Laughter Helps The Mind

How often do you laugh and smile every day? If you have to think about it, then it might not be enough.

I’ve been curious about this internal happiness that people are talking about. I’ve read and listened to all the top teachers, watched talks, taken part in workshops or webinars to find out more.

The one thing I’ve realised they all say similar things but in different ways. There is often a stigma attached to being too internally focused or employing a mindset coach.

But I’m here to take the seriousness out of it and bring in what I’m good at, fun and laughter. I hope the language I use resonates with you and helps make some small changes in your life through one laugh at a time.

I can honestly say that laughter has been my close companion throughout my life. You could say it was being brought up in a loud, large, Irish family where laughing together and at each other was our form of affection, we become resilient through laughter.

What I quickly learnt in my younger years was if you could make people laugh, you had their attention. I soon got the name of ‘Cheeky’, which I delighted in as I discovered that with a smile and laugh, I could get myself out of most sticky situations. I say most, as I was still chased around the house with the wooden spoon if I’d missed behaved.

As I entered the school system, I quickly learnt that joking around wasn’t necessarily seen as an academic attribute by teachers. It was, however, great for making new friends in the playground.

It became my mission to get the teacher to laugh at something I said, when achieved it felt like I had climbed Mount Everest.

I was sent to a Catholic school where one year I had Sister Regina, who wore a navy and white habit a strict nun known to take children by the ear and physically remove them from the classroom, and send them to the Head Teacher.

She was not one to crack a smile! I was around 8 years old at the time she was my teacher. Before I continue with the story of my quest to make a catholic nun laugh, I should share with you the background to this.

I have two older sisters and at that time one younger brother on the way. Now as siblings do, I used to get teased because I was the youngest. The other thing that made me stand out was my dark hair compared to their blondness.

One evening, my sisters convinced me that I was the milkman’s child, I didn’t really know what that meant at the time, but a sibling pinch and kick had me convinced.

So, back to making a nun laugh, the next day in class, Sister Regina was asking us questions about our family and she turned to me and asked me what the name of my father was and what did he do?

I replied in the honest naïve way an 8 year old does “I’m not sure as my sisters told me I’m the milkman’s child!”. Well, she burst out laughing and the whole class just looked in awe of what I had done – she laughed. It only took a few seconds for her to recover but after that I saw a change in her and my journey into making people laugh or smile continued. Surely, if I could crack Sister Regina, I could make anyone laugh.

During one of the many summer trips to stay with relatives in Ireland, I learnt that the best way to get out of an embarrassing situation was to laugh at yourself first.

I wanted to follow my cousin, who was taking the tractor out to another field, but he didn’t want me to come, as a stubborn 9 year old who thought she knew best I started walking after him. What I didn’t know was the reason he had the tractor was because the mud was so deep, you couldn’t walk across it!

Unsurprisingly my wellies and me got stuck in the mud. This had my cousin in hysterical laughter and me in a total rage. Feeling embarrassed at my own stupidity, he then had to pull the tractor back and let me grab hold of it to pull me out and the wellies stayed where they were. In that moment, I had two choices; stay mad or just start laughing about it.

Obviously, I chose the latter and added to the drama by saying that the wellies were actually his sisters, which we knew would make her mad at me for getting them stuck and full of mud.

Now I don’t know if this just typical in my family, but the more you get angry about something that everyone else finds funny, the funnier it was.

I would forget this sometimes and my sisters would laugh even harder, often egged on by a funny comment from my older sister who has a wicked sense of humour.

This often ended in screams of “Muuuuuuum, they’re picking on me, tell them to stop”.

It was always best to expect the unexpected in my house, you would try to do something serious like rehearsing the lines in your school play and your Dad would start laughing, or you’d try to be funny by testing my latest joke with Mum and she’d respond “That’s nice dear”. You could say that it was my toughest crowd or a good grounding for the future.

At school I attracted the friends that also liked to laugh and joke, which helped build relationships that are just as strong today. One of my friends during our teenage years could get moody and start shouting being from an Italian culture. I wasn’t used to shouting in my house.

I used to have to hold back the laughter, in my family that’s what we did when someone got moody. However, just like my Sister Regina challenge at 8 years old I was determined. Making someone laugh can get people out of a bad mood and into a good one quicker than anything else, give it a try!

What I have learnt about laughter is once you seek it out, it will find you. Life has the ‘wickedest sense of humour’ and it will give you many an opportunity to laugh at yourself. Let me provide some personal examples.

Throughout my late 20’s, I invested time in internet dating. WOW! I think I could write a book just on those fun stories but to give you a few. There was the guy who stole the tip I left, the guy who walked out on our date when he found out I wasn’t a professional dancer and the time I didn’t check my date’s height, turned up in heels to be looking down on the poor fella!

We all know the saying ‘Laughter is the best medicine’ it boost the immune-system, and triggers the release of endorphins the body’s natural feel good chemicals. When have you ever walked out of a comedy night and felt like crying? Most of the time you say that was great we should do that more often. They should have comedians’ in every hospital curing them with laughter.

I wanted to take time to share how fun and laughter in my life has helped me on the road to a happy mind. How can you bring more fun and laughter into your life?