To lose oneself totally in laughter, joy and play, no matter your age and circumstance is such a gift to ourselves. It brings such presence, clarity, joy and peace. It is part of a wellbeing ingredient in life for sure. It’s part of building strong connective relationships. So how can I bring more of it into my life. Here are some reminders
1. Play - To laugh and play often come hand in hand as through play it can often spontaneously erupt affecting your energy/mood and those around you and can help in the alchemy of any moment. You can see it in children who can find joy in the smallest things. Have some play time with your children or friends that have children. Even your pets can have you in stitches with laughter. (think of all those millions of cat viral videos)
2. Don’t take yourself, others and situations so seriously. Can you remember the last time you laughed at yourself (especially when you made a mistake), or to look on the lighter side of something we see as serious? Why not approach conversations at work and home with the intention of a lighter mood with sense of awe, even slight amusement at this moment in time that is created for the benefit of myself with the power to respond. To laugh at yourself is surely and ingredient to your wellbeing and a powerful model for students
3.Explore what makes you laugh and play... Jokes, dress- up theme nights,singing, dancing, comedy movies, laughing baby videos, telling jokes, games or even taking selfies. Being in and around waterfalls does it for me. Also, in my toolkit of life are good friends and laughter yoga... (laughing and breathing exercises that stimulates various endocrine feel good hormones). The science behind laughter yoga tells us that the body does not know the difference between fake and real laughter as the ‘feel good’ chemicals are released after about 15 minutes of the laughter and breathing exercises. So its scientific that you can laugh your way into wellbeing!! Ha ha…who would have thought 😉
I once did a yoga laughter experiment daily for myself for 40 days and then with 8-year old for 4 weeks. We all agreed, that we were able to laugh better into our wellbeing, Even though we felt silly it made us feel much better and to laugh more spontaneously.
To lose one-self totally in laughter with some friends at a waterfall earlier in the year and with my 2 nieces in a pool certainly increased my wellbeing and created positive memories for all of us. The bubbles laughed playfully as they danced over us in the tumbling of the waterfall and went with the flowing on, not stuck or worried about this human or any object in their way.
It got me reflecting once again on the theme of emotions and how water can mirror that, which is a theme embedded in the upcoming ‘Wise Kids Water World Inspires Me’ – Top Tips for Wise Water Kids.
Why not laugh your way into wellbeing on this roller coaster ride that we’ve got on here on this planet we call home for such a short time! May your day, week, life, be filled with moments of laughter and play
- Andrew Holt
Follow Andrew on Facebook, Andrew Holt Educator Author.