Psychologists say if a person laughs too much, even at stupid things, he is lonely deep inside. Loneliness is a composite and usually unpleasant emotional response of many people. While, some people like to be alone; they enjoy isolation. I think, even when you are surrounded by many people, you can be lonely. Loneliness comes because of lack of connectedness,company, when you feel you don’t belong to the crowd. Don’t we all feel this sometime? I have seen people sitting quietly in corner in marriages, parties, get-to-gathers or a concert etc. I think when you really don’t feel like mingling with others, you are feeling lonely. One can feel lonely even marriage, relationship, career, friendship – a vacuum is felt. The causes of loneliness are varied which include social, intellectual or emotional factors. It’s better to come out of the loneliness phase as early as possible. It’s better to realize that loneliness is a feeling and not a fact.

Psychologists say if a person sleeps a lot, he is sad. Not necessarily. Some people when they are sad sleep a lot, while others struggle to sleep. But, why depressed people lie in bed most of the time? It’s not because they want to snuggle under the blankets, but it’s because depressed people can’t bring themselves out of the bed. For them almost any action, bustle or task becomes a painful ordeal. Even a simple task such as taking a shower, brushing teeth, or even getting up to go to washroom or getting dressed becomes difficult for depressed people. Lack of motivation, lack of any direction and lack of enthusiasm keeps them in bed.

Psychologists say if a person speaks less but speaks fast, he keeps secrets and lies. Lying is a pervasive trend which we all do to some degree. Sometimes we see that someone associated with us is a blatant liar. Many times we can spot the fibs but we decide to keep mum over them. Liars are quite often worried about being caught – therefore they speak up fast. They speak fast because they don’t want to give the correct information. They quickly jump to answers, give irrelevant details which are inconsistent. A research has proved that people lie because they want to conceal truth. When people intentionally want to hide something, they speak less and if they speak, they speak very fast. And another A research at Harvard proves that powerful people are superior liars.  If someone is constantly in powerful position, his/her lying improves. When people are given power, they are in more comfortable position while lying. And it becomes hard to detect their lies because of their positions.

Psychologists say if someone can’t cry, he is weak. More women are voicing their belief that men and boys should be encouraged to express sensitive emotions. When a man sheds tears, it means that he lives by a code of values and cares enough to show emotion when things went wrong. Medieval warriors and Japanese samurai cried during times of epic tragedy. In Western culture, a man’s capacity to cry indicates his honesty and integrity. Abraham Lincoln used strategic tears during his speeches, and modern presidents have followed the suit. Healthier men and women do not resist crying; people cry out their suppressed emotions, as crying allows them to vent out. It is very true that weaker people don’t cry.  Strong emotions cause our brains to release chemicals that indirectly lead to teary eyes. A flow of tears not only shoots up the level of endorphins – natural chemicals within the body, but it proves a sense of well-being and relieving stress. A flow of tears also release toxins from our body making us healthier. So, dear friends, crying is a healthier sign.

Psychologists say that if someone eats in an abnormal manner, he is tense. Nervous or tense people eat even when they are not hungry; they use food as a way to deal with feelings instead to satisfy hunger. It happens to all of us sometime or the other. Sometimes we finish the entire packet of chips, or occasionally we eat 4 bananas out of anxiety or boredom. I have seen children eating a lot prior to their exams. But when we eat a lot, especially without realizing it, eating can affect or weight, health, and overall well-being. It’s better to make the connection between eating and our feelings. It’s better to understand what drives us to eat so much. Emotional eating is prompted by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they’re stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored.

Psychologists say that if someone cries on little things, he is innocent & soft-hearted. Biologically, there may be a reason why women cry more than men: Testosterone may inhibit crying, while the hormone Prolactin which is seen in higher levels in women may promote it.  You will watch some people crying in theater while watching some emotional scenes or television serials. Innocent people believe Innocence implies lesser experience, lesser exposure in either a relative view to social peers, or by an absolute comparison to a more common normative scale. In comes out of ignorance, lack of knowledge, lack of experience and lack of wrongdoing, whereas greater knowledge comes from doing wrong.

Psychologists say that if someone becomes angry over silly or petty (small) things, it means he needs love. Anger can occur when people don’t feel well, feel rejected, feel threatened, or experience some loss. The type of pain does not matter; the important thing is that the pain experienced is unpleasant. Because anger never occurs in isolation but rather is necessarily preceded by pain feelings, it is often characterized as a ‘secondhand’ emotion. Remember, when a person gets angry over small things it is a sign that he/she needs lots of love. A person craves for attention/love – and when he does not get it he loses his temper over small things. Real love makes us feel vulnerable.

I love this beautiful quote by Anonymous: I am strong because I am weak. I am beautiful because I know my flaws. I am a lover because I am a fighter. I am fearless because I have been afraid. I am wise because I have been foolish. & I can laugh because I’ve known sadness.

Life is nothing but a paradox.

Humor is defined as “the tendency of particular cognitive responses to provoke laughter, physical reaction, and provide amusement.” It is experienced across all ages and cultures. It covers any human communication which makes people laugh or feel happy.

Humor is infectious. When your see people with roaring laughter, automatically we tend to have a smile. The contagiousness of laughter is truly positive; laughter has no caste, creed, and religion. It binds people. It helps you feel better and helping you bounce back. A home where the family shares laughter, enjoys joyful moments is a closely-knit and engaging family. It seems if you have pets at home, when you are happy, laughing your pets also enjoy – that’s the impact of laughter and humor. A good sense of humor, a positive attitude, and the support of friends and family plays a positive role in leading life successfully. Laughter also triggers healthy physical changes in the body. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use. It is the ability or quality of people, objects or situations to summon feelings of amusement in other people.

Most importantly, if you can work on activating your sense of humor along with laughter, it is of tremendous use to protect health of your heart.  According to a recent research by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, which in fact is the first one to indicate that laughter may help avert heart disease, the study found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.

The study compared the humor responses of 300 people. Half of the participants had either suffered a heart attack or undergone coronary artery bypass surgery. The other 150 did not have heart disease. One questionnaire had a series of multiple-choice answers to find out how much or how little people laughed in certain situations, and the second one used true or false answers to measure anger and hostility. The most significant study finding was that people with heart disease responded less humorously to everyday life situations. They generally laughed less, even in positive situations, and they displayed more anger and hostility.

Who doesn’t enjoy a great laugh whenever possible? Laughter is a great healer and one of the most positive and rejuvenating human emotions.  It calms our nerves, reduce tension and stimulate creativity.

Many researchers including Drs. Lee Berk and Stanley Tan have studied the therapeutic benefits of laughter and humor. Laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones such as epinephrine and cortisol which narrow blood vessels, improves cardiovascular health by increasing the body’s ability to use oxygen, reduces anxiety, relaxes muscles, strengthens the immune system, releases endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. Apart from the significant medical benefits of laughter, all of us enjoy being around people who make us laugh. We all love watching comic films, cartoons again and again simply because they help us relieve stress, and they brighten our day.

Mankind is ignorant about the purpose and meaning of laughter, and there is bliss in this ignorance. We laugh at just the right times, without consciously knowing why we do it. Most people think of laughter as a simple response to comedy, or an energizing mood-lifter. It is an instinctive behavior programmed by our genes. One of the remarkable things about laughter is that it occurs unconsciously. You don’t decide to do it. While we can consciously inhibit it, we can’t consciously produce laughter. That’s why it’s very hard to laugh on command; for that matter fake laughter is very difficult

Very little is known about the specific brain mechanisms responsible for laughter. But we do know that laughter is triggered by many sensations and thoughts, and that it activates many parts of the body.

People who can laugh at themselves or at their situation are usually more flexible when problems arise. Because they are able to see the lighter side of a difficulty, they are better equipped in putting their problems in the right perspective.

Do you know the first laughter appears at about 3.5 to 4 months of age, long before we’re able to speak; laughter, like crying, is a way for a preverbal infant to interact with the mother and other caregivers.

A teacher with a sense of humor is more appreciated by the students than serious teachers.  And, teacher who can add humor even to serious topics can handle the class without boring the students besides, the topic will be memorized better by the students. A teacher with a sense of humor sends an indirect message to students that he or she is enthusiastic about teaching; therefore, it becomes a positive force in the field of teaching-learning. Students remember those topics whether serious, boring, unexciting, dull, edgy etc with a pleasure. I think sense of humor is one of the most valuable resources a teacher can use in the classroom because it makes the classroom session enjoyable.

Why only teachers, don’t we all love our doctor, our lawyer, and our chartered accountant, every professional or not so professional people to have a good sense of humor? Instead of telling how serious our problems are, if these people can add little humor – the serious problems can be handled calmly. In marriage, if one partner has sense of humor, the marriage strengthens the bond between two partners; also both partners have lesser health issues.

Another thing about laughter is instead of laughing alone, or if watching a comedy film alone has its benefits, watching it with group of friends is more beneficial. In a group, laughter becomes contagious and lasts much longer than when you laugh by yourself.

Last but not least, life is not serious, we are serious. Many philosophers have said that if you can’t laugh, however rich you are, you are bankrupt. Intensity, deliberation, concentration, focus are not words synonymous to seriousness. Please realize seriousness never allows bringing out the best in us. It kills our enthusiasm, our passion, our creativity – thus killing the charm of doing a good job. Seriousness shallows our ability. Be cheerful if you want to achieve the best.

It seems, chimpanzees can share a joke just like any human but they are also capable of sharing a laugh even when they don’t find something particularly funny, scientists have discovered. A study was conducted in at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia. The study examined laughter in 59 wild chimpanzees and has found that laughter occurs not just when chimps are having fun but also when they want to promote some kind of social bonding; like human smile at each other to improve bonding and further a conversation. Now isn’t this amazing?

Therefore, friends just laugh, there is humor all over the place, I think laughter is a wonderful natural tranquilizer, use it in abundance.