The “Big E” is a 2- week long state fair held in West Springfield, MA. The slide pictured above is one of the many attractions at the Big E. I can remember going down that slide when I was a child and now my own children have gotten to do it too!

As a kid I loved to have a good time, but as I grew older I learned that life carried with it a lot of hardships and challenges. I had time for fun less and less. I got to the point that I didn’t even feel comfortable having fun when someone invited me to. I was uneasy and wanted to get away from the atmosphere that was relaxed, happy and fun. It’s only been in the last couple years that I’ve gotten much more comfortable with fun. Since then I have stopped at the park with a grown adult friend to swing on the swings and hosted a Birthday party for myself at a duckpin bowling alley!

You may be wondering why I’m talking about fun. Perhaps you’re like me in that you’re an adult, a parent, business owner or employee and responsible in many ways for many things. All that I just mentioned only makes it more important I bring up this word “fun” and create space for a discussion around it.

Having fun, laughing and feeling lightness in our spirit is vital to good health! If you find yourself in a season of life that is especially difficult, please create opportunities and find times to implement something stress-free and easy that you can do. Then make a point of doing it by yourself or do it with someone you love being with and someone who loves being with you! When in the company of someone who loves the real, true you its refreshing and healing. I’m going to share a few comments I pulled from an article by Dr. Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist, who I have learned so much from over the last several months.

Dr. Leaf says, “… laughter … releases an instant flood of feel-good chemicals that boost the immune system. Almost instantly, it reduces levels of stress hormones. A really good belly laugh can make cortisol drop by 39%, adrenaline by 70%, and the feel-good hormone, endorphin, increase by 29%. It can even make growth hormones skyrocket by 87%! Other research shows how laughter boosts your immune system by increasing levels of immunity and disease-fighting cells… Humor gets both sides of your brain working together, which is one of the keys to releasing potential. Some studies even suggest that laughter helps to increase the flexibility of thought, and is as effective as aerobic exercise in boosting health in body and mind.… Laughter, quite literally, dissolves distressing toxic emotions because you can’t feel mad or sad when you laugh. When you laugh and have fun, endorphins are released which make you feel so great and at peace, those toxic thoughts can’t get out of your brain fast enough. Fun protects your heart because when you laugh and enjoy yourself, your body releases chemicals that improve the function of blood vessels and increase blood flow, protecting against heart attack. Fun reduces damaging stress chemicals quickly which, if they hang around in your body for too long, will make you mentally and physically sick. Fun and laughter also increase your energy levels.
Having fun through play and laughter is the cheapest, easiest, and most effective way to control toxic thoughts and emotions and their toxic stress reactions. It rejuvenates the mind, body, and spirit and gets positive emotions flowing.”

I appreciate Dr. Leaf’s research and her valuable thoughts! If you’re interested in learning more from her, check out her podcast here. As I continue now with my my own thoughts, I’m hoping you’ll think back to some times when you’ve had uncontrollable laughter with a friend, or by yourself, over something you found funny. How did it make you feel? Just yesterday, this happen to me while I was out with a friend. It was so much fun to laugh really hard together. Even as I think back on it now I find myself grinning. It was only for a moment of our 3 hours together, but it is a highlight of my time with her.

Pause for a moment and consider how many serious conversations and situations that come up in the course of your every day. With that in mind, you might as well invite in the fun and laughter to balance out life a little bit! I challenge you to find ways to have fun and to be the one to bring laughter and lightness into a room that would otherwise not have it. People will look forward to having you in their space and you will enjoy life more. The best days are ahead of us! Go get ‘em.

(The excerpt from Dr. Leaf was a part of an article that can be found here.)