The Most Powerful Antidote to Stress

My most powerful stress relief is laughter.

I love a good laugh. In fact, my most endearing relationships are ones in which we have shared a lot of laughter over the years, be it over hardship or something really funny.

When there is shared laughter, a lot of healing and cleansing happens.

When we laugh, we awaken our creativity which helps us reconnect and get into flow with life.

When was the last time you had good ol’ belly laugh?

A good belly laugh opens us up to life and renews our perspective on things. Suddenly, what was overwhelming and confusing can seem more manageable and achievable.

Laughter squeezes and massages our internal organs, especially our stomach and spleen which in Chinese medicine is associated with worry and anxiety when things are out of balance. So a good belly laugh helps release anxiety and stress because the feel-good endorphins are in full swing.

I love the laughs that make me cry. In fact, I’m known for crying when I laugh hard.  It doesn’t take much to make me laugh. I do appreciate this quality about myself. 🙂

I had a really good laugh last Saturday night at something I did. I went out with a group of close girlfriends with whom I’ve shared some amazing laughs over the years. This is a group of women I’ve known since we’ve had our children. So laughter has helped see us through some seriously sleep-deprived nights and other low moments on our motherhood journey.

We went out to a restaurant and soon after we arrived I had to use the bathroom. As I walked through the main door leading through to the bathroom there were three other doors: one for women, one for accessible and one for men’s toilets.

The light was dim so I made sure to look closely at the sign to ensure I went to the right bathroom – as you would.

When I was done, I was washing my hands and something called for my attention to look to my left. When I looked to the left, I saw three urinals on the wall! I immediately thought to myself: Hang on! What?! Why are there urinals in here?!  I wasn’t thinking that I may have gone in the wrong bathroom I was thinking, why are there urinals in the women’s toilets?

I found myself deciding I no longer need to dry my hands, or put on the fancy hand moisturiser and swiftly made an exit before I saw anyone else come in or out of the bathroom.

As I came out I could hardly contain my laughter! This led to some jolly-good belly laughs at our dinner table.

What was even funnier, is that as another girlfriend went to the toilet, thinking how could Suzi get this wrong, while looking at the sign on the door, a man came out of the women’s bathroom just as she was about to walk in! This sure made for a funny and interesting night!

So, how can you open up to more laughter in your life?

Here are a few suggestions:

1) Think back to something funny which happened in your life.

2) Watch a funny show or movie – I watched Despicable 2 with my girls and that made me and the girls laugh so much. Seinfeld is the go-to-for my husband. I love being around him when he laughs while watching the show because it makes me laugh just hearing him laugh.  Laughter is contagious!

3) Set the intention that you want to laugh more in life – especially if life has been tough. You will soon be laughing your way through life!

4) Find something that reminds you of laughter e.g. maybe photos of your children or pets. Put them somewhere visible to remind you not to take things too seriously.

Here’s to a long weekend full of laughter and creating funny memories with loved ones.