Humour and Ourselves

People often ask me “How do you stay looking so young?” Botox? Gosh, no way! Plastic surgery? Not yet! I will say a good beauty routine helps and for me that’s involves Lancôme. I walk every day. I workout at the gym and train with a personal trainer once a week. I also attend Pilates class twice a week. But the thing I believe aids in staying and looking young is laughter. I laugh a lot!
I don’t want everyone to think that I’ve lived a luxurious life either. That’s far from the case. I’ve raised three amazingly talented children, two sons and a gorgeous daughter. Both sons have wonderful careers and my daughter is currently studying biomedical science and will go on to study medicine. Raising children is not without sacrifice sometimes.  I went through a marriage breakdown like so many other people around the world and it’s rough. However, I try to balance things and live my life well. So to be there for everyone in our lives we have to learn to look after ourselves first. Like my father taught me… I taught my children a few valuable things, two things in particular, resilience and good humour. I would class those abilities up there with empathy and compassion.

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Today I’m going to focus on humour. It’s a known fact that “Laughing for 15 seconds adds 2 days to your life span” Now if that’s not incentive to laugh I don’t know what is. I laugh at least once every day. That’s no lie. I always look for something funny before I start my day. Sometimes on my daily walk I’ll met another regular walker and he or she will have something funny to tell me. Another example would be when I was on street outreach last month and I was having a conversation with a patron and we ended up in fits of laughter. Not only did it make us happy but it lifted the spirits of the other patrons too. You see, like yawning, laughter is contagious.
Here’s where I want to share something else too. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself occasionally. I do it all the time. I dress up for a good cause and I’m not the least bit afraid of looking ridiculous. This weekend myself and a few good friends of mine have entered the Neon Run. It’s a 5km night run through neon zones featuring lasers, music and dancers. The race proudly supports a wonderful cause beyondblue, an organisation that helps people suffering from depression and anxiety.

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IMG_0706Yes, most times I look ridiculous like here in my purple tights, fluro yellow shorts and green wig which is my costume for the Neon Run.  But if I can put a smile on someone’s face I’ll happily laugh at myself. Life doesn’t have to be serious all the time.
I remember reading a study that suggested when a person laughs their brain is activated in the same way as if they are mediating. We all know that after a mediation session a person feels refreshed and relaxed. The same goes for laughing. After you’ve had a great belly laugh you feel great. I personally think humour is a doorway to feeling healthier and certainly has in many cases therapeutic value.

I’ll leave you today with this quote by Simon Wiesenthal.

Humour is the weapon of unarmed people: it helps people who are oppressed to smile at the situation that pains them. ~Simon Wiesenthal