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If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you’re old.
Edgar Watson Howe

We don’t develop courage by being happy every day.
We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
Barbara De Angelis

Laughing at times of adversity is necessary.  It helps us get through the hard times.  It helps us know we’re alive when we need to remember it.

Sometimes it’s a wry chuckle or sometimes it’s hysterical laughter.  But laughter is laughter.  If you can laugh you know you’ll be ok because laughter touches our soul and helps to relieve the burden.

In Monday’s blog post you met Lee who is a remarkable example of someone who remembered to laugh while going through some of the most trying times of her life.  And in the book Ha! The Science of When We Laugh And Why cognitive neuroscientist Scott Weems says that humor actually helps us to process conflict.  The dopamine that is released when we laugh actually relieves tension.

So the next time you are struggling to overcome adversity, try to remember that anger and sadness are not the best choices.  Instead, choose humor.  Sometimes you can fake laughing until you make it with real laughter. Other times, you need some girlfriends to laugh with. And, sometimes you just need a cute cat video or one with fainting goats. Just laugh.  It’ll help.