Laugh. EVERY Day.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you going to read this blog post?

(Oh, come on… I at least deserve a smile and an eye roll for that… LOL)

Our first New Year’s Eve together, my boyfriend (now husband) made a resolution for 2013 to “make me the happiest I’ve ever been” (he did propose that year) and to “make me laugh every day”. And, has made the same resolution the next 5 years running (I think we see a pattern here ;).  This past Christmas, he meant it literally when I opened a “joke a day” desk calendar.

Look, I can go into the phyisical/emotional benefits of laughter – but you know them. We’ve all heard that it take less muscles in the face to SMILE instead of frown (didn’t Hershey’s Chocolate actually use this fact in an ad campaign?). We know laughter reduces stress and can boost immunity. Plus, it just FEELS good. Laughter, my friends, is contagious.

Do you laugh/smile enough? I promise you, it doesn’t hurt. And it certainly strengthens relationships with everyone around you. Even when you’re stressed beyond belief, a good laugh can be magic… you know “Laughter is the best medicine”.

What makes you laugh uncontrollably? Is there something/someone in your life that makes you smile NO MATTER what life is throwing at you? If so, hold onto them… TIGHT.

Lordy… THESE TWO! I’m so blessed to have a husband who’s GOAL it is to make me smile, laugh (or at least roll my eyes). And Reagan, my goofball of a dog… seriously?!

Mike and I watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S on Netflix nearly every night (even if we’ve seen each episode a gazillion times) – so we almost always end our day with a laugh. Seriously, we watch it so much, Reagan knows the theme song and stops what he’s doing to watch us to the clap.  This alone makes us LOL.  And let’s face it… laughing alone is great . But laughing along WITH someone is just so much better.

I made a comment months ago that we use a “Friends” quote or reference every day. He was skeptical, but since then – whenever we DO use a “Friends” quote, we say “Every. Day.”… which of course gets us both to laugh/smile. So, two “every day” resolutions are met. And for the record, we DO quote “Friends” EVERY day. That might actually be a little sad to some people, but we never claimed to be normal. 😉

So, get out there. LAUGH! SMILE! Don’t take yourself (or this crazy, ever changing world!) too seriously.  Better yet, MAKE someone else laugh. It’s contagious after all.

xo, Dana

PS: Here’s a great read on laughter, and how to do it more often!
https://daringtolivefully.com/how-to-laugh-more