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Laughing
in the Face of Stress
To fight the daily onslaught of stress in your life, I suggest
that you use your sense of humor. Nothing relaxes and
refreshes the body like a good hearty laugh. It makes you feel
good. There are no bad side effects and it's non-fattening.
The ability to take your job seriously and yourself lightly
will go a long way in the battle against stress.
From a psychological point of view, work is nothing but
organized stress, so unless you're the chief tester for
Lazy-Boy chairs, your job is where you feel life pressing down
on you most heavily. This is where you need to lighten up.
Is stress that bad for you? Dr. Robert S. Eliot, a
cardiologist who heads the Institute of Stress Medicine in
Scottsdale, Ariz., estimates that as many as 500,000 Americans
die each year from stress-related heart conditions alone.
"Of all people who drop dead, 86 percent - nearly half a
million a year - have lesions in their heart muscles that are
produced by excess adrenaline due to too much stress," Eliot
said. "People become pressure cookers with no safety valves."
I believe that when God designed us he included a built-in
safety valve for dealing with stress: our sense of humor. For
good health, laugh ten times a day and five of those should be
at yourself.
Did you ever notice that the trees that are left standing
after a hurricane are the ones that bent with the wind? The
rigid ones are snapped in two like twigs. Your sense of humor
can help you bend with the gale of stress you face every day.
Maybe you're one of those who doesn't believe that laughter
can be the best medicine. Well, just consider the
physiological effects of a good laugh. After a slight rise in
heart rate and blood pressure, there's an immediate recoil.
Muscles relax, blood pressure drops below pre-laugh levels,
and the brain releases endorphins (the body's natural pain
killers and the same stress-reducing chemicals that are
triggered by exercise). More oxygen is pumped into your blood
and thus your brain. All this can help your body cope with
difficult situations that typically stress the heart, not to
mention the soul.
To lower your stress, start by reducing stress around the
workplace. Help others find humor in stressful situations.
Don't be afraid of a witty remark. For example, if Joe down
the hall says, "If I don't get this report done today, I'll
shoot myself", ask him if you can have his stereo--assuming
you both don't work for the postal service.
Most situations can be lightened with a self-deprecating joke
or one about the IRS. You can use humor to break down
resistance. One department head whose budget had been shot
down three times by her boss decided to use her sense of humor
instead of getting angry. She reduced her budget on the copy
machine down to the size of a postage stamp
and resubmitted it saying, "That's about as small as I can get
it." He passed her budget. Not only did she benefit from
employing humor but her department and the company benefited
as well.
Stress busting with humor works by stepping back from a
situation and playing up its absurdities. Remember that dream
vacation you planned that turned into an episode of "The
Twilight Zone"? Or the project that was going to make you look
so good and the harder you worked the worse it got? At the
time it probably seemed like the whole world was coming down
on you, but two weeks later I bet you were laughing about it
with friends. For STRESS BUSTING I say, "Why wait? Laugh while
it's happening."
When stress strikes, first take three slow, deep breaths
extending your stomach not your chest You will instantly feel
a change coming over you. If it's an impossible situation,
imagine how the characters from your favorite sitcom would
handle this. Call a friend that can make you laugh with the
latest joke. Realize that this too shall pass. In the giant
scheme of things is this going to make a big difference?
Our island friends in the Caribbean may have the simple
solution when they say, "Don't worry, be happy." The next time
things around you are going crazy, remember: DON'T TIGHTEN UP,
LIGHTEN UP.
Jeff Justice, a motivational humorist is the president of
Corporate Comedy which specializes in showing corporations
hows and whys of bringing humor into the workplace. Jeff can
be reached at: jeffjustice.com or 404-262-7406.
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