The Psychology of Humor; Necessity of Using Humor in Chronic, Autoimmune Disorders
April 13, 2010 by Yvonne Conte
April is National Humor Month so do Something Silly! It’s good for your health. Can your mental outlook really influence your health? Many experts say YES!
How much does the mind influence how the body functions? The question has prompted a great deal of debate in recent years as scientists have come to realize that mental stress has a negative effect on the immune system, while a positive attitude and a good hard belly laugh benefits a person’s health. As a matter of fact laughter is one of the best antidotes for stress and anxiety.
First hand I know the difficulty of living with chronic pain and depression. At twenty-three I was stricken with Rheumatoid Arthritis and some days I hurt so bad I just want to curl up in a ball and cry.
Instead I fight my pain and depression with joy. I choose to find something to be happy about and engage myself in something positive. When I get a flare up and the pain is just too much to bear I reach for my stash – my collection of laughter filled video’s and DVD’s. My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Cousin Vinny and Airplane are my favorites. I also keep a collection of I Love Lucy re-runs and the complete collection of Seinfeld’s TV shows handy. Because I know a hearty chuckle stretches the muscles from the diaphragm all the way to the scalp and releases the tension that causes fatigue, stress and headaches while giving me a giant burst of energy. Laughing releases endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers and mood lifters.
We all go through difficult situations, some manage to find a way to a better time and others whine and complain and share the misery with everyone. I say, “Pain is inevitable, the suffering part is optional.” Living life in a joyful way is a choice we make every day. If you want to be happy – act happy. Bill Cosby said, “You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find the humor in anything, you can survive it.”
So the next time you have an ache or pain and your feeling blue, don’t whine and complain. Instead find something filled with joy to do. Take a walk in the sunshine. Enjoy the changing of the leaves. Kiss your grand kids. Invite your funniest friend to lunch. Just don’t sit there – do something silly!
April 17th Conte will be speaking at the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn, Crystal Lake IL. Call Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital 800-323-8622 for tickets.
Conte will be hosting 2010 CNY Art Show April 23rd at the Links At Erie Village.
April 24th 7 p.m. Conte will Host SILLY BUSINESS AT THE VINEYARD with headline comic Dan Viola. Call 315-487-3771 for tickets.
May 1st Conte will be keynote speaker for Celebration of Women’s Health at the Black River Valley Club in Watertown, NY Call. Carthage Area Hospital for tickets at 315-519-1529.
Yvonne Conte, Motivational Humorist
Humor Advantage, Inc.
4736 Onondaga Blvd., Ste. 231
Syracuse, NY 13219
Yvonne Conte Website
Voice: 315.487.3771
Fax: 315.487.5633
E-mail Yvonne here
Quote of the Day, February 9, 2010
February 9, 2010 by Editor
“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.” ~ Unknown
The Laughtertude Club: Laughter and a Good Attitude, A Winning Combination!
February 2, 2010 by Yvonne Conte
Are you annoyed by rude, ungrateful people? What are they so angry about? When you are cut off on the highway or sassed by a store clerk do you walk away cursing them under your breath or do you find yourself praying for God to bring them a tiny bit of Joy? It makes sense to me that if you don’t do anything to fix a problem, you may be part of the problem.
I’ve got a few people in my life who annoy me. They have bad attitudes. They complain about everything. They are rude. I pray for them all – even the ones I don’t particularly like. I’ve been praying for the same souls for years with no visible change. Then lo and behold… miracles. Suddenly the hateful neighbor is a joy to be around, the rude clerk actually gave me a smile and the family member who will go nameless, actually was grateful for something yesterday. I almost fell off my chair. What happened? When you pray for someone you are wishing them well. I think simply sending good wishes their way day after day, month after month and in some cases year after year, they were able to feel that love and move out of their misery. It’s just a theory. However it happened, my life is easier now that the people around me are happier. Their attitude toward life changed by receiving a friendly smile when they didn’t deserve it, a reassuring hug after a barrage of complaints or a consistent wish for happiness silently sent. Read more
Kindness ideas
March 6, 2009 by Editor
Below is a list from HelpOthers.org suggesting 7 different kindness ideas: the greatest gifts to give.
1. Gift of service: donate to a cause, as a holiday gift for your best friend.
2. Gift of affection: be generous with hugs, kisses and pats on the back.
3. Gift of laughter: clip cartoons, share funny stories.
4. Gift of a written note: send a ‘thank you’ note, write a letter to an old friend.
5. Gift of a compliment: a simple ‘you look great today’, a sincere ‘thank you for a wonderful meal’.
6. Gift of listening: no interrupting, no daydreaming, no responding, just listening.
7. Gift of solitude: spend some time in silence, help others spend some time in silence.
If I had three wishes
February 23, 2009 by Editor
Our deepest wishes are whispers of our authentic selves. We must learn to respect them. We must learn to listen.
-Sarah Ban Breathnach
If I Had Three Wishes:
Hurrying to get out the door on a Monday morning, Kathy Smith started to scratch her name on her son’s homework assignment when she stopped to read what he had written. The fourth-grade creative assignment was pretty straightforward: If I Had Three Wishes. Kathy smiled as she read the first item on her son’s bucket list: a golden retriever. His second wish was to play professional basketball, hardly a surprise for a young jock like Tanner, who spent his time shuffling between the football fields, baseball diamonds and basketball courts in his Alpharetta, Ga., community. It was the third item that made Kathy stop. “To make kids with cancer laugh,” Tanner wrote in his 9-year-old scrawl. What follows is a remarkable story of generosity and wishes coming true. [Read more]
Be The Change:
In the spirit of 9-year-old Tanner, if you had three wishes, what would they be?
Fake it ’til you make it
You have to initiate laughter until you laugh naturally. The body can not tell the difference between real and stimulated laughter. In both situations it releases endorphins and self reinforcing social signals. You can say that the communication between the mind and the body goes both ways. If you experience great positive feelings, like falling in love, your facial muscles will translate this into a smile. Yet it can also work the other way around. If you take a pen and place it between your lips such that it forces the edges of your mouth up, it effects your mood positively. However small the effect of this specific action might be, there are studies that show how movement of facial muscles have physiological effects. The results showed that there are similar physiological effects to actually experiencing an emotion and just moving your facial muscles as if you experienced it (faking it). Read more
Laughter as medicine
December 10, 2008 by Editor
At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities. -Jean Houston
Laughter as Medicine:
Laughter is the best medicine, a cliche to be sure, but a new study has shown that laughter yoga, a blend of playful laughter exercises coupled with gentle breathing and stretching, can significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood-pressure levels, as well as bring about significant reductions in the stress hormone cortisol. [Read more] Read more
Laughter is medicine for the soul
June 16, 2008 by Laura Ponticello
A Stanford Medical School study found after a good laugh, Read more
