Laugh At Yourself (So The World Laughs With You)

When we make ourselves the subject of our own laughter, we are humanized, pulling ourselves down a notch to flawed, imperfect, joyously wonderful human beings.

Needed Attributes

• A sense of humor
• A dose of self-esteem
• The willingness to be imperfect
• A well-tuned guffaw
• Poor fashion sense

SEE YOURSELF AS A SITCOM WAITING TO HAPPEN

When you find ridiculous things happen to you, imagine how they would sound to an outsider looking in. When my children were small phrases like; "Don't put the dog in the refrigerator," "Crayons don't work well after you stick them in your nose," and my favorite, "I am not a bath toy!" often came out of my mouth. I thought to myself, this is funnier than any sitcom. I realized then I could either laugh or cry, so I chose laughter.

WHEN OTHERS LAUGH AT YOU, GET THE JOKE

If you leave the house in mismatched shoes with yesterday's lunch on your lapel, can you look at your foe paw, see it as a challenge and laugh? Lets face it, how many people laugh in the wake of a Doc Martin on one foot and a stiletto on the other? How many people can view the Sloppy Joe on their shirt as leftovers? Take a bold step — laugh at your own fashion glitch and the fashion police may be too busy laughing to arrest you.

PLAN A JOKE ON YOURSELF

Sometimes things are not spontaneous and you might need to stir things up to get your daily dose of chuckles. Consider wearing your clothes inside out or your underwear over your clothes. Put your make-up on with the skill of a farsighted clown, go out with bed-head. Pass gas during an important meeting. Eat gummy worms for lunch or better yet play with gummy worms during a business meeting. If they don't sent you out for a psychiatric evaluation it's probably because they are laughing so hard they forgot.

MAKE FUNNY FACES

Turn your facial expressions up a notch. Practice awe, excitement, disbelief and goofy in the mirror. When you respond to others let them know that they are important by the quality of your response. If Uncle Eddie has just died, be appropriately remorseful, but if your bad joke has just died follow it up with a "badda boom" and an ear to ear grin.

DO NOT FORGET THAT LAUGHTER IS CONTAGIOUS

Have you ever started laughing for no apparent reason, then a few others join in, and before you know it the whole room is engaged in side splitting laughter and no one even knows why? That!

KEEP IT CLEAN

People laugh when they are uncomfortable (i.e. hear or see things that are lewd, inappropriate or sexually explicit) or they laugh if it's funny. If you keep it clean you know they are laughing because it's funny, and funny is the best reason to laugh. So are relief, release and just plain good fun!

Tips & Warnings

• Laugh until your belly hurts and spit flies out of your mouth
• Do several outrageous things per day
• Laugh at yourself and let others support you in this effort
• Laugh at absolutely nothing
• Laugh at something so absurd it might otherwise make you cry
• Laugh
• Laugh again
• Laugh some more
• Keep your laughter under the speed of sound
• Keep your humor safe and clean
• Don't laugh, if you have a thorn in your side, a hair up your nose or feeling unusually cheeky as this could cause irreparable harm.

7/1/2009 I like this one a lot. I'm definitely going to start wearing underwear on my head more often! He he. 5

5/27/2009 haha this is great! =D 5* and a recommendation!

5/23/2009 These are some great ideas to keep yourself laughing. Thanks for sharing and making me laugh! 5*

5/18/2009 Lauging is so good for the soul. Good article. 5*s

5/12/2009 I can laugh at myself when I'm embarassed or when I'm trying to be funny. When others crack jokes it's HARD for me, but I've been getting better at it. It takes time, but I'm getting there. LOL