 Photo by Elina Fairytale at Pexels.com "Laughter is the best medicine." What is it about a mutual laugh shared between friends or family that can turn around even the darkest of days? Laughter is such a healing balm that bonds all kinds of people and helps them regain perspective, clear their minds, and get them back on track in general. So where do we find these pockets of joy? Listen up, everyone, because I have some great locations for you to look that will surely get you giggling.  Photo by Helena Lopes at Pexels.com Funny FriendsWhen I need a good laugh, I have several friends who meet that need in a big way. These particular friends at times don't even try to be funny, but they get me going with tears of laughter every time. The world needs more of those types of people ASAP. If you have some friends like that, consider yourself blessed. These humorous peeps are not stress-free but have found the value of being able to see the lighter side of things, and for them in many ways, it truly has been their secret to success. I strive to be more like them because it is a truly wonderful way to live your life.  Click here for an excerpt from the book. Funny KidsIf you are new here, you may not know that I have been an elementary school teacher for over 20 years. It is hard to believe that I am two years from retirement, and it will be here before you know it. I have so many funny stories from my years as a teacher that I am compiling them all in a book that is due to be out next year, called Chuckles and Chalk Dust: Stories From the Classroom to Warm Your Heart and Make You Smile. If you are interested in snagging a copy when it is published, please fill out the button below, and I will gladly add you to the waitlist. A funny story that happened this week was tied to a drawing that a student gave me. We had been talking about healthy eating, and he drew me a picture of two beautiful and detailed cakes—one on the back of the paper and one on the front. I commented on how lovely the cakes were, but that I am trying to eat healthy. He said, “No worries. One is 500 calories and the other is 0 calories. Make your choice.” I laughed out loud because he knows that I am trying to eat healthy, so he sure covered all bases.  Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash Funny TV Shows and MoviesTo lighten your heart, a great strategy is to tune into your favourite funny TV shows or movies. My favourite laugh-out-loud show is Everybody Loves Raymond. This show is so relatable, and I am always guaranteed to feel better than I did before pressing play on the remote with this hilarious show. I encourage you to tune into this show or other lighthearted comedic shows or movies. It is so therapeutic to look at the funny side of life as often as possible. I know that this season brings an endless To-Do List, but be sure to pencil in time for laughter. Your soul needs it. Call to action:
Until next time, Here’s to lots of smiles and belly laughs! Dana
Tags: laughter is the best medicine, find the funny, joyful moments, holiday hustle, humor, lighten up, choose joy, daily faith and joy, Little Lessons Learned by Dana, spread joy, Christmas cheer, life lessons, find the good, joy in the journey, simple joys, healing through humor
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 Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev (Pexels.com) “Find out where joy resides and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.” Robert Louis Stevenson Let’s be honest, life can get far too serious sometimes. We all need to take a break from the day to day tasks and try to lighten up if possible. Often I find the need to make a conscious effort to try to see the lighter side of things or find a humorous angle on a situation. It is often the very way to break the tension in a stressful scenario and cope with life’s challenges. I have certain friends that I gravitate towards when I need to feel supported and have a good laugh or a chance to reframe a situation that at the time is getting me down. My friend Laurel is a genius in this area. True to form whenever I chat with her, she has a unique way of lifting my spirits. She helps me feel better by just spending time with her through her humorous, yet very compassionate manner. Laurel and I worked together on many school musicals she wrote that kept the audience in stiches with her witty one-liners and funny take on things. I will never look at talking trees the same as these characters provided us with lots of funny dialogue and giggles. Special times and memories I will always cherish. I am very blessed to have her and people like her in my life. I also enjoy watching funny movies and TV shows or reading witty Facebook posts to share some good laughs with the family. The minions from the Despicable Me movies are so funny. I have watched the movies over and over and still laugh out loud at their crazy antics. ("It was your cousin's idea." "WHAAAT???" )  Photo by Jiayuan Lian on Unsplash A TV show favourite of mine is The Middle. It is a hilarious show about the disorganized, dysfunctional Heck family who can’t seem to get their act together in any aspect of their lives no matter how hard they try. If you have not watched this show, I highly recommend it! Although their family issues are somewhat exaggerated, their trials and tribulations are funny because for the most part we have all been there! We also know in spite of their shortcomings they love each other deeply and that they will work it out in their own quirky way in the end! On Facebook I read a post this week that said “I smile because you are my sister. I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it!” I’m sure my sister Judy would enjoy this quote! These various outlets provide a light hearted distraction for me which is very helpful some days! When my son Tyler was younger he had a famous saying that was simply “Let’s laugh about it!” The cool thing about it though, was he was only three years old when he coined this phrase. He had a innate ability to notice when there was tension in the house or a sad atmosphere and he would say in his sweet, little voice “Mom, Dad, let’s laugh about it!” It was his unique way even at a very young age to basically say let’s lighten up a bit and see this situation differently. Wise words from such a young boy. After he would say that, he would throw his head back and break out in spontaneous giggles which in itself was enough to break the tension. How could you not smile at that?! Babies are very funny little characters too. They can find the same scenario funny over and over again. I remember playing peek a boo again and again with Shannon when she was a baby. Every time she would wait in eager anticipation, shudder from the “surprise,“ and giggle so hard like she was not expecting this every time I uttered the magic words! Pretty easy to entertain! We could have carried on this show all night!  Photo From Alyshia Bilokraly In Science class one year we were discussing our unit on solids, liquids and gases and yes you can probably imagine where I am going with this! As we were discussing gasses one student much to his horror accidentally contributed to our discussion in let’s just say a most embarrassing way. All the students kind of held their breath and looked at me for direction not knowing what to do next. I quickly said “Thank you for that true life example of what we are talking about today! By the way don’t worry about it! It happens to all of us!” Next we all broke out into hilarious laughter including the once mortified little boy as I could tell he could now relax about this unfortunate occurrence. I also remember discussing the same topic with another little boy. When asked to name one liquid you should never drink, after some very thoughtful consideration he said, “hot lava.” The boy beside him and I just lost it as the answer was so unexpected. The boy who said it was fine with our giggles, yet extremely puzzled as he proceeded to tell us why it was an unacceptable beverage in so many various ways! Too funny and another example of why I love my job. Working with kids all day is never a dull moment and a good sense of humour is essential that’s for sure! Some situations are not funny at all and I am certainly not suggesting that we make light of heartache and sorry. That is a whole other story that I addressed in my last blog. What I am speaking of are the little things that can happen throughout our day that can accumulate into stressful scenarios if we let them. Sometimes we need to just stop, take a deep breath and refocus. What may seem a bad day, could be turned around if we are able to laugh a bit more! We need to change our tone and try to find our "giggly voices." We are all in this together and a great shared laugh is a wonderful way to bond with those around us if we are open to it. So whenever possible look for an opportunity to bring humour and laughter into your life whether it is through people, books, funny stories, music or positive activities. This is a needed and necessary part of your life and you will be so very glad you did! Let’s face it, if a three year old can “get it,” what’s our excuse? Proverbs 17: 22 ~ A merry heart doeth good like a medicine! Little Lesson Learned: Take time to laugh at life and situations whenever possible. A good belly laugh can work wonders for an all too serious and stressful situation! Until next time, Dana Copyright: © 2014 littlelessonslearnedbydana (Dana Romualdi) Dana Romualdi, the copyright holder reserves all rights to the content on the blog and website Little Lessons Learned by Dana, including the right to reproduce, distribute, and display the content. No content or photographs may be reproduced or modified. Blogs may be shared on social media platforms in their entirety only with full credit given to the owner. Any photographs used by other photographers are used with permission and are also protected. All Rights Reserved.
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