Do We Have to Feel Good to Smile or Can we Smile to Feel Good?

I love it when I learn something new that adds a bit of joy to life. In the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, I read of a study done by three men – Paul Ekman, Wallace Friesen and Robert Levenson, on what happens in the body as a result of facial expressions.

Volunteers were “…hooked up to monitors measuring their heart rate and body temperature – the physiological signals of such emotions as anger, sadness, and fear. Half the volunteers were told to try to remember and relive a particularly stressful experience. The other half were simply shown how to create, on their faces, the expressions that corresponded to stressful emotions, such as anger, sadness, and fear. The second group, the people who were acting, showed the same physiological responses, the same heightened heart rate and body temperature, as the first group.” (p. 207)

You Are Living Your Life Purpose Right Now!

Guess what? Every single part of you is perfectly integrated into your life’s purpose! And it is all happening right now….

Using Humor to Create Empowerment

Humor has the power to transform your experience with a difficult issue from below it (victimized), to above it (empowered). You may have had the experience of finding an experience funny that you had found upsetting in the past. If this is the case, then you are most likely healed and over what happened.

If you were able to view your life like a movie or play, you could see the natural flow of events go from happy to sad, easy to hard, everything in between and back again. It is a somewhat predictable cycle, though the circumstances do change and may surprise you.

William Shakespeare was criticized for putting humor in some of his plays when people felt the situation called for more of a serious mood. It came across as insensitive or inappropriate. Was it really? Or was it just skipping ahead a bit because from a higher perspective he knew that it was all just an illusion of the same cycles playing out? He figured he may as well have fun with what was happening if he was able to.

Joan Rivers once said, “Everything is funny.” While she created a lot of amazing success in her life, she was not spared the heart wrenching devastation many face in the course of a lifetime.

While I did not always enjoy her style of humor, I have a great appreciation for her intelligence and wisdom. She knew that the value of humor went well beyond the entertainment industry. It is a profound tool that can be used to come back from the depths of sorrow.

Sometimes life gets hectic and things seem to pass by in a blur. Other times the weight of the things occurring may cause you to feel weary or down.

There are times life invites you to embrace uncomfortability, stretch your boundaries and reevaluate your limits. Sometimes in unpredictable, but pleasant new ways; other times in ways riddled with challenges.