Tell us about....Laughter

It is said that children laugh 300 times a day and adults laugh about 17. There is a lot of problems with the way we decide to 'grow up'. I'm not sure we get it right.

I go to the Comedy Festival when I can - last year I had 10 shows booked until covid made me give away the last (and most expensive) show's tix to friends. I tend to go to unknown (to me) comedians - favouring women and Asian people (because they have to work harder to get an audience usually) and if the ticket is only $20-$25, then I only have to laugh a few times to get my 'money's worth'. It's fun to just pop out for an hour set with friends on a weeknight - still home early enough to have no impact on work the next day but be buzzing with the joyful endorphins.

As soap is to the body, so laughter is to the soul. — A Jewish Proverb

One should laugh constantly and hard. It does indeed have a medicinal effect. You feel rejuvenated. 

It releases neuropeptides improving your immune system. It stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles (according to this article on preventative medicine) and obviously it's the perfect way to destress and reduce anxiety & lighten depression. It can even lower blood pressure. Laughter even reduces feelings of loneliness. I guess it's that shared moment, and probably when you laugh, you tend to look at people in the eye to 'share' the joke. There's a bond or connection built into laughter.

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." — Victor Hugo

Children laugh more not because they have less worries, though that is probably part of it, but because they have an innate ability to find joy.  I write a lot about seeking out joy and relishing in happy moments, no matter how small. Seeking out laughter will also infiltrate your life. It may start as a conscious effort - watching a tv show or comedian but like any muscle, the more you work it, the more easily it becomes.

"Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds and glitter for the moment. Cheerfulness keeps up daylight in the mind, filling it with steady and perpetual serenity."-- Samuel Johnson

What made you laugh recently?

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The photos are just some of the things that made me laugh in Singapore  (for some reason me as a weird bird skeleton entertained me for way longer than it should have)