“Laughter is the best medicine” is a phrase that dates back to biblical times as an old Proverb and it’s still widely used today all over the world. That’s because it’s true!

Let’s take a look at what happens inside your body, mind and spirit when you laugh.

Laughter’s Effect on Your Body

Endorphins are released throughout your body, stimulating muscles, nerves, organs and tissues when you laugh. Studies show these endorphins give relief to chronic pain, help to relieve stress and promote functioning of the immune system. Laughter literally helps heal your body.

Laughter and Your Mind

Happy thoughts lead to a more positive outlook on life. When you’re hanging out with friends and having good conversation that produces smiles and laughter, your mind’s producing happy thoughts.

On the other hand, if you’re always around people who never smile and always find something to complain about, you’ll lean toward a more negative outlook on life.

Strengthening Your Inner Being

Laughing causes your inner being to be emotionally and physically strengthened. When you laugh or even smile, your inner being is stimulated in an affirmative way, producing a more positive outlook on life. This helps your body produce more self-healing endorphins, which actually helps your body remain healthy and running optimally!

Boosting Your Spirits

Laughter causes a lift in your spirits, helping you feel uplifted. Laughter not only helps you personally, it’s also very contagious and infectious, which helps those around you feel less stress and anxious.

Don’t you just love it when you hear a baby or toddler laugh? What happens to you? You can’t help but laugh too! Laughter begins to develop in humans as early as 3 months of age and a baby’s laughter is one of the most contagious of all human sounds.

Laughter and Your Relationships

When two people share a funny story or a silly situation arises between two people, there’s a unique bonding that is created. Something special is formed between the two that only they can relate with. It’s an inside joke that is special to those who’ve shared in the moment.

When two people spend a lot of time together in laughter, a stronger, more ever-lasting relationship develops.

In a marriage, studies show couples that laugh together stay together much longer, if not for life. Think about a truly happy couple you know. Sure, every family has their issues and marriage takes work, but chances are they spend a lot of time laughing together. This doesn’t happen by accident either. It can be created and fostered!

When you choose to embrace laughter, you’ll be able to get through many more rough spots in life and come out a happier and healthier person.

Life can be tough, so why not choose to make it more joyous? You can if you choose to.

Always try to find joy in every situation and laugh as often as possible each and every day. Also, by spending more time around positive people, who love life and love to laugh, you’ll be amazed at how you begin to feel on the inside and out!

The definition for self love is “The instinct or desire to promote one’s own well-being; regard for or love of one’s self.”

Sounds simple, everyone should have the desire to promote their own well-being, right?

Let me ask you:
* Do you think you are practicing self love when you beat yourself up for something you should have or should not have done?
*  When you allow yourself to be consumed with guilt?
*  Through your eating and exercise habits?
*  Do you have a hard time forgiving yourself?

You might be asking; How do I love myself without coming across as being conceited or egotistic?

It is by being as accepting and giving to yourself as you are to others. Treating yourself with respect. Not putting yourself down. Accepting your weaknesses and embracing your strengths. It is knowing and accepting that you are not perfect and never will be. The good news is neither is anyone else!

Self Love allows you to capitalize on your strengths and how to accept your weaknesses without guilt or remorse.

Loving yourself unconditionally does not mean that you will like every action you have taken or will take. Nor does it mean that you will always say the right words. It’s accepting yourself just as you are. It is releasing the doubts you have about yourself. It is not being concerned with pleasing everyone we know for fear of being rejected.

Self love is not conceit nor is it egotism. Conceit brags about oneself to make himself look better than others as does egotism. However, there is a side of egotism that you might not know about – the silent egotist. This person silently puts everyone down in his or her minds. They feel superior and believe that they are superior. They know more and their way is right. They believe they are practicing good sense to resist putting others down verbally. Ego operates based on fear – looking to others for love and acceptance.

It is a calm inner peace of knowing who you are and what you want. It has a quiet, steady radiance, which draws others to its light.

Ways to practice loving yourself include taking time for yourself, getting massages, treating yourself to a movie or dinner, be kind to yourself, soak in a tub, take a walk, take up a new sport or try something you’ve always wanted to but was afraid of what others would say.

In an ideal world, our home is a place of peace away from the hectic outside world. Unfortunately, ideal worlds don’t exist!

In order to make your home a sanctuary, you have to put in a little effort, but thankfully, it’s easier than you think.

Here are ten ways you can find peace in your home:

1. Clear the Clutter. Many people never feel at ease when they’re at home because their home is disorganized. Of course, a cluttered environment leads to a cluttered mind, and a cluttered mind is a chaotic one. If you take one weekend to clear the clutter from your home, you’ll feel an immediate difference in your peace level.

2. Find a Hobby. Sometimes it’s boredom that gets the best of us when we’re at home. When you have a hobby to turn to, you’ll find that it’s a lot easier to feel peaceful and fulfilled.

3. Turn on the music. Listening to calming music will allow you to let go of the stress of the day and enjoy your time at home. Choose whatever kind of music you like, as long as it relaxes you.

4. Leave your work at work. If your home is an office away from the office, how can you ever find peace? Except for the rare occasion, leave your work at work, both physically and mentally. If you work from home, work in one dedicated space. Also, never work in the same room as you sleep, otherwise, you’ll associate your bedroom as a workspace.

5. Create time to decompress. Do you rush home from work and immediately take on more responsibilities and chores? Instead, allow yourself even 10 or 15 minutes to relax and unwind before you begin tasks for the home. Doing so will mark a clear separation in your mind between work and home.

* You might want to just lie on your bed for a few minutes, read a book, or take a shower. This short time will rejuvenate and refresh you.

6. Be considerate. Be mindful of your family and their daily stresses as well. Too often, we take their presence and contributions for granted. Remember that the people you live with are human, too. Show your gratitude for them.

7. Use positive reinforcement. When someone in your family does something to contribute to the peace, be sure to praise them to let them know you appreciate what they did. This will help foster more peace in the future!

8. Pick your battles. You could fight a lot about little, insignificant things, but is it worth it? Instead, choose only the most important transgressions to challenge.

9. Allow things to roll off your back. When something isn’t a big deal, just let it go. Instead, focus on maintaining your inner peace. You’ll be glad in the long run that you decided to go this route; it makes life so much easier!

10. Cool off. When you’re involved in a conflict at home, give yourself some time to cool off. Doing so will help you calmly talk about your feelings and come to a resolution. Or perhaps you just may realize that the issue wasn’t as big of a deal as you first thought.

Maintaining peace in your home is important to the health and well being of every family member. Use these tips to nurture a peaceful environment so your home is a joy to come home to!

Every day has its ups and downs, but sometimes you might find more downs than ups! Rather than waiting around for things to change, you can make an active effort to add a little happiness to your day.

Sometimes you may need to make a big effort, but most of the time all you have to do is something subtle and simple to completely change how your day turns out.

Here are some easy ways to add happiness to your day:

1. Watch a movie. Curl up with a big bucket of popcorn and your favorite movie. Leave all your worries behind you as you engage in an activity that you’re sure to love.

2. Watch your kids or loved ones. Instead of focusing on yourself, take some time to place your attention on the people you love. Simply observe them and think about how much you appreciate the fact that they’re in your life.

3. Call your best friend. A phone call with a close friend is a great way to pass some time in a way that is comfortable and familiar to you. You can think about old times or enjoy planning something fun for the future.

4. Go out for ice cream. While it’s not a good idea to indulge all the time, it’s definitely okay once in a while. Grab your favorite treat whether it’s ice cream, a smoothie, or even Starbucks.

5. Enjoy nature. Take in nature by watching the world around you. You can do this by going on a nature hike or even just observing the beauty of the stars at night.

6. Take a hot bath. This is a great way to bring happiness to your day, especially if you’ve found the day stressful. Light some scented candles to include the benefits of aromatherapy to the relaxing warmth of the bath.

7. Play a sport. Gather your friends and have a friendly competition. Sports are a fun way to get some exercise and relieve stress.

8. Take a nap. An afternoon nap may be just what you’re looking for. Even 15 minutes of shut-eye can help you feel more energized and happy.

9. Snuggle with your partner. Take the time to appreciate your partner and snuggle up for some couple-time. It’s a great way to reconnect, especially if you’ve been really busy.

10. Be lazy. Sometimes you might not feel as happy as you’d like because you expect too much from yourself. Take some time to simply be lazy, with no responsibilities, and give yourself time to recoup.

11. Listen to your favorite song. Your favorite song is bound to brighten up your day. Bring out your iPod or music player and start cranking up the tunes.

12. Make casual conversation. Strike up some lively conversations with strangers. If you’re friendly and happy towards them, they’ll likely be the same to you.

13. Be thankful. Reflect on all the things that you’re grateful for in your life and write them down. You might be surprised at how long your list is! Sometimes changing your focus to what’s going right in your life is all you need to turn that frown upside down.

14. Enjoy time with your pets. Pets are part of the family too. Snuggle up with your pet for some quality time together.

Always remember that the list is endless when it comes to ways to brighten your day. Be creative and try new activities that you might like. Most importantly, seek a way to enjoy each moment, and your life will be filled with new happiness.

Have you allowed your emotions to bottle up inside you? Bottling up your emotions can create havoc with both your physical and your mental health.

It’s important to learn to master your thoughts, feelings and emotions. Learn to share them in a positive manner so that they don’t cause you or anyone else undue stress or harm.

One of the best ways to manage your emotions and improve your health at the same time is by expressing gratitude. You can find something to be grateful in almost every situation.

What are you thankful for right now?

Who matters in your life?

Can you name 5 things that you are grateful for?

Even when the world seems to spinning out of control around you, there are many things that you can be grateful for.

Share your gratitude with others. Other people may not know how much you appreciate them. You cannot know another person’s feelings or thoughts and shouldn’t assume they know yours. Tell everyone that means something to you – how grateful you are for them.

What do you think will happen when you share your heart felt gratitude with those you love? Can you see them smile? Can you see their eyes light up?

When you share your gratitude with others it helps your heart, mind and body thrive. A flood of chemicals are released into your body – It feels good! Both you and the receiver will benefit.

There are many physical objects that you may have that you are grateful for. Have you ever thought about sending a thankful message to the manufacturer? Customer service probably gets bogged down with complaints – How nice it would be for them to hear of your gratitude! Give them some of your gratitude and you’ll spread joy all around!

Sharing gratitude is easy and only costs you a little bit of your time. Here are some simple ideas to start sharing gratitude with others.

* Tell your loved ones you care for them
* Hug a friend who’s hurting
* Smile at a stranger
* Open the door for a stranger
* Offer a stranger a helping hand
* Make time to listen to someone who needs to talk
* Appreciate the beauty of nature
* Volunteer your services
* Greet everyone with a smile
* Wish all you come into contact with a “Great Day!”

Focus on What Really Matters

Many people are unhappy with their current circumstances. They may feel like they don’t have enough money, a good job, the house they want or the car they want. They don’t realize that the only way to change their current circumstances is to begin changing their thoughts.

You can begin to change your thoughts by being connected with what really matters. Be grateful for all that you have been given. Be grateful for your home, your bed, your carpet, your clothes, your car – EVERYTHING.

There will be obstacles and stumbling blocks in life, but there is joy all around you as well. When you tap into that joy, keep a positive attitude, and show how grateful you are, you’ll prove that you’re able to let go of unnecessary baggage. It’s a great feeling, and one that you can give yourself, today, right now. What a wonderful thing to be grateful for!

“If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.” Lyndon B. Johnson

In 1965 the United Nations Meditation Group created World Gratitude Day. During Thanksgiving dinner the attendees pledged to hold a Gratitude Gathering the following September 21st in their home countries. This grew to be an annual event. The purpose was to express appreciation to individuals and to groups that have made the world a better place to live.

Take the time to show your gratitude and appreciation to the world and those around you.

Today is a great day for you to develop your attitude of gratitude. Make it a point to show gratitude to an individual or group every single day. I promise you, if you look for things to be thankful for – you’ll never run out of things to find.

Show your appreciation to the people in your life: your spouse, children, parents, friends and co-workers. Just by saying “Thank You” or “I’m glad you’re in my life”, could make a huge difference in someone’s life.

Don’t wait till tomorrow or next year, do it today and make a difference in someone’s life.

Today my gratitude goes out to the women before me. Strong women who made a difference in this world – such as:

* James Barry, The first woman physician in modern times. She had to disguise herself as a man in order to practice medicine. She became the first doctor-surgeon in the British Empire to perform a Caesarean section in which both the mother and child survived.

* Svetlana Savitskaya, a Russian cosmonaut. She was the second woman and space. On her second voyage – on July 17, 1984 she became the first woman to walk in space. She logs almost four spacewalking hours.

* Susan B. Anthony founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in United States. In 1872 attempting to prove the constitution permitted women the right to vote, she cast a vote in Rochester, New York in the presidential election.

* Rosa Parks is said by some to have started the civil rights movement. After refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, she was arrested and fined. Later she played an active role in the NAACP and a spokeswoman for civil rights.

* Candice Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) after her 13 year old daughter was killed by a drunk driver.

*Jackie Mitchell, the first woman Professional Baseball player. She pitched for Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth – striking them both out.

* Annie Smith Peck, an adventurer – in 1895 She became the first woman to reach the peak of the Matterhorn. She paid for her expedition by writing magazine articles. In 1911 at the age of 61 she climbed Mt. Coropuna in Peru and placed a “Votes for Women” banner in the summit.

All of these women knew what it took to succeed and to achieve their dreams.

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This goes to show that regardless of your sex, race or religion you can accomplish great things and leave the world a little better than you found it!

I’d also like to say a big THANK YOU to all of my readers. You are a joy and if I’ve made someone’s life a little better – or more bearable, than I have accomplished much.

Happy World Gratitude Day!

A friend says something funny, and you laugh so hard you begin to cry. Perhaps this uncontrollable laughter goes on for several minutes.

Did you feel the tension dissipate?

What you are experiencing is a release of the stress you’ve been carrying for days. The old adage, “Laughter is the best medicine,” is true.

Why is laughter your secret weapon to beating stress?

You may be surprised to know that laughter is equivalent to fifteen minutes on an exercise bike. It not only lowers the blood pressure, but increases the endorphins in your body which contributes to a healthier immune system.

Life is hard; why make it harder?

If you can determine what makes you laugh; whether it’s going to a comedy club; surrounding yourself with funny people; watching a comedy on TV, or simply reading a book of jokes, you will be amazed how laughter can improve your physical and emotional well-being. Laughter actually distracts you from the underlying stress, and brings you to a balanced and calm state. It is, as they say, infectious.

It is important to laugh as much and as often as you can. It is the cure-all for stress, frustration and, in some cases, depression. Perhaps you’ve used the expression, “One day we will remember this, and laugh our heads off.” By having a positive attitude, and using laughter as a mechanism to celebrate life, instead of stressing over it; you’ll become healthier and less stressed when confronting negative events.

“Laugh and the world will laugh with you….”

With so much going on in the world today, laughter is a precious commodity we all need to get through a day. As you go through your daily routine, find something to laugh about. Look at the bright side; tell yourself the cup is half full; laugh until it hurts. You may not have control over certain aspects of life, but you can control the stress. Laughter is your secret weapon to beating stress.