High hope people use humor to cope with the nuisances and blemishes of life.
~ C.R.Snyder, The Psychology of Hope, 1994
Does laughter strengthen hope? Can it help us cope with the difficulties in our lives? I think so! In fact, while being treated for cancer, I asked friends and colleagues to send me photos, videos, and movie suggestions. My goal was to laugh at least once each day, and they helped me do it. I don’t credit their humorous messages for curing me, but they definitely helped me get through a tough time.
There might be something to the old saying that “laughter is the best medicine.” There’s evidence that laughter increases hope, relieves our body’s stress response, reduces pain, helps alleviate depression and anxiety, increases hope, strengthens our immune system, helps us handle life difficulties and builds connections with others.
Want to run your own experiment? Try watching this video and see how you feel afterwards. Are you a little more relaxed? Is your mood uplifted? Is your hope strengthened? And if this video doesn’t do it for you, maybe one of these will get you laughing.
Check out these previous posts on strengthening hope:
A Wonderful Way to Build Hope for Yourself and Others
Finding a Place of Hope in the Midst of the Storm
Finding Hope in a Changing World
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
