The Power of a Good Laugh
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Some days don’t start well. You wake up with a headache, skip breakfast and rush to work to continue a heavy debate on what your schedule should look like. Like today.
But funnily enough this reminds me of something really positive:
The power of laughing and smiling.
With my son, Oiva, I have learned that a good laugh really makes you feel good. Oiva doesn’t laugh out loud that often. He opens his mouth wide open in a huge smile, but the only sound of laughter that comes out of it is a small “ha-ha”.
That’s why my wife and I try to use all kinds of tricks to tease that tiny laughter out of the poor kid.
My favorite trick is to start a fake laugh. I laugh for a while in a completely exaggerated way while looking at him. Usually one of these two things happens:
1. I keep laughing for so long that my laughter really becomes real, and I can’t stop anymore.
It’s a feeling way too rare these days. What surprised me was that if you start laughing, it really affects how you feel. The laughter that starts as a trick, as a fake, becomes real, and makes you feel good.
2. Oiva starts to laugh.
In his own style, saying those small “ha-ha”s every now and then (He’s just so cute when he does that). That fills my heart with warmth, and a hint of pride: “I was able to make my son laugh. Way to go dad!”
But the important part here is that a smile, or a laughter is something you can pass forward. If you smile at someone, it’s likely that that person will smile too. And when she smiles she starts feeling good too.
So, there is no reason why we shouldn’t start smiling even if we don’t feel quite that happy yet. Smiling might well be the thing that makes us feel good and realize the good things around us.
If you haven’t giving this a try lately, I recommend to join me in smiling today.
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October 10th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
It’s weird huh…the way you can make yourself smile by first faking it. Fake smile will feel awkward, and maybe a bit unpleasant, but if you’re patient enough, you’ll be smiling for real. And the fact that you are really smiling, gives you more energy to smile…and laugh.
Yes, it’s important. Very important. The quality of communication can be well measured in laughs.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:06 am
Jarkko it’s like you and I are on the same frequency. I love a good laugh. I’ve read about laughter therapy “fake it until you make it” and it really does work! Plus any time you feel sad or upset, a simple smile can make you smile back and before you know it you’re feeling better. Just looking at your picture had me chuckling. Thanks for the lift!
October 11th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Thanks for the comments, both of you!
It’s funny how “fake it until you make it” sounds counter-intuitive but still works.
I guess there’s also the other side that if you really need to cry or be sad for a while then faking laughter might still not be the perfect solution.
But for the everyday grumpiness I can’t think of any better solution that smiling and maybe even laughing. :)