Laughter is good for me!

My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far I've finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already. Dave Barry

So, today is my birthday. A day to savour M&Ms and chocolate cake. It's a guilt-free, laughter-laden day with no calories and no crashing down from sugar highs. As someone once said, "Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake."

I don't particularly like cake, but I love birthdays. When else do we get to celebrate our presence in the world? When else do those who love us get to celebrate our presence amongst them?

Amidst the hustle and bustle of daily living, it's easy to forget the gift of our lives. It's easy to overlook the importance of our presence in the world. Mother Teresa once said, "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

Remember that childhood song? "A drip is a drop. A drop is water. Water is nature and nature is beautiful." On my birthday, I celebrate the relevance of my drop in the ocean. I celebrate the beauty of being me flowing freely in the sea of life around me. Oh what the heck. Why make it just on my birthday? I'll celebrate being me every day!

In a recent study scientists found that we need a minimum of 12 laughs a day to stay healthy. Ill-humour was also a cause of low-self esteem. Now that's sick! German Psychologist, Dr. Michael Titze, found that in the 1950's people laughed an average of 18 minutes a day. Today, we laugh 4 - 6 minutes a day. When did life become such a serious occasion?

It's my birthday. Time to get laughing. Time to dose myself with oxygen. To give myself a one hour workout with 10 minutes of laughing. Good, belly deep laughter. Though, gotta admit, turning 50 with experience is not something to laugh at! That's a whole lot of years adding up!

If I laugh at my age however, I'll improve my outlook and my health. Not to mention, reduce my stress levels, decrease worry lines and balance my brain! PET scans show that during laughter, the right and left hemisphere of the brain are balanced. Now that's no laughing matter!

So for today, I wish you a day of laughter. Of seeing the lighter side of life, the funnier side of the human condition. And I wish you love. Love that turns your world upside down and makes you smile from the tip of your baby toe to the top of your curly locks. Love that fills your boots to over-flowing, that expands your heart to break wide open.

The question is: Have you found the humour in your funny bone, the laughter in your day? Are you laughing yet? What's holding you back?