Laughter

Thanks to all our friends who joined us at Megan's on Thursday. Here's a few of the key thoughts and ideas that came out during the evening.

Our topic was laughter:

- What makes you laugh?
- When do you lose your sense of humour?
- What can we do to put more laughter in our lives?

Laughter is infectious. Sometimes it’s surprising.

Laughter bonds people – sometimes in good ways, sometimes in bad ways. It helps us to separate ourselves from other people or manipulate people… for example, laughing at each other and therefore keeping people in or out of a conversation or group, making fun of them and bringing them down. Think of politicians, celebrities and popular culture (sometimes it’s funny to see important people brought back down to earth). Often, it is used as a defense mechanism and in the media, it can be really cruel.

We laugh a lot at ourselves, perhaps as a way of protecting our situation or excusing it.

On the positive side, laughter helps us to trivialize difficult issues. Laughter brings us together when there is tension and can diffuse it. Laughter can bond a group of people. Think about office situations and teams…

We don’t all find the same things funny – what’s that about? Cultural? Sexual? Psychological? Emotional? Intellectual?

Sometimes men use humour in different ways from women…this can affect us in the workplace. Women can be “laughed” into bed – but can men? Is it possible to have an intimate relationship without humour and laughter?

And sometimes women find it harder to be funny and be taken seriously at the same time. How and when can women use humour and laughter more effectively?

In a sense, laughter is a control mechanism in society. While it builds barriers, it can also break them down. Often, when we stop and think about it, we are not really proud about how we use humour and laughter.

Laughter is not the same as a sense of humour. You can think something is really funny, but not laugh!

Physiologically, laughter is a spontaneous reaction – it’s involuntary, it’s like sneezing! There is something really physically good about laughing – and laughter can be a therapy – how can we laugh more for our health?

Laughing is not something we do enough of! We want more of it, but we don’t focus on it… It’s feels like an impulse we have as children and then lose – like our inhibitions and our spontaneity… are we, as adults, concerned or self-conscious about laughing in ways we don’t need to be?

You can be happy without laughing, but a sense of humour can help you to find happiness despite your day to day stresses.