BALANCING LIFE

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Lightening Your Life with Laughter

• BALANCING LIFES ISSUES

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Objectives

• What is Stress?
• Laughter Therapy
• Facts About Laughter
• Self-Esteem
• Benefits of Laughter
• How to Laugh More

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What is Stress?

• Individual/family
• Fight or flight
• Physical symptoms
• Mental symptoms
• Learning to handle stress is a skill

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Laughter Therapy

• Releases tension/pain
• Speeds healing both mental and physical
• Expresses emotion gets us un-stuck
• Increases self-esteem/self confidence
• Gives us a new way to look at situations
• Laughing together brings us closer encourages
  teamwork
• Helps us think out of the box
• Strengthens the immune system
• Is based on medical research proven effective

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Facts About Laughter

• Its contagious hard-wired into our nervous
  systems
• It doesnt come from happiness we feel happy
  because we laugh, not the other way around
• Frequent laughter is a learned skill
• It changes your body chemistry
• It makes other people like you and want to help
  you
• It is a cathartic part of the healing process
• Promotes creativity, learning, resiliency
• Combats the fight or flight response

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Self -Esteem

• Get in touch with your feelings
• Art express yourself!
• Journal notice what youre thinking
• Self-assessment/self-talk
• The Little Engine that Could
• Raise the sky feel the pride

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Benefits of Laughter

• Dissolves tension, reduce conflict, brings out
  warm feelings
• Laughter is a cardio-vascular exercise increases
  heart rate and blood pressure initially, then
  drops them increases flexibility
• Diaphragm squeezes abdomen internal organs get
  massaged
• Gulps in air and then sends it out at 70 mph
  great exercise for your respiratory system
• Increases beta endorphins (the feel-good
  hormones)
• Reduces the stress hormone cortisol, which lowers
  the immune system, aggravates arthritis, slows
  healing
• Its free, no Rx needed, have as much as you want

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How to Laugh More

• Take control of your feelings
• Enjoy and learn from your problems
• Charlie Chaplin take the pain and play with it
• Laugh about the unlaughable
• Surround yourself with useful, positive
  materials/people
• Plan and prioritize your life

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Ways to Laugh More

• Laugh in front of a mirror for 15 seconds until
  your belly shakes
• Wear bright colors
• Do laughter exercises
• Pretend to conduct music Mental floss Evil
  Genius
• Stand up straight look alert (mind follows your
  body)
• Even if you have to fake it ACT HAPPY!!!

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Resources

• Books
• Id Rather LaughLinda Richman
• Laughing All They way.. Marlo Thomas
• The Healing power of humor. Dr. Allen Klein
• Tapes
• Patch Adams
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Sitcoms
• Original Candid Camera
• Surrounding yourself with people who love to
  laugh
• Teaching others

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Lightening Your Life with Laughter

• BALANCING LIFES ISSUES