What baking soda and baking powder are to baked goods, humor is to friendships and relationships alike: the essential ingredient that adds volume and levity. Yes, a gut-splitting giggle offers reprieve during life's tougher times and tense moments, which explains why we are so partial to those with whom we can laugh. Furthermore, it isn't shocking that so many of us seek pals and mates who share our tastes, catch our eye, make our hearts go pitter-patter AND tickle our funny bone.
It turns out, however, that the funny bone isn't always calling the shots. Research suggests that humor is subjective and situational, and laughter is a survival mechanism for social creatures. It isn't about the joke being funny; rather, the joke is on us, the company we keep and our circumstances, so says this NYT write-up.
In light of and in spite of scientific studies, I am assigning even more gravity to that old adage, "those who laugh last." By consequence, I assume that those who don't laugh languish. And because I love laughing so much (cue that scene from Mary Poppins), I seek out every opportunity to do so - ever for the sake of volume and levity, but now also for survival.
The sources of a good guffaw are many, and I would like to propose four ways you can get your giggle on with friends, family or special someones.
1. Watch "Guess Who." This movie , starring Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher, is a perhaps unexpectedly entertaining remake of the much-revered "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." In addition to inducing smiles and hoots, "Guess Who" makes me miss the late Mr. Mac and want to be friends with Kutcher, whom I already dug because he grew up in Iowa, married Demi, created "Punk'd" and is currently hatching plans to become a social media mogul.
2. Check out Brian Regan. In the car, around the house or on Comedy Central, this clean comedian will split your sides open with his quirky and creative observational stand-up that somehow taps into your childhood and grown-up experiences. Chuckles by Bri are available on iTunes.
3. Play Rock Band. You say you don't want to do it, but deep down you know you really want to. No matter how tone deaf your ear or lackluster your stage presence, you're going to love this - and you're going to wish you really were a rock star. Yes, they're all going to laugh at you. But you're going to laugh at them, too. And it's going to be great.
4. Just dance. These two words are eponymous with one of the many Lady Gaga tunes that gets overplayed on the radio. But I have to agree that "just dance, gonna be OK, da da doo-doo mmm, just dance" is a pretty good mantra. Dancing is good for the soul. Though not everyone looks good while dancing, shaking it is for everyone because it's fun, fun is for everyone, and fun puts smiles on faces and tee-hee's in tummies. If the club isn't for you, be a private dancer at a house party or expand your portfolio of moves with a Zumba class at the gym. Another option? Head to a cowboy bar to seize opportunities for slow-dancing, which leads to whispers, smiles, spins, dips, and before you know it, a long laugh.
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