Laughter is good for us. It makes us healthier and brings us closer to others.

You don’t need to wait for laughter to come to you. Here are some ways to bring more laughter into your life:

1. Practice smiling, even when you are alone. Smiling, all by itself, brightens your day. You don’t even need anyone to smile at. Just set those face muscles into a grin and feel your stress fading away. Smiling lowers your blood pressure and it brightens your day. Start practicing now!
2. Watch something funny or read the comics. Look for things that make you want to laugh. A good comedy can lift your day. Comedies give us a different way to look at things. They remind us that others have the same problems we do — and they’re handling them. And sometimes comedies just plan do that not-politically-correct thing: laugh at the pratfalls and foibles of others.
3. Watch or play with animals or children. This is one of my favorites. I love watching children discover things. They are so open to possibilities and so obviously surprised when the unexpected happens. My dog is another great one to watch. Just when life gets really serious and everything is going wrong, Smokey gets surprised by a cat or falls all over himself trying to catch a ball. He doesn’t know the world is supposed to be serious. Try looking at things from an animal’s or child’s point of view. You may find the world is a lot funnier than you thought.
4. Hang around people who are fun. Do you have a goofy friend who finds silliness in the world? Do you know people who like to play and maybe get into a little mischief? If you do, try spending more time hanging out with them. Your life and your attitude will brighten considerably. If you don’t know anyone like this, start looking. Open your eyes and look for the people who smile often and find the humor in things. Get to know them. Become one of them. Your life will be a lot more fun — and you might be surprised at how much more successful you can be.
5. Find a silly hobby. My grandmother used to like children’s coloring books. Instead of moaning that her hands were a bit unsteady, she joyfully put color inside the lines, or wherever she wanted. The pictures made her grin. We all enjoyed them. They were filled with life and joy and color.
6. Get yourself a laugh track. Laughter is infectious. That’s why many TV shows add a laugh track. It makes their comedians and their comedy seem funnier. You can buy your own laugh track and play it whenever you want. Just do an internet search on “laugh track purchase.” Some are free and some cost a little bit. Load one or two onto your ipod or computer and give yourself a lift whenever you want one.
7. Set a laughter goal for yourself. Many of us love to set goals and daily task lists. We track everything we do, monitoring progress and looking for better things to do. Why not set a goal to laugh 15 minutes a day or 30 minutes or more. Don’t think to much about it. Just try it out for a week or so. If the suggestions above don’t work for you, then just laugh. It will probably feel stiff and strange at first, but give it a try. You may find that your life is brighter and you can accomplish more than you ever imagined.

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