Laughter Clubs Forming Around the World
Steve Wilson, M.A., CSP, a psychologist, popular speaker, standup comedian and author of Eat Your Dessert First, travels the world organizing laugher clubs that promote health and peace. From Bombay, India, to San Francisco, California, Wilson gets people laughing wherever he goes. `If they`re laughing, they can`t be killing each other,` he says. Wilson offers the following lessons learned through the love of laughter:
- You don`t stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing.
- You are only young once, but you can remain immature indefinitely.
- It`s never too late to have a happy childhood.
- A clown is like an aspirin--only it works twice as fast.
- Life is uncertain, so eat your dessert first.
- Don`t postpone joy!
- It is important to be serious about humor. It`s no laughing matter.
- Think globally, laugh locally.
- Change the face of the world one smile at a time.
Ways to Lighten Up, Have More Fun and Be Healthier
- Choose to express instead of impress. Impressing is vain and superficial, whereas expressing is beneficial to all concerned.
- Start each day with a laugh. Collect humor calendars, comedy albums, `laff` books or whatever you like. Start a humor file.
- Read a joke out loud and laugh heartily. Good, healthful laughing requires practice.
- End each day with a laugh, no matter how difficult. Keep track of the number of good laughs you have each day. Watch this number grow.
- Look for funny role models. Closet comedians are all around us, sometimes in the least likely places. Pets, co-workers, kids, family members, the butcher, the guy sitting next to you on the bus--all are candidates. When you find a funny role model, analyze the traits or characteristics that make this person or pet funny.
- Try making your humor into a video.
- Laugh at yourself every day. You`ll find this to be an `icebreaker,` whereas laughing at someone else is an `icemaker.`
- Paint a happy face, flower, kiss or a symbol that makes you happy on your cheek, your hand or on someone else`s cheek or hand. If you don`t want to be so obvious, paint the symbol on an unexposed part of your body (or on someone else`s body) and think about it all day.
- Discover the power of play. Engage in playful activities with children, people or animals as often as possible.
- Find a different way of doing something that you do every day. Take a new route home, shop at a different store or try a new recipe.
- Make your workouts more playful. Parks, jungle gyms, swings and zany music all make your workouts more fun.
- View yourself in a new perspective. See yourself as your pet sees you. For example, my cat, Toast, sees me as a furless food source, a lap for lounging, a martial arts adversary at bath time and a poorly trained slave in general. We argue about this often.
- If you were a snack, what would you be and why? Write a short sentence about this and put it in your humor file.
- Ask yourself what is the least likely thing you would ever do. Then do it!
- Don`t try to make sense of humor. Humor isn`t logical. It`s emotional, irrational and creative.