credit:Michael Esplana

Try this the next time you are really tired or stressed: make yourself laugh.

That’s right. Force a laugh out of yourself for 30 or 45 seconds, and as silly as it may sound to your ears, you will start to feel less tired, less stressed. If you can engender a belly laugh, you’ll get even more release of those pent up emotions.

There are physiological reasons for all of this that I won’t even try to explain. All I know is, laughter is good for us. It is a healthy thing to do every day. It comes naturally to children.

Listen to your kids as they go through the day: they giggle, snicker, chuckle, and laugh out loud many times an hour. Sometimes for no apparent reason, or for the smallest thing, they will fall over laughing.

Laughter is part of who kids are, but as we age something happens. We experience more and more restrictive areas where a smile or grin has to replace laughing out loud. As we age the laughter dies down considerably. Many people go all day without laughing even once.

How about you? Have you had a good laugh today? Tap into that little child who still resides within you and find something to laugh about several times a day and you will find yourself in a happier, brighter mood. It is contagious and others should become more pleasant around you. Even smiling for a few minutes will lift your spirits. Just try it and see.

Laughing for the joy of it,

Mary Taylor, www.theschoolmarm.com