When I opened my email this morning, the first message I came to was my daily communiqué from tut.com:
Excuse me, Rosie, but I don’t think I noticed, “do a little dance,” on your “to-do list.”
You do plan to dance today, don’t you?
Get down,
The Universe
Well, I’ll be, another “Gotcha!” – two days in a row. No, up to this point, there wasn’t “do a little dance” on my list….but I think I’ll change that. Is your day looking like mine…filled to the brim with all the things to be completed before the Friday pm whistle blows? Perhaps it will help to begin our day with a few deep breaths, the extraction of our shoulders from our ears, and a conscious effort to sprinkle laughter throughout our day.
It is well documented that laughter reduces the level of stress hormones, such as cortisol, epinephrine, and dopamine. On the other hand, laughter increases the level of health-enhancing hormones such as the endorphins and neurotransmitters. Laughter also increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. What this means for us is a stronger immune system and fewer physical effects of stress. In fact, laughter is so powerful, it has been known to cure “incurable” cancer.
A quick search on Google shows statistics that a child laughs anywhere from 150 – 400 times a day, compared to an average of 5 – 15 times a day for an adult. Whoa, maybe it is time to do a little dance? Might it be time to awaken that little inner child?
Here’s some sage advice from various authors:
“Seven days without laughter makes one weak.” ~Mort Walker
“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” ~Victor Hugo
“Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.” ~Arnold Glasow
“A man isn’t poor if he can still laugh.” ~Raymond Hitchcock
“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” ~Irish Proverb
“Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.” ~Bob Newhart
“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” ~Yiddish Proverb
“At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.” ~Jean Houston
Is the bottom line that we’ll be a whole heck of a lot better off, and more will be accomplished, if we do a little dance and laugh a little more today?
