I owe it to my Scotish roots… When it comes to poking fun, teasing, laughing, pulling pranks, or falling over until my sides split, the laughter gene runs deep in me.

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people and the fastest way to get perspective.”

(John Maxwell, The Maxwell Leadership Bible, p. 910)

I went to a Tony Robbins event years ago. There were thousands of people in the huge convention hall, and at one point Tony had everyone laying on the floor for an exercise.

It was a laughing exercise.

Yes, laughing. We just had to start laughing…for no reason at all.

(If you think that sounds ridiculous or impossible, try it! Just start laughing. C’mon…give it a try! You know you want to!)

The laughter in that hall went on and on for probably a good 20 minutes or more. And then when it would start to die out, someone would catch a new infection of the giggles and it would start all over again.

Have you ever been wound up, tight as rubber band, tense about something, and then something strikes your funny bone?

Maybe someone cracked a joke or made some crazy comment.

And then all of a sudden the tension melts away in uproarious laughter.

That’s what I’m talking about.

For me, there’s something about laughter in particular that just makes everything seem okay and practically erases anything that has been bothering me.

When used properly, emotions can be a powerful tool. They can totally disrupt a bad thought pattern. (Ummmm…shall we say something like discouragement?)

Had I not done that laughing exercise at the Tony Robbins event I don’t think I’d believe it possible to just turn laughter off and on like that.

I’m not a physicist, chemist, biologist, or scientist, but I think there is some kind of chemical reaction going on between my brain, thoughts, and emotions.

Those positive thoughts have to be linked to some kind of “feel good” chemicals in my body.

I mean seriously, isn’t that why companies pay gobs and gobs of money on advertising? They want people to feel good about their products so they’ll buy them. People don’t buy logically. They buy emotionally.

This is why I like dance music so much. It makes me feel great and listening to it is one of the fastest ways I can change my emotional state.

So take some time to laugh, okay? And if you’re too chicken because there are others around you, crack a grin and let it widen to a full-on smile.

C’mon. Stop being such a baby…do it!

Previous in Series................... Next in Series