Are humor and laughter Coping Strategies during Difficult Times?



Posted: Monday, January 12, 2009

by
humor-laughter.com

It would appear so. During World War Two, the soldiers, when off duty, would laugh and have fun whenever and wherever possible, so that they could put the negative and unpleasant memories of war out of their minds.

Why? Because it is a known fact that you can't be stressed, depressed, or experience anxiety when you are having fun. They needed this diversion to forget, if even just for a limited time, so that they could carry on the extremely difficult tasks and responsibilities they were charged with.

It was the same on the home front. There was more humor, more songs, song and dance routines, stage plays and movies created during this time than any other time in history. There were all kinds of fun and uplifting events to cheer up and keep people positively charged and motivated.

And it worked on the battle front, as well as at home. It was this positive attitude and motivation, along with winning strategies on the war front that ultimately combined to bring victory.

The resiliency of people is truly remarkable. And when times are tough, as is the case today, people can and must cope with an optimistic attitude and view of the future. Nothing is forever, and sunshine always follows rain.

To remain positive and optimistic is more easily accomplished with humor and laughter, which referring back to World War Two showed that people remained positive, motivated and relied on humor and laughter to keep them on track.

Without any doubt, humor and laughter help people to see the brighter side and help us to be more creative and effective in our problem-solving. Nothing is accomplished by adopting and maintaining a pessimistic perspective, as this only translates into negative thinking, negative attitude and ineffective action, or worse - no action at all.

Life is short, live it to the fullest, love with all your heart, and laugh at every opportunity!

This Article has been viewed 233 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Joel Hendon
 3 years 10 days ago.
125 fans.
A great article Gerry, and full of valuable information. Laughter is one of the best medicines available to people. My wife and I have been married over 53 years and we still joke and pick at one another constantly. It does keep one from "feeling" sick. Thank you for sharing this article with us.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.