Taking laughing seriously tips for your personal life

Regain your smile! Be sure to smile at simple pleasures - the sight of kids playing, a loved one, or friend approaching, the good feeling of having a task completed, the experiencing of something funny.

Treat yourself to a 'Comedy festival.' Rent a bunch of comedy movies/videos and reward yourself with 'Instant laughter.'

Recall several embarrassing moments in your life, then find the humor in them. You may even enjoy telling these moments to others in a humorous way.

Anytime something annoying or frustrating occurs - turn it on its head and find the humor. Sure you can be angry at getting splashed with mud, or stepping in some dog poop, but it doesn't accomplish anything other than to put you a bad mood. Better to laugh at life's little annoyances.

Read the comics every day and cut out the ones that remind you of your own life situation. Put them on the fridge, or bulletin board.

Sort through family photographs and write funny captions or one-liners on your favorites. When you need a 'pick-me-up' pull out the album and relive the 'fun times.'

Every night at dinner, have family members share a funny, or even an embarrassing moment of their day.

When a person offends you, or makes you angry - respond with humor instead of hostility.

Find a 'humor buddy' to talk to when you're in the dumps.

Exaggerate and overstate your problems. What would your favorite comedian e.g. Eddy Murphy, or Robin Williams do when faced with your problem.

Taking laughter seriously is equally important in the workplace

People thrive in a happy environment. Increasingly more organizations and their management leaders are finding this out.

If an organization wants to attract good people and then retain them instead of losing them to the competition, something needs to be changed in how we treat people.

If people are allowed to have some fun, productivity will actually increase instead of diminish. Customers also love the 'fun' approach in customer relations.Good examples of this are Southwest Airlines and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, who are some of pioneers in creating a humor/laughter culture with their customers and employees.

Humor and laughter keep people balanced in dealing with personal objectives, family and work demands. Humor and laughter are great for stress relief, because they reduce tension and anxiety, and make it easier for people to manage their stress.

Humor enhances creativity and facilitates more effective problem-solving. It makes people look at problems in a different way.

Humor and laughter are great morale boosters, because they make for a more pleasant work environment where people actually want to come and be at work.

Humor and laughter make it easier for people to handle change, taking some of the frustrations and stress out of the change process.

Humor and laughter provide an excellent way for recognizing people for work well done, and to celebrate achievements at 'fun' events.

They are great team builders. People who laugh and have fun together find it easier to work together. They make it easier and more pleasant to communicate and relate with one another.

Humor and laughter can liven up boring meetings and as a result make them more productive, and facilitate creative problem-solving with less conflict.