Laugh Lots

This month is the beginning of a fresh new year!! Last year may have been terrible, filled with mistakes but it's in the past now. You have today, this year to start living, I mean really living: With your heart wide open, ready for the adventures God has in store for you. Life IS hard, your life could be harder than mine or my life could be harder than yours but let's throw a little laughter into our homes, our days, this new year. Let's purpose to not let the ugly, the rough, the hard pull us down! Let's learn to laugh at ourselves, with others, even when we are alone. Why? Well here are the benefits of laughter (I used google so I don't know how reliable these reasons are)

1. Laughter is contagious. It not only makes people who laugh feel better, but also those who laugh with them.

2. Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being.

3. Laughter generally increases activity within the immune system. It also decreases stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity.

4. Laughter is the best medicine, perhaps against heart disease. A study found that people with heart disease were 40% less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.

5. Laughter is even equivalent to a small amount of exercise. It massages all the organs of the body, according to Dr. James Walsh.

6. Laughter builds relationships. Laughter establishes—or restores—a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people, who literally take pleasure in the company of each other.

7. Laughter disarms tension and stress. Shy people can make use of laughter to break subtle barriers in the way they project themselves to connect to others and express thoughts, feelings and ideas they otherwise would keep to themselves.

8. Humor brings the balance we need to get through the turbulence of life comfortably.

9. A sense of humor can help you accept the inevitable, rise to any challenge, handle the unexpected with ease, and come out of any difficulty smiling.

10. Laughter adds spice to life; it is to life what salt is to a hard-boiled egg.