Michael

I’m was in Brussels, Belgium today and went to a nice Thai restaurant called the Blue Elephant with four co-workers, two of which I had never met. Sometimes these situations can be a tad awkward if you don’t know the people, but that didn’t happen. I believe it had to do with one thing; laughter.

Now, each person at the dinner table had a different cultural background; American, British, French, Belgian and Polish. In fact, we have wildly different backgrounds, upbringing, culture, world perspectives and belief systems. But, we all had one thing in common and that was laughter. We laughed a lot about nothing and everything. It was contagious. Sometimes you don’t even have to know the reason why someone is laughing and it will still make you laugh.

Laughter (after the smile) is so cross cultural that it endlessly fascinates me. No matter where you go in the world, laughter means just about the same thing. There are even many jokes that easily cross cultural boundaries.

What does that say about the human experience? Is laughter such a fundamental/essential human expression that we even start it as babies? I think laughter is not only a universal expression but also a universal need.

Laughter has tremendous effects on human physiology. Just do a Google search on “effects of laughter on human physiology” or something just as scientific sounding. You’ll find tens of thousands of hits. Laughter releases endorphins (natural painkillers), increases the number of killer cells that attack viruses and tumor cells, increases the immune function by the elevation of T-Cells, increase the antibodies IgA and IgB (both fight upper respiratory infections), increases heart activity and etc.

Think about how laughter eases tense situations, helps negotiations toward compromise and relaxes people under stress. Laughter is the glue that binds us all together in the human experience and at the same time elevates ourselves beyond our limitations.

What can you do? Find things that make you laugh more. See if you can get people to laugh without having any specific thing to laugh about. Fake your laugh until someone else laughs. Read humorous stories. Tell and listen to jokes. Watch funny shows. Watch children play. They laugh the best, do you agree? Learn to laugh like they do if you don’t already.

Remember, laughter is contagious. You could change someone’s day for the better or have yours changed by a simple bout of laughter.

Michael