Finding the right therapy
When you are struggling with chronic pain, anxiety, stress or any other life challenge that has a negative affect on your emotional and physical state, there are many therapies out there that can be beneficial. In my experience I have tried countless expensive therapies in order to resolve the chronic pain issues that I have had in the past. On reflection some of these therapies absolutely helped but the most helpful therapies were the ones I could avail of for free in my own time.
Healing research
During my search for health I constantly researched individuals who miraculously healed certain ills and injuries through their own original approaches. One specific individual I researched was a guy called Norman Cousins. In 1964 Norman Cousins was given a few months to live. He was diagnosed with a rare disease of the connective tissues and was told to get his affairs in order. First of all Mr.Cousins wouldn’t accept this death sentence as he had the determination to get over his disease which was vital. Cousins did his research and he decided that he was going to heal himself through large doses of vitamin C and even larger doses of laughter. He proceeded to spend most of his time watching funny movies. Whilst watching these movies Mr.Cousins would make a point to laugh as hard as possible even though he was in great pain. He continued this process until he healed his disease and against the doctors prognosis he survived until 1990.
Deciding to laugh
I’m not saying that laughter heals all ills but the above story really made me think. At the first time of reading Mr.Cousin’s story I was extremely sceptical about the idea of healing through laughter but I’m pretty open minded and I was willing to give anything a shot. I knew that depression, negativity and sadness didn’t have a positive affect on healing so I made a conscious decision to laugh more. Here are a few things I did to get me laughing;
- Watch funny shows, videos and movies – I started watching as many funny movies and comedy shows as possible. (I have watched “Step Brothers” and “The Other Guys” many times over the past two years:)) I also absolutely love dogs and I find them hilarious. Whenever I was feeling particularly unwell at any time during the day I would put on YouTube on my phone and watch funny dog videos. This activity consistently had me bursting out laughing which would instantly dissolve both my physical pain and negative attitude.
- Connect and interact with friends – I am also blessed to have some of the funniest human beings in my life. When I was very unwell and depressed I shut my friends out. On letting my friends back in to my life I spent more time with them having great craic and laughs. I would also text them much more with the funniest content I could think of and they would come back with the same. This would go back and forth all day and would have a hugely positive affect on my attitude and wellbeing.
- Do more activities that make you happy – I made more time for fun activities. These activities included more time doing things that made me happy and made me laugh. This would involve going to comedy shows, playing miniature golf, going out with friends and actively involving myself in other group events.
- Stop taking yourself so seriously – I started to laugh at myself more and share embarrassing moments with those close to me. I had plenty of these to keep those around me entertained:).
- Update the wallpaper on your phone with a funny/positive message – I constantly changed the wallpaper on my phone to something that I found hilarious in order to have a constant reminder in front of me to lighten up. These wallpaper updates would usually involve a hilarious pictures of a dog:).
- Let your inner child out – I also started acting like a child especially at home in front of my girlfriend. This would involve dancing, singing and just acting like a kid when I’m at home. Sorry about the crazy dancing naked around the house with my boxers over my head Tracy :). Amazing how much fun it can be to just let go of being an adult.
I soon realised that our sense of humour is one of the most powerful tools we possess in order to maintain a balanced and positive outlook on life. By adopting the above actions into my life I felt so much better. Though I still had physical pain the emotional pain diminished instantly once laughter was induced. Slowly the chronic physical pain also started to dissipate through adopting many behavioural techniques but laughter and happiness definitely played a huge role.
Don’t worry, be happy
We can all do with more fun and laughter in our life so why not give a few of the techniques above a go to bring more happiness and less stress into your life. Just be warned, I don’t recommend dancing around the house naked because there will be days that you don’t realise the curtains are open and the neighbours may be able to see in. I learned this the hard way:).
Thank you so much for reading.
Happy, determined, positive and focused healing to you all.
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