The Healing Effects of Humor

by Dan Gascon

The time it will take for your healing, and your ability to cope, are directly affected by the feelings and emotions you associate with.

“Negative emotions have a negative effect on health. Positive emotions a positive effect.”
Norman Cousins

Think about spending a large part of your emotional day feeling negative. What about spending large amounts of time around other people who spend most of their time being negative? Think about these words:

angry
upset
gloomy unhappy
despair
guilty sullen
depressed
ignored lonely
sad
hurt

Do you have that sinking feeling? Overexposure to negativity is very unhealthy and can make you sick. It depletes your strength and makes it more difficult to resist disease.

Now think about spending most of your emotional day feeling positive, spending time with others who are positive. Think about these words:

joy
happy
kind cheerful
laughter
delighted calm
joking
vivacious love
giggle
merriment

It gives you a lift just thinking about them! Humor and laughter are symbols for all the positive emotions. They (Continue Reading…)

The Gift of laughter

by Dan Gascon

Laughter is a bonding force that has no cultural, social or spiritual exemptions. Laughter is the sweetest human music, the medicine of the soul, the sound healing and a window into the heart’s concerns and interests. Hence the ancient saying;

By their joy and laughter, shall ye know them, heal them, and love them

Laughter’s main gift, is it’s healing power over our bodies, minds and souls. Mentally, it can transcend any situation by causing us to focus outward and expand our vision away from the issue at hand. It separates us form the “funk” we may be in and installs a sense of self-protection and control over our environment. It gives us a break when things become too difficult to handle. Laughter helps us cope and gives us new perspectives illustrated in this mantra;

Pleasant thoughts, words and sounds mean happiness and health abounds

The physical effects of (Continue Reading…)

The Ancient History of Humor and Health

by Dan Gascon

There is a deep, historical relationship between the two words humor and health. Their interaction is essential for our well-being.

The word humor derives from the Latin word umor, which means fluid or liquid; to be moist. At least as early as 2500 B.C., ancient Greek and Ayurvedic medicines, along with traditional Chinese medicine, linked the body with the cosmos. They believed the Earth’s elements were converted during digestion into three body fluids called humors; vatta (wind-breath), pitta (bile) and kapha (phlegm). In 400 B.C., Hippocrates helped refine the Greek idea of there being four humors, and in the 2nd century A.D. the physician Galen wrote extensively on them. It was believed the four humors related to the elements and the seasons, and were qualities of temperament and disposition:

The Body’s 4 Humors
sanguine
choleric
melancholic
phlegmatic blood
yellow bile
black bile
phlegm (air, spring)
(fire, summer)
(earth, fall)
(water, winter) optimistic, cheerful
angry, irritable
sad, (Continue Reading…)

Take Yourself Lightly, Take Your Work Seriously

by Dan Gascon

“Have fun. Life is very fragile and success doesn’t change that. Anything can change without warning. That’s why I try not to take any of what’s happened too seriously.”
Donald Trump

Some of us have long forgotten the value of humor, how it insulates us to stress and makes us more resilient at work. It can be instinctive, to be overly passionate about our job. After all, didn’t most of us grow up with the “bear down, get serious, nose to the grindstone mentality?” It can also seem to be very hard for us to lighten up when we perceive that doing so will somehow stop, slow or destroy our job and work. Or, we may even reserve our humor, and use it as a statement. Take this story as an example;

A boss returned from lunch one day in an especially good mood, so (Continue Reading…)

Stress-Proof Your Festive Season with Humor

by Dan Gascon

“You know someone is a workaholic when Christmas means to them that no one will be in the office to bother them.”
- Bob Thorenson

The holiday season always presents us with humorous challenges that are truly unique in our year. I’d like to share a personal story on a mirth miracle that still makes me smile today. It was over a decade ago when I was out east getting established in Toronto. I did many things to pay the bills back then, and this particular December I just started a new job working as a retail sales clerk in a huge toy store. I felt it would be a dream job for an aspiring comedian; toys and children at Christmas, what could be more joyous and fun? Boy, was I off the mark on that one.

I dealt almost exclusively with adults who were always (Continue Reading…)

Play is the essence of humor

by Dan Gascon

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

Eddie Cantor

Play is the highest, most important function in determining and maintaining your sense of humor. Just look at it’s definition: Play (Amuse oneself; take part in a game; behave without care or worry; trifle; act the part of; perform; move with light and irregular motions.) Play is something you can never outgrow, it has no age, race, or moral exclusions. It is a quintessential human need that is often the most forgotten self-help technique. It is the perfect companion of delight and bliss.

Play is one of the best ways to retain and learn. It improves the quality of life, breeds creativity, spontaneity, invention and originality. Play strips away barriers, making us real. It provides (Continue Reading…)

Keys to telling jokes

by Dan Gascon

The classic art of telling a joke is as old as the spoken word. Like music, it is a universal language. Jokes can be a very powerful force because by nature, they are two-sided. Jokes can bond or separate, heal or destroy, and be a vehicle for love or hatred. You must be aware. One can never say, It’s just a joke. There is always a meaning behind any jest, and by telling it or participating in it, you are choosing to endorse whatever that joke is representing. There are four things you need to understand in order to successfully tell or participate in any joke.

The 4 Keys to Telling Jokes

1. Know your audience.

Literally look and make a check of exactly who you are among. What’s their age, background, beliefs and likely personal tastes?

2. Know what is appropriate.

What is acceptable in content, language and situation (Continue Reading…)

Illness is a laughing matter

by Dan Gascon

Many of us sometimes feel that when we are physically sick that the illness is in control of us. We feel we must also appear downtrodden, troubled, immobile and not in good spirits. Sadly, when it involves someone else, there can be a tendency to shy away from them. Your sense of humor allows you to choose, think, and be otherwise.

“Humor gives us freedom to act. Patients can be so paralyzed by conflicts and self-imposed restrictions that they forget that they are free to act to change their circumstances.”
Dr. Weeled A. Salameh

Humor can be used as a medication to soothe, defer and alleviate. It improves moods, boosts immune systems, lowers blood pressure and speeds recovery time. It copes with anything, even the challenge of a hospital stay or just going for medical attention. It is an essential tool that is common with doctor, nurse (Continue Reading…)

Humor Tips at Work and School

by Dan Gascon

Believing it is healthy, acceptable and necessary to use humor at work and school is the new wave of the second millenium.

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
Dale Carnigie

“There are no Menial jobs. Just menial attitudes.”
William J. Beaumont

“Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.”
Proverb

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Mark Twain

If you feel things are too serious in your situation, understand that you may be believing the old saying; “If your having fun, you can’t be working.” Logic tells us this is just not the case. People who truly enjoy their work and school can’t wait to get there and can’t really tell the difference between them and play. This is sometimes confused with being a “workaholic” but the people who are fun loving toward their work (Continue Reading…)

Evaluate your sense of humor

By Dan Gascon

So how aware are you of your beliefs about smiling, laughing, mirth, humor and life in general?

Well, don’t just sit there, grab a pen or pencil and ask yourself twenty questions to evaluate your sense of humor.

Answer each question from 1 – 7, and remember there are no right or wrong answers here. This is just a guideline to give you a base to work from. Be honest with yourself; don’t dwell on any question.

Enjoy!

Your Sense of Humor Evaluation

(1-never 2-almost never 3-seldom 4-sometimes 5-often 6-almost always 7-always)

1. I have a lot of laughs.
2. I have a lot of fun.
3. I laugh at my own mistakes.
4. I think happy, fun and uplifting thoughts.
5. I am spontaneous.
6. I like to hear and tell jokes.
7. I take myself lightly at work.
8. I like to watch and read humorous material.
9. I take responsibility for my own happiness.
10. I (Continue Reading…)