The fact is, life is stressful. We have all types of things pulling us in all directions and so many things to get done with so little time. It’s no wonder that stress is a major problem with most people. We must earn money, cook dinner, clean up, do taxi duty for kids and so much more, every single day. It can be a lot to deal with. But, with humor, you can relieve stress and become a lot happier.
* Write It Down – When you see something funny or hear about a funny movie, show, comedy night, etc., write it all down. Keep track of it so that you can pull it out anytime you need to reduce your stress. You may not be able to go to that comedy club right now, but you can go look at a funny video for 60 seconds before you call the boss.
* See It from Someone Else’s Point of View – When something happens to you in your life, it can often be hard to see it as funny. Uncle John’s penchant for spraying “Simple Green” on every cut or scrape and calling it a miracle cure may have been embarrassing to you, but it’s funny to someone.
* Look for Humor Everywhere – Everyplace you go there is humor. Miswritten signs, horrible food at a restaurant, how you acted when going to the dentist, that time you had a big green ink mark on your forehead during an important speech… all can be funny at the right time. Collect these for future reference.
* Watch Comedy – It can help to watch a lot of comedy and observe how they tell the jokes and build up to the punchline. Movies, stand-up, talk shows and so forth are all great ways to learn about comedy and figure out ways to incorporate it into your life more for stress relief. You really cannot be stressed while laughing.
* Smile – This might seem simplistic but if you’re feeling stress, focus on smiling with not just your mouth but also your eyes and your entire body. You can make yourself feel less stressed simply by doing that. If you talk on the phone to someone that makes you nervous, get a mirror and look at yourself talking to them while smiling. Instant stress reduction.
* Take a Class – There are interesting classes out there about comedy. You can take a course in stand-up, in public speaking, and even exercise classes that incorporate laughter and humor into them. Look up laughter classes and you’ll find a lot to work with. Check out these free laughter classes: http://www.laughtermatters.org/free-laughter-classes/
* Put Things in Perspective – Sure, falling and breaking your foot is not funny at the time. But with time you get something called perspective. Most of the things you think and do are from your own way of viewing things. Try looking at any situation and pretending that a couple years have gone by. How will you feel then? Will you laugh about how you almost fell into the smelly city water at the park but your friend caught you?
* Surround Yourself with Funny People – Being around people who like to laugh and who are happy is the best solution for anyone who is stressed out. Find more people who want to be happy and want to laugh, and you’re going to reduce your stress substantially.
Finding humor in your life is not as hard as you might think. Spend some time at a park people watching and you’ll soon find plenty of people that make you smile and yes, even laugh. Look at funny animal videos, babies laughing, and you’ll soon be laughing and feel less stress too.
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