Have you ever laughed so hard tears were rolling down your cheeks and you could barely catch your breath? So hard you couldn't stop? It has happened to me a handful of times when something just triggers waves of laughter that leaves me breathless and my cheeks hurting from smiling so hard!
Laughter is a gift from God and I love to laugh as often as I can. I seek out happy, funny people. I will wade through lots of comedy to find that one laugh out loud unexpected explosion of hilarity. They say that "laughter is the best medicine" but they never say for what illness. Did you ever notice that? That's because laughter is the best medicine for just about everything. It makes you feel better about the sorrows in your life and the absurd unfairness of the universe from your tiny perspective. Laughing releases a flood of chemicals that make you feel better all over.
"Finding the funny" in your life is a skill that can be developed, but only after you stop taking yourself and your so called problems so seriously. I have spent most of my life looking for the left turn, the absurd, the path less taken in just about every conversation I have ever had. When you train yourself to listen and view everything from a new perspective, the laughter and comedy appear.
A while back, I was eating dinner with my family at an out door cafe and a point of conversation was brought up, and my son conceded the point by saying "Touche'!" Now all my life when I heard that word my brain said "that's French from the sport of fencing, and it means "touch" or in a wider meaning "one point for you".
But because my mind is always trying to nail together new things, this time my mind said "That sounds like a hairpiece for your butt." Toupee, Tush, Tushee. I cracked myself up and after laughing uncontrollably for a while I finally managed to share my new word with my family, who then joined in and we all laughed hysterically! I am sure a few people around us were wondering what could have been so funny. We then each "riffed" on the idea using the new word in various forms. "Is that natural, or is it a Tushee? It's absurd I know. But that silly idea triggered one of the best laughs my family has had, and we refer back to it now and then, and it cracks us up all over again!
Finding smiles and laughter in your world depends solely on you. You have to look for and expect happiness to come bounding out at you. It's like a game of hide and seek. If you don't know anyone is hiding, you will never look, and they will not be found. Laughs and smiles are all around you, in every nook and corner. All you need to do is start looking, and once you train yourself to find the happy, you will have a never ending supply!
At my last family gathering which was filled with laughter and stories, I was joking around to make everyone else laugh, and hit my own funny bone. It had been a while since I had laughed uncontrollably, and it was such a wonderful release. Understand that at this same gathering, we shared our concerns about aging parents, painful accidents, major surgery and life events and choices that had sad and terrible consequences. There were no perfectly happy people at the table, but for that afternoon we were perfectly happy thanks to the gift of laughter.
So if you want to start seeing the funny in your world, here are my action steps for you to try: Watch some stand-up comedy from your favorite comic. After you laugh, stop for a second and try and see the new perspective the comedian just gave you. Find a free web service that will send you a joke a day.
Make a list of your top ten favorite funny movies - and have a movie night with your family or friends and share them. Start looking for funny. Find out what makes you laugh consistently. Then find more of it!
Stay away from comedy that has ego or hate at it's center. If the joke basically is "that other person is a moron and I am better than they are" you will not find the best funny. Guess what? YOU are the funniest person, and you have to laugh at yourself and the stupid things you do should amuse you constantly, otherwise you are taking yourself too seriously.
Find some funny people, and listen to how they think. New ideas will start coming to you faster and faster, and before you know it, you will be "riffing" with the best of them. Until then, enjoy letting them do most of the mining for comedy gold!
For the advanced degree in finding the laughter, go to an improv show. It's the best training in the world for finding the funny, and finding funny people! For the quickest way I know to start training your brain to see the funny, get my book "THE IMPROV PERFORMANCE MANUAL by Nate Truman" on Amazon.com. This intro to improvisational comedy and the mindset you need to develop can help you jump start your quest for the funny!
Plus there is a free bonus, right on the cover of the book! Only you can choose to see the hilarious, crazy and ridiculous and then enjoy it each day you are given. The journey of a lifetime begins with a small step and a big smile. Now picture someone around you wearing their new "Tushee" and it peeking out of the top of their pants or skirt, and I dare you not to smile!
Nathan "Nate" Truman is an author, playwright, motivational speaker and life coach from Southern California. His new website http://natetruman.com/ is a free resource for life mastery, and positive help for life's big questions.
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