Yesterday night I saw my daughter laughing a lot seeing the serial “Jessie”. She went down from the bed and started rolling on the floor and laughing. I immediately recalled that this is called ROFL. She was not sure what I was talking about. She continued with her laughter therapy and then came to me later and asked me what did you say earlier? I told her there is an acronym “ ROFL” and that is about rolling on the floor and laughing. I was wondering when was the last time I did it? Or at least come close to it.
It is important to laugh out loud and have fun. I was recollecting some of the moments when I was blessed with having different kinds of laughter. Let me categorize it this way. When we see comedy movies and comic scenes and I laugh a lot. Some of our best laugh riots in the last 6 months have been as below. In the recent past, I laughed instantly when I intentionally saw a comedy serial and when I saw certain memes during my business travel. Here I’ve classified laughter into 5 groups
Movies – anytime every time contagious laughter
We at times play some of our old classic movies just to hear and see those scenes once again which have made us laugh anytime. I used to wonder how come the Mahabharat scenes from Jane Bi Do Yaaro or a lot of scenes from Chupke Chupke, Golmaal and Angoor are still so refreshing or particularly that aeroplane scene from Dhamaal.
Memes that made me laugh
This is particularly helpful when I am travelling and many memes have made me laugh out instantaneously in public places or when I am alone. It is on the flight that somebody asked me, “can you please share what made you laugh like that? Laughter has its own side effect. I had the company of that person with whom we had a nice conversation and we also ended up sharing a lot of favourite books and interests.
Quotes for silent laughter
Humanity has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. My favourite ones are from Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde who had the best humorous quotes in my view and I had the opportunity to blog about them in the past. How can you not laugh when you see, ” I can resist anything, except temptation” by Wilde and ” Go to heaven for climate and hell for company”. I recollect how my grandfather used to laugh along with his friends in the verandah when I used to study. He used to laugh out loud literally and I fondly remember a lot of people whom I see had this belly laughter. Belly laughter is considered the most honest type of laughter. It may also be the hardest type to experience. Why? Because we have to find something truly hilarious before we’ll let go with the kind of laughter that has us clutching our bellies and gasping for air.
Comedy videos for stress-relieving laughter
Our family favourite Amit Tandon’s videos and my favourite Marimayam short clips have had a tremendous impact on me to get the chemical flow and get into a mood. I liked this particular one “Facebook Ke Side Effects” which makes me laugh out loud (LOL) every time I watch it. I have found that these are good pathways to make you relax and also rejuvenate. I do admit that I don’t see these videos when I am in the middle of a crisis. At least I have not found that hook to have a comedy playlist which can take you away from that point in time and make you think better after laughter. I found some research supporting this view. When you laugh, your brain releases endorphins, the body’s natural mood boosters. Laughing can also boost your respiration and heart rate, like a mini cardio session. A good laugh ripples through your body, causing muscles to tense and then r-e-l-a-x.
Anecdotes that tickle your bones.
When you travel there are scene stealers. One such incident was I was entering a hotel gate and the vehicle stops for checking. The guard didn’t see our vehicle initially. I noticed that when the driver honked he came over immediately. But that honking disturbed him from what he was doing. It made me smile all the way. He was looking at the mirror which he uses for checking the engine beneath the vehicles. How can you not laugh when you see somebody shaping his hair by looking at this ” Vehicle inspecting mirror”
I found the above 5 categories which had a big role to play in laughter and I keep adding more to the list. The latest is a humour journal. The idea is to create your own humour lines. It’s too early to share it as the 6th category, but I’ll leave you with a couple of them that I wrote a few days back. It was a quote from Mark Twain that I made for myself. “Don’t let schooling interfere with your education. I never let engineering interfere with my academics”. That is what I say and do when somebody asks me about what I did in my engineering.
Here’s what I heard from my wife as I was not there at home for this incident. My younger daughter was not ready to wear those earrings on that day. Even after repeated requests, she didn’t relent. My father-in-law tried to share some words of encouragement to persuade her to wear it as she will look beautiful from the outside. Hearing this my daughter immediately said, “I am beautiful inside”.
Laughing out and being humourous is like ” being beautiful inside”. Take some time out to smile and laugh.
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