“Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.” – Anonymous
Does that quote make you smile? It does me. I think being able to laugh at yourself is key in maintaining good health and happiness and relieving stress.
Here’s one brief example: Years ago as a stress reliever I planned a little time out for myself to do something fun. This particular time the fun activity was to watch a good recorded movie on my TV. I had a papasan chair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papasan_chair) at the time and so I dragged it in front of the rather small TV in good watching distance, made myself some iced tea in a huge cup, and sat down with cup and remote in hand to begin.
Well, if you’ve ever owned a papasan chair you know they’re not the most stable chairs in the world although they are very comfortable. A fraction of a second after I sat down, I suddenly found myself face down on the floor next to the chair, covered head to toe in very cold iced tea, with the chair upside down on top of me.
I started giggling at the ridiculousness of my situation, especially how I imagined the incident would have looked like to an observer. Those giggles quickly turned to belly laughter and soon I was crying I was laughing so hard. I must have laid there and laughed for a good 10 to 15 minutes. And the stress I had been attempting to relieve myself of was gone before I did any of what I had intended for stress relief.
It really is amazing how beneficial laughter, especially at oneself, can be for your stress level. Please comment on this post and tell me of a time you had a good laugh at yourself and how you felt afterward.