Laughter is Good for the Soul

I had a thought during a lunch break at work today about how good laughter feels.

A friend of mine is a great storyteller and can make anything into a funny story that has you in stitches. I look forward to seeing him at lunch so we can hear funny stories from him.

I am talking about the kind of laughter where you laugh so hard that you have tears rolling down your cheeks and your stomach aches for hours afterwards but you can't even remember what was so funny in the first place.

Take time right now to think back to the last time you laughed that hard and how it felt afterwards. And think about that feeling of euphoria that follows a good bout of laughter.

What if you could feel like that every single day just from a few minutes of laughter? Or even just by smiling.

Smiling always helps me to feel better if I have been gloomy!

Laughter is good for the soul. Photo courtesy of Lucas Lenzi on Unsplash

Feeling Free

You will always remember how it felt to feel so joyful and to laugh so freely after laughing so hard, even if you don't remember why you were laughing.

I have realized recently that living a calm, peaceful, quiet, stress free life is so much more upbeat than leading a fast paced life. I had never taken the time to think about the toll that my life on the go was taking on my body and my mental health.

I have been visiting my sister for the past couple of weeks following the unexpected death of my boyfriend so I can get my head back on straight and her life is so quiet and simple. When I first came out here, mentally I was a train wreck.

I was stressed beyond belief about every aspect of my life, wasn't really sleeping, and didn't have any energy at all during the day.

My life has consisted of living in a city for the past decade and I feel like I am always on the go.

The busyness of the city has been stressing me out. Photo Courtesy of Jose Martin Ramirez on Unsplash

Letting Go of the Negativity

Being around my sister, her family, and her friends at work for the past couple of weeks has helped me to relieve a lot of stress from my life and I have actually been losing weight that I have been carrying around for years.

I have been trying for years to lose weight and I just weighed myself this morning after being out here for two weeks and I have lost nine pounds!

I read an article from a doctor once in a medical journal that stated that living in a stressful environment would cause you to gain an excessive amount of weight and keep the weight on until you left the environment because your body constantly drenches your brain in feel good chemicals to reduce the chronic stress.

The chronic stress can cause you to eat more food or to even eat more foods that are higher in fat, salt, or sugar because your body craves those foods when you are stressed out.

I guess I never put two and two together in regards to stress and weight gain but now I am starting to see how this whole process really works.

I am thinking that I may sell my house in the city and move to the country to be closer to family and to slow my life down tremendously. I think this is what is best for my health.

What strides can you make in your life to laugh more, reduce stress, or be healthier? How does laughter make you feel?

I know I always feel great after a good laugh!

Thanks for reading,

Ivy