Can you remember the last time you had a good laugh? A good, strong belly laugh. Do you recall the last time you laughed until tears rolled down your eyes – even the memory of that can feel great. Here’s some fun statistics. Kids laugh 300 times a day, adults only 15 according to some studies. It seems pretty obvious that adults, are not having so much fun! There are probably plenty of adults now who aren’t reaching the statistical average, especially if they listen to the news and get caught up in negative talks with others. Good for the Soul Laughter is fantastic for you physically and spiritually. Did you know laughing has numerous benefits for your health? One of which is lowering the blood pressure and releasing endorphins, lowering stress hormones (70% of diseases are known to be related to stress). It can support your immune system and increase tolerance for pain. It can also increase your immunity because laughter multiplies the anti body producing cells. It also improves the effectiveness of T. Cells. It can literally lighten up your soul and body. Have you noticed on average and generally speaking, people involved in self help, spirituality and positive thinking techniques may tend to take themselves and life a bit too seriously? I remember once teaching a course to a clown doctor. He and his team were hired by the NHS to cheer up children on wards. Wish we could have them on the NHS for adults too! There’s nearly always some humour or a smile, in a situation if you look for it. What makes you laugh? Read it, rent it, watch it. Who makes you laugh? Phone him or her, meet up, play with your children or your pets. Enlightenment is about Lightening up in every way possible- feeling good could be just a belly laugh away! Being positive for manifesting what you want in life involves not taking things too seriously. Now that maybe easier said than done, but there are techniques you can implement everyday in order to be able to let go of being overly serious about goals. Part of falling in love involves laughter, joy and lightness of being. If you can fall in love with your goals and smile you’re over half way there. Putting a smile on your face changes your brain chemistry instantly. After all if the path to achievement in love, relationships and success is not enjoyable, why do it?
''Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. '' Mark Twain
Bring your attention to what you love, what makes you feel lighter, what adds sparkle to your day? Record daily everything that turns up in your life that is a result you want, no matter how small. You can keep it in a book of evidence. It will also train your brain to focus more on the positive lighter side of life and no doubt increase the humour and giggles in your life too. Laughter is infectious and a magnet for happiness.
(C) Alexandra P. Brown
 Choose carefully when considering a partner, whether to go to the cinema, restaurant and how you look after your physical well being. These choices may have a significant effect on your overall life fulfilment. That's according to a study that defies the theory that life happiness is mainly predetermined by your genetic code. The broadly acknowledged "set-point" hypothesis of happiness states that a person's long-term happiness tends to be steady because it is reliant mainly on genetic causes. The idea is based partly on studies that show identical twins have more similar levels of life contentment than non identical twins. This implies that although your level of happiness may sporadically be thrown off by major life events, it will always return to a main set level within 2 years. Bruce Headey at the University of Melbourne in Australia wanted to discover if people really are pre destined for a certain amount of happiness and his team queried people in Germany about their lifestyles, careers and social and religious activities. The survey was first completed by 3000 people a year, and that rose to 60,000 per year by the end of the 25-year study. They found that evident changes in lifestyle resulted in sizeable long-term changes in reported life fulfilment, as opposed to causing the momentary changes in happiness that set-point theory had suggested. One of the greatest influences on a person's happiness was their partner's amount of neuroticism. Those that had partners who scored greatly on tests for neuroticism were more prone to be unhappy – and shown to stay unhappy for as long as the relationship existed. Family values and altruism also predisposed lasting happiness. Those whose yearly survey responses altered to place a higher priority on altruistic habits and family goals were rewarded with a long-term increase in life fulfilment. Those who had a priority of career and material success, experienced a corresponding long-term decline in happiness. The pursuit of happiness was also helped in having strong religious or spiritual convictions. "People who attend church regularly seem to be happier than people who are not religious," says Headey. A person's body weight was another factor for long-term happiness, notably for women. Underweight men scored slightly lower than those with healthy weights, while women stated being considerably less happy when they were obese. Being overweight seemed to have no effect on men's happiness. Robert Cummins at Deakin University in Burwood, Australia, notes that changes in happiness reported by Headey's team could be influenced by individuals falling into or recovering from depression. The group advises its findings may be useful to other populations, having found comparable patterns, as yet unpublished, in the UK and Australia. How is your pursuit of happiness? If you would like any help with issues, press the link here or enrol for one of our courses here.
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