They say that laughter is the best medicine. I couldn’t agree more.
Earlier this morning I was getting myself all worked up about something and was feeling overly stressed. The stress weakened my confidence and I started to hear the voice of that little gremlin that comes out every now and then. When my gremlin makes an appearance, that little rascal puts on a mighty powerful show. She likes to take hold of my ear and remind me of all the things that I worked so hard to reverse and/or let go of in my life.
Every now and then if I’m disconnected from my “self” she likes to whisper little untruths to me. And if I don’t put a stop to her nonsense right away, her whispers quickly can turn into a loud voice that almost has an echo effect. It’s as if I hear in multi-dimensional voices shouting all the things that tell me, ‘I’m not good enough’ or ‘It’s not good enough.’
But for some reason, when I heard her voice this time, I found it very funny. And the more I thought about it, I started to LAUGH. The next thing I knew, I was laughing out loud until tears were rolling down my face. You see, I was laughing at myself. How silly was I to even think these things and let them get the best of me. The thought of me listening to that gibberish and allowing myself to be full of fear, worry, and doubt created such an anxious state of mind that I really had to look at this from a different perspective. And when I did, I just started to LAUGH.
The more I laughed, the more I thought about the word LAUGH and what it stands for. I understand that laughing is an expression of amusement but this was so much more. What I was really curious about was, ‘What was the message behind my fit of laughter?’ And then in my mind’s eye I looked at the word LAUGH and there it was.
L = Look
A = At
U = Us
G = Getting
H = Happy
Think about it. As a society we are always on the go. We tell ourselves that we have to be better and do better – that our best is not enough. That’s simply untrue! As long as we know that we are giving our best and doing our best that should be plenty.
Look, I’m all about productivity and efficiency. Seriously, it’s what my career has been all about. But when I saw the humor in how we work ourselves up into this hyper state of over thinking everything to the point of almost pure insanity and detachment of our true self, I found that it was necessary to take a big step back and give this the attention it deserves. I had to ask myself, ‘What did I just learn about myself here?’
From this experience I came away with a few things…
Laughing kicks in all those wonderful endorphins that make us happy and can transform our mood immediately. After all, who doesn’t want to feel happy? Laughter allows for us to be forgiving of ourselves and yes, others. I also learned that I don’t have to take life so seriously. I can ease up and be gentle with myself. It’s super important to be your own best friend. We’re not always going to please everyone and that’s okay. Slow down and give yourself permission to breathe. We do our best work when we remain calm.
And most importantly, life is good, so love yourself in this life and always remember to LAUGH. It is the best medicine out there!
