A team who laughs together, overcome challenges together while keeping their humour. When a group of people share a laugh, this shows or perhaps initiates a connection between them. Humour is powerful tool for connection, it is also a way to relieve stress, which let’s face it never goes astray in the workplace. The good news is that in most workplaces there are a multitude of things to keep us amused, it is just a matter of letting the team know about the humorous anecdotes that we encounter at regular intervals.
Sometimes we need to suppress laughter for professionalism’s sake however there is no reason to not have a good belly laugh at the absurdity of the situation after the event. I know from experience that sharing a laugh can bring people together in the most trying of circumstances. Any debacle can be lessened by a giggle and embracing those around us to collaborate for a solution rather than playing the blame game and embarrassing them. When you embrace humour, you create connection and memories for a lifetime (I have quite a few travel disasters that fall into this category). I love a good laugh, I have a very distinctive laugh; it scares small children and I often get weird looks in public but once people get to know me, they tell me they love it and think it contagious. Maybe they are just being nice because they think I might be embarrassed about it, but I embrace my quirky, scary, loud, distinctive laugh because it makes me feel good and perhaps because I cannot hear myself!
When we laugh endorphins are released into the blood and dopamine is released into the brain, endorphins help relieve pain and trigger feelings of pleasure in fact studies show that humans can endure 15% more pain by laughing for a few minutes before. That is impressive and perhaps scientific reasoning as to why I have a high pain threshold. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with appendicitis, I was supposed to be going out with a friend for dinner, with the change of plans I asked her to take me to the hospital. She stayed with me while I was being admitted and we had a good catch-up regardless of the location. After I was admitted the nurse looked at me quizzically confirming that I had appendicitis? “Apparently” I replied. She was surprised as I seemed so jovial and laughing in the waiting room. I just shrugged (I actually was not in that much pain) perhaps it was all the laughter that was helping me?
It is not about always seeing the bright side of life but embracing the setbacks and finding the humour. Having a laugh can improve your well-being and bring people together just be sure to not make light of a genuine disaster, laugh at someone else’s expense or at a funeral or you too might be getting weird looks in public.