I know this is a really weird tool, right? I'll explain.
Tool #6: LAUGH. I'm rolling my eyes at myself even as I type this. But it really is in my toolbox. Long ago...(that is hard to write without thinking, "...in a galaxy far, far away.") Anyway, quite some time ago, I read an article about laughing or comedy or something like that and the author stated that the body does not know the difference between real and imaginary laughter. The author gave the example of movies. We know they are fiction but don't we still jump at the scary part, don't we cry at the sad part? The same thing goes for laughter. The body still responds well whether you fake a laugh or mean it. When I glance over at the wall where the picture of my "tools" is hanging, and I see "Laugh", I pretty much always think, "yeah, right," and roll my eyes. Then just to bug myself and give my body a boost, I give a stupid, pathetic laugh. Which makes me kind of smile. That's why this is in my toolbox and, yes, I choke out a laugh in the middle of my sad moment. It doesn't hurt anything. And maybe my moment goes from depressingly sad to a tiny bit not sad. Embarrassingly, we have a laughing stuffie in our house. I sometimes press the button on its tummy and it starts laughing and laughing. It's hard not to laugh. Ya know all those movies I like to quote? Well, quotes can be helpful. A couple of them we like to use: (I'm sorry if I get these a bit wrong)
~"Hey, Mr. Grumpy Gills... do you know what you have to do? You have to (singing) Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming swimming swimming. What do we do?..."
~(angry) I could have been at a barbeque! (calmly) But it's okay. It's okay.
So, there it is....Tool #6: LAUGH
Movie quotes from this post:
Star Wars, the original
Finding Nemo
Independence Day
And here's a link to an article about laughing. It's not the same one I remember reading but it's similar.
Tool #6: LAUGH. I'm rolling my eyes at myself even as I type this. But it really is in my toolbox. Long ago...(that is hard to write without thinking, "...in a galaxy far, far away.") Anyway, quite some time ago, I read an article about laughing or comedy or something like that and the author stated that the body does not know the difference between real and imaginary laughter. The author gave the example of movies. We know they are fiction but don't we still jump at the scary part, don't we cry at the sad part? The same thing goes for laughter. The body still responds well whether you fake a laugh or mean it. When I glance over at the wall where the picture of my "tools" is hanging, and I see "Laugh", I pretty much always think, "yeah, right," and roll my eyes. Then just to bug myself and give my body a boost, I give a stupid, pathetic laugh. Which makes me kind of smile. That's why this is in my toolbox and, yes, I choke out a laugh in the middle of my sad moment. It doesn't hurt anything. And maybe my moment goes from depressingly sad to a tiny bit not sad. Embarrassingly, we have a laughing stuffie in our house. I sometimes press the button on its tummy and it starts laughing and laughing. It's hard not to laugh. Ya know all those movies I like to quote? Well, quotes can be helpful. A couple of them we like to use: (I'm sorry if I get these a bit wrong)
~"Hey, Mr. Grumpy Gills... do you know what you have to do? You have to (singing) Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming swimming swimming. What do we do?..."
~(angry) I could have been at a barbeque! (calmly) But it's okay. It's okay.
So, there it is....Tool #6: LAUGH
Movie quotes from this post:
Star Wars, the original
Finding Nemo
Independence Day
And here's a link to an article about laughing. It's not the same one I remember reading but it's similar.
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