Humor and laughter are contagious. When we see someone having a hearty laugh, we often wonder what is so amusing and want to know, so we can also have a good laugh. Humor has a tendency of lightening up the environment, everyone in the vicinity of the person telling the joke gravitate towards the person telling the joke.

Humor does not always come from someone telling a joke. Very often, people can find humor in almost anything around them, including peoples facial expressions, gestures, or style of communication. Non-verbal and verbal expressions convey a lot of hidden messages, you just have to disengage yourself from the details of a conversation and observe the dynamics, and you will be amazed by how hilarious most of us are when we are trying to make a point or convince others about something.

A testament to the power of humor can be easily found in observing the number of clowns that are brought to hospitals for children in critical care, such as St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and many Hospice centers in the United States. We all love to laugh, we feel better after we have gotten a good laugh. Most of us are familiar with the saying: " Laughter is the best medicine." And it truly is.

How about the known health benefits of humor and laughter? The positive effects of laughter have been well documented over the years. Laughter is known to strengthen the immune system by increasing the cellular and humoral concentrations of immune cells (B-cells and T-cells), relax muscles and reduce stress hormones.

The question really is: does our state of mind influence how we feel and how much humor we find in things, or does our propensity to laugh and find humor in things dictate how we feel? I believe the former is the case, some of us just cant find anything humorous around us, while others find a lot of humor in simple things.

For those who have difficulty finding humor even when it is blatantly present, my advice to you is to chill out! Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. The road to happiness is paved with many smiles and a ton of laughter. Learn how to be happy by observing how others in worse conditions manage to uplift themselves and find the strength to continue their lives. It is important for us to count our blessings daily, smile more often, and associate with happy people.

Learn more about this author, Kodjo Adadevoh.
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