More Laughter!

Two guys are walking their 

dogs, a black lab and a Chihuahua. Passing a bar, the "lab" walker says, "Let's get a beer." The other says, "We can't take our dogs in there." The first: "Watch." In he goes and orders a beer. "Sorry, you can't bring your dog in here." "He's my seeing eye dog." "Oh. Sorry. Here's your beer." The other guy follows, orders a beer. Same response: No dogs allowed. "He's my seeing eye dog." "Yeah, right. A Chihuahua? Give me a break." "They gave me a CHIHUAHUA?!"

They say laughter is the best medicine.  Studies indicate, "Laughter has shown physiological, psychological, social, spiritual, and quality-of-life benefits."  Contraindications--none.  Therapeutically speaking, spontaneous laughter and self-induced laughter are best, when both occur without humor.  According to this scholarly paper, "it would be appropriate for laughter to be used as a complementary/alternative medicine in the prevention and treatment of illnesses. . ."(1)  Impressive, no?  Laughter being used as a prevention and treatment of illnesses! Tell that to your doc.    

Enter laughter yoga.  Laughter Yoga International is training laughter professionals.  As noted above, much of the benefit is from "self-induced" laughter, which laughter yoga is all about.  Laughter yoga is done in groups, with eye contact and playfulness between participants. Forced laughter soon turns into real and contagious laughter and it doesn't involve humor or comedy.  Check out local Carmela Carlyle being interviewed on KRON. Inhale arms up, exhale laugh!  

Each person has their own funny bone.  Some love (or hate) Robin Williams, Bill Cosby, Russell Brand or Adam Sandler.  What about The Office?   I admit, I lean toward the unsophisticated potty humor with some sex and swearing thrown in, like the Judd Apatow movies and the like. One of my faves is 40-Year Old Virgin. I recently watched (again) Airplane! and Naked Gun laughing out loud.  With iTunes and Netflix finding a movie that fits your humor is easy-peasy.  Naked Gun 2 is on my list. Tonight, it's Rush Hour 3.   

If you can't find anything to provoke some spontaneous laughter, you can always have it fed to you.  Here are some ideas:

1.  Listen. Sonoma County has a 24-hour comedy station.  It's always on in my car and I've discovered that I dig the country comedians like "Git 'er Done" Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy.  Who knew?  My phone came loaded with the TuneIn Radio app.  I click on Comedy and I can find Chuckle Check, Demented Radio and Non-Stop Laughs and tons more.  Feeling blue?  Here's your pill.

2.  Adam Carolla.  I know he swears a lot and rants up a storm. I started with Adam and Dr. Drew with LoveLine many moons ago.  He's certainly not everyone's cuppa-tea, but I like his "passion."  

3.  Louis Black has been "trending" with his anti-Rick Perry rant which appeared on the Jon Stewart Show.   And, have you seen Robin William's bit on golfing?  Kills me every time.

4.  There's always "comedy night" at your local club or bar.  They can be tricky.  Some can be good but I've found most are disappointing.  I end up feeling sorry for the comedian but envying their chutzpah for getting up putting it on the line in front of strangers.

There are no excuses for not adding some laughter to your life.  How about less World War Z and Kill Bill and more Despicable Me and Bridesmaids!   Find some opportunities for spontaneous laughter, like watching children at your local park or playing puppies at the animal shelter. Perhaps you enjoy watching a dog play with his ball!  Or, better yet, start to see the humor in more things like life's absurdities. Grab your Taylor Made coffee, park yourself on Main Street and find some laughter!

Why did the chicken cross the road?  Find out here. 

(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21280463