person—either a woman or a man—used jokes and other humor, the buyer—again, both men and women—would pay a higher price. There are many studies that show the benefits of laughter in healing an illness, the ability for the body to combat flu, and even cancer. The University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore found that laughter helps prevent heart disease. And if you’re already healthy, making things funny will help reduce stress, you’ll feel more relaxed and sleep better, which also contributes to a healthy life style.
Bottom line: don’t be a sour puss.
Make sure to laugh once a day. Have a big chuckle. Go out of your way to find something funny to laugh about. Search out a comic on the internet and read until you laugh out loud. Intentionally add comedy to your life. Perhaps there is a movie that you’ve been meaning to watch, try and find it and watch it.
Also this week, when you speak to people, make a point to bring up in conversation who their favorite comedian is. After finding out the name, watch a clip of the comedian on YouTube.
At least once this week, ask someone to tell you a joke. From ages 5 to 105, people generally know one or two jokes and search for the time to tell them. You can give them that opportunity.
Finally, in your journal, write down the funniest thing that has ever happened to you in your life. Who was there? What were the circumstances? What made it funny? Don’t worry about trying to make your writing funny. The point is to remember and just enjoy writing and remembering one of the funniest times in your life.
As one of the greatest comedians to walk the planet Red Skeleton said, “Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.”
Which reminds me of a time that I walked into this zoo. The only animal in the zoo was a dog. It was a Shitzu.
Admit it, you laughed.