Losing Our Laughter

There's a great blog by James Altucher entitled "What happened to all the laughter?" He notes that kids laugh an average of 300 times a day but adults only 5 times a day. What a loss!

Laughter is really hard as an adult and yet laughter is so critical to our physical health and emotional well being. Here are some of his insights into how this gap develops added with our suggestions of how to close that gap.

PLAY: When we were kids we had free unstructured and unorganized play before school, recesses, and after school until it was dark. There were weekends without schedules and summer vacations were heaven. It was never up to adults or electronics to entertain us and our imaginations were limitless. To bring back the laughter, plan some free time and play in your daily routine. If you have a meeting, tell the other person to meet you at the park and bring a ball glove. It's so much better than being stuck inside and there's so much consensus that can be built from a game of catch. Go for a walk. Have sandwiches by a lake or fountain. And then do these same things with your friends and your kids. And keep it unstructured and unorganized!

GIVE UP THE FEAR TO LOOK STUPID: Adults fixate on being judged on their appearance and what they think and what they say on a moment to moment basis. At the end of the day, they replay each and every gory detail imagining horrific results. Kids feel peer pressure but they rebound quickly - they forgive and move on. They jump for joy when they're happy. When have you ever seen that kind of wholesome excitement and exuberance in an adult? Let it be you to bring it back! Who says there must be a "top dog" with the biggest house, the fastest car, the largest bank account? If you're happy who cares?? Advertisers - that's who! The shortest path to laughter and contentment is to not buy into their game.

CUT DOWN YOUR ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND WATCHING THE NEWS: Alcohol is a depressant and the more you drink, the more depressed you will become - especially if you drink at night to forget about work and then have to be with other depressed people the next day. For broadcasters good news is no news so to keep the ratings high they bring in beautiful people reading stories of how the world will end in every way imaginable. Politics these days is rumors and half-truths - hold YOUR TRUTHS to be self evident. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have and make your part of the world and your experience of life filled with joy.

HAVE YOUR GO-TO LAUGHTER SPOTS: Endless entertainment and laughter await you on YouTube and reruns (old and new) and practical jokes to plot and play on each other. No bad day can last with Big Bang Theory or America's Funniest Home Videos or Seinfeld or Louis CK talking about relationships or Jack Hanna's critters on Letterman or Jimmy Fallon's lip-sync battles or Ellen's Here and Now. Amass your favorites and share them with others and have them add their favorites to yours. Raise your daily laughs back up toward 300 and watch every part of your life get better.

Next Week: How To Lighten Up