Choose laughter

If we were asked to choose laughter before tears, what would we do? We would sit and give ourselves reasons to not choose the former, and then we would cry that life has made us choose the former. Sounds familiar?

We were all standing at the entrance of the township, waiting for the school bus to arrive when loud, rapturous laughter came at us in waves. The air was charged with happiness. Yet, none of us seemed particularly amused. There was puzzlement more than anything else at play here. The sound of laughter was coming in from the clubhouse side where Yoga sessions happened every morning. It seemed the members of the Yoga club had decided to choose laughter over all else that morning. They were having a laughter session, as we learnt later. What a wonderful thing to do!

How often do we choose laughter? We tend to look at life from rainbow colored glasses when we are children. As we grow up, the shade tends towards a blushing, sunset crimson. And by the time we are adults, we turn that shade into an almost ash like dark hue, which changes depending on our mood. But the deep, burnt quality remains, charred and baked by life’s reality and our own perception of the challenges that we meet. So we refuse to choose laughter, and more often than not, we choose tears.

But here is one simple logic which will help you choose laughter more naturally and shun tears. Tears are fuel for negativity, and laughter is mileage earned with positivity. Tears are fuel that we waste and burn, while mileage is what we earn when we indulge in or choose laughter. Imagine being in a sticky situation – one that is not ideal (as per you). What would you do? You would be low and laughter would probably be the last thing on your mind. Forget about choosing laughter, you would probably choose fifty shades of panic, pain and complaints as you try to fix the issue or suffer through it (whatever the case maybe).

Well, on to the good news now. When you choose laughter, you actually dissipate all the pain and you find yourself releasing hormones that trigger signals that are the opposite of pain giving signals. So basically, when you choose laughter, you are choosing to indulge your happy hormones, and the brain will continue to promote those signals until it becomes a habit to choose laughter. How would this help? Simple – when you choose laughter and release those happy hormones, you are not weighed down by hopelessness. And when this happens, you are actually free to regard the options before you.

Boss not acknowledging your work? Laugh, because well – what more can you lose? Suffered a break up recently? Laugh, because it will make you more attractive to yourself and those around you. You think you will never lose those extra pounds? Laugh, because that is a form of exercise too! Going through challenges in your career and relationship? Laugh, because only then you will be able to look on the brighter side and God only knows what options you may find hidden under that rock once you remove it?

So earn the mileage of laughter and stop burning the fuel of tears without any cause.

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