SAW #3: The power of laughter
Hello all,
Group Support organizing Stress Awareness Week, the focus will be on discussing general awareness, and support, and celebrating milestones and small steps. This will be an opportunity for all of us to come together and extend our support and compassion to navigate the stress. Yesterday, we discussed stress-busting tips, if you haven't shared yours, please share them here with us.
As we discuss different tips to manage stress, I want to highlight and discuss a lighter yet more powerful technique: laughter. We all know laughter feels good, but, it also has benefits for our mental and physical well-being.
- When we laugh, our bodies release endorphins, those feel-good chemicals that can improve our mood and reduce stress hormones like cortisol. Laughter can also boost our immune system and even lower blood pressure!
- Sharing a funny story or joke with a friend can lighten the mood and put things in perspective. Can you think of a time when laughter helped you through a stressful situation?
- Different kinds of humor can be most effective for stress relief. Like, silly memes, witty puns, or lighthearted banter with friends.
- Laughter can be contagious. I am sure many of you found yourself laughing just because someone else is laughing. It helps to create a positive and supportive atmosphere, further reducing stress for everyone involved.
So I want us to discuss and share the power of laughter to get better at managing our stress.
- Do you find laughter to be an effective stress reliever? Share your experiences.
- What are your go-to strategies for finding humor in everyday situations?
- Let's share some funny memes, jokes, or lighthearted stories to spread the laughter around.
@ASilentObserver
I find laughter to be an effective stress reliever. I still struggle with communication and am addicting to certain thought patterns and paradigms, and am basically one giant Frankenstein psychological scar at this point. Yet when laughter breaks through the pain it is absolutely wonderful.
Lately I'm practicing and working on keeping an open mind as much as possible, reminding myself conflict, death and suffering is part of life and even though life is too hard and I can't do it, if I just keep going at least there's a farts chance in the wind of making something of myself.
I used to try "practicing" emotions...laughter yoga, beating my pillows, watching a scary movie, having my own 'Amanda trying to cry' moments from the movie 'The Holiday'. It helped because when I was experiencing the real deal, for example angry beyond belief because I'd been woken up for the 138th time this year, I remembered to punch my pillow instead of myself.
Something recently that had me laughing was reading about interior designers "toxic traits". After completing three steps on the popular passion and purpose growth path, I found myself perusing the article to reconnect with some neglected passions. One designers story resonated with me so clearly I found myself laughing. I do indeed, also, am guilty of 'too many damn throw pillows'.
@ASilentObserver
Hi Obs! 😊 ❤️ Many thanks for this amazing forum post! I found this to be incredibly brilliant💡to highlight the power of laughter and many times this is something that is overlooked as a strategy/tool on how to effectively deal with, help to navigate the world around us.
This is definitely the thread for me to respond to as I love this concept. In addition, I have always said that the biggest difference in me here on the platform versus real life is that I'm much funnier in real life. 😁 Sometimes the hardest thing to translate is humor via text based communication. We miss out on the body language, facial expression, voice inflection, tone, cadence, timing, etc. We also must "know our audience".
Do I find humor to be a stress reliever? Absolutely! Having the ability to laugh at ones self really helps. While I am someone that is high on the agreeable scale as well as consciousnesses , seeking perfection from ones self incessantly, is a bad option. It's best to let that go and not take ones self so seriously all of the time. I like allowing myself to be human just as much as I allow others around me to be so too.
What are your go to strategies for finding humor in every day situations? I think it's important to note what it is that we "attend to". Do we want to see negativity or do we reach for positivity? Do we only want to see things as challenges or would we like to see challenges as opportunities in disguise? Sometimes if we can't change a situation it can be good to instead, change how it is that we perceive the situation. Reframing things, having more of a positive mindset and adding a great deal of humor for the irony of things can add levity to situations. Some days it's a choice. 😊
Sharing a funny joke you say? 😊Saw a funny one on youtube this week. It's from the series "Aliens telling bad dad jokes". For me, the reason it's so funny is the delivery, timing. It was spot on. I've laughed about it for at least 5 days now.
What has 5 toes and is not your foot?
My foot! 😁hahah hahahah hahahha 😊 Gets me every time!
Again, many thanks for the great forum post!
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
@ASilentObserver
Hi, ASO,
- Do you find laughter to be an effective stress reliever? Share your experiences. yes, but I can't think of any specific experiences where I used laughter to relieve stress.
- What are your go-to strategies for finding humor in everyday situations? none, right now
- Let's share some funny memes, jokes, or lighthearted stories to spread the laughter around. Oh, gosh, I'm afraid I won't be good at that.