Laughter and relationship. (Social benefits)

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.” — Audrey Hepburn

We love people who make us laugh. We tend to gravitate towards people with a cheerful disposition. A smile attracts people like magnets and makes them feel comfortable. most companies encouraged their customer care representatives to always have smiles on their faces when dealing with customers because of it social benefits. Over the years standup comedy has morphed into a money-spinning venture. People are ready to pay to have a merry laugh. The ability to laugh, play, and have fun not only makes life more enjoyable but also helps solve problems, connect people, create bonds and strengthen relationships. People who incorporate laughter and humour into their daily lives find that it renews them and harmonise their social relationships.

 

  Social benefits of laughter Laughter strengthens relationships 

All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds but shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. Sharing laughter adds joy, vitality, and resilience to any relationship. Laughter and humour are powerful and effective ways to heal resentments, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter and humourous communication strengthen relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When you laugh with others, it creates a positive bond. This bond acts as a strong buffer against dispute, disagreements, and disappointment. Laughter is a non-negotiable for all relationships. You’re more likely to laugh around other people than when you’re alone. And the more laughter you bring into your own life, the happier you and those around you will feel. It has been proven that couples who laugh together enjoy quality relationships. 

   Laughter attracts others to you Laughter connects you with others, as with smiling and kindness, people find laughter contagious. So, if you add more laughter into your life, you invariably make others around you to laugh more. By elevating the mood of people around you, you reduce their stress levels as well as improve the quality of your social interaction with them. The more you laugh each day with those around you, the less effort it takes you to maintain a good relationship with them. You can’t enjoy a laugh with others unless you take the time to really engage with them. People are attracted to those they regarded as jolly good fellows, people that are lively and fun to be with.. 

   Laughter enhances teamwork Humour and laughter, when engaged in teamwork, can be used to resolve disagreements, arguments and tension during deliberations and brainstorming sessions especially when temper or emotion becomes high. Sharing heartfelt laughter with friends or co-workers can enhance teamwork, it can forge a strong bond among members which can have a profound effect on all aspects of the team’s relationship as well as improve their mental and emotional health. During tense moments, laughter can help rebalances the nervous system and forestall defensive responses. This can create an enabling environment for effective and efficient growth in an organisation. 

   Laughter helps defuse conflict Nothing defuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Laughter lightens confrontations, bitterness or resentment. Looking at the funny side of things can help shift perspective, allowing you to see problems in a more realistic and less threatening way. A humorous perspective can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious, angry, or sad at situations. Laughter is a powerful tool for defusing conflict and reducing tension when emotions are running high. Learn to use laughter and humour to smooth over disagreements and lower people’s tension level. Whether with romantic partners, friends and family, or co-workers,

Make laughter part of your life 

Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn, though at times the vicissitudes of life bury our natural inclination to laugh. But then you can exhume it; by seeking out people who like to laugh and make others laugh. By spending time with fun, playful people. Those who can laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities–and those who find the humour in everyday activities. People with a playful point of view and laughter are contagious. 

  Get more laughter in your life with the following strategies: 

   Laugh with friends Avoid negative people and try to keep away from news stories, or conversations that make you sad or unhappy. Seek the company of lively friends Laughing with friends is a great way to get more laughter in your life. Inviting friends over for a party or hosting a game night for friends is also a great setup for laughter and other good feelings. 

   Going to a movie or show Invite friends or co-workers out to a movie or a comedy show. Every comedian appreciates an audience. Making time for this kind of fun is as important as any other health habit, and probably more enjoyable than most health habits we undertake and less strenuous too. Movies and shows are easy ways to get laughter into your life whenever you need it. During the show, the contagious effects of laughter will make you laugh more than you would otherwise. 

   Feign laughter Instead of complaining about the unfairness of life, try to laugh about them. If you can’t find laughter in your life, then feign it. Just as people feign smile to cover up unhappiness, feign laughter too to cover up life’s unpleasant situations. Feigned laughter can be just as beneficial as the real thing. It will still produce the same positive effects on people. Also, your body can't differentiate between feigned laughter that you did on purpose and genuine laughter. The physical and social benefits are exactly the same.

 Incorporate humour and laughter into the fabric of your life. There is no shortage of laughter opportunities from the entertainment industries, lots of movies and T.V. comedies have hilarious scenes designed to make you laugh. Because laughter is contagious some TV sitcoms use laugh tracks to make their audience laugh as well. Laughter is a potent drug with contagious power and lots of benefits for the mind and body.

Welcome to Christmas Island

Poon Saan in the evening

Christmas Island is actually the name of a territory in Australia, it is so named because it was discovered on Christmas day by Captain William Mynors of the Royal Mary, an English East India Company vessel, when he sailed past it on Christmas Day, in 1643.

The 2011 Australian census, estimated resident population on Christmas Island to be 2,072,, these population are spread out in three settlement areas, namely Flying Fish Cove (also known as Kampong), Silver City,Poon Saan, and Drumsite.

The majority of the population on Christmas Island is Chinese Australian who made up 70% of the populace followed by European, with 20% and Malay 10%. also, the religion of the people is predominantly Buddhism with about 75%, then Christianity 12%, Islam 10%, and other 3%.

Christmas Island is a non-self-governing territory of Australia, currently administered by the Department of Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government. Administration was carried out by the Attorney-General's Department until 14 September 2010, and prior to this by the Department of Transport and Regional Services before 29 November 2007. The legal system is under the authority of the Governor-General of Australia and Australian law. An administrator appointed by the Governor-General represents the monarch and Australia.

A unicameral Shire of Christmas Island with nine seats provides local government services and is elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. Elections are held every two years, with four or five of the members standing for election.

Christmas Island residents who are Australian citizens also vote in federal elections. The residents are represented in the House of Representatives through the Northern Territory Division of Lingiari and in the Senate by Northern Territory senators.

From the late 1980s and early 1990s, boats carrying asylum seekers, mainly departing from Indonesia, began landing on the island. In December 2010, 48 asylum-seekers died just off the coast of the island in what became known as the Christmas Island boat disaster when the boat they were on hit rocks off Flying Fish Cove, and then smashed against nearby cliffs

RELEASING YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIALS

CREATIVITY

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun

-        Mary Lou Cook

I love standing out and I love being different, all it takes is for me to exercise my creative ability. Honestly, a little bit of creativity in all you do in life, makes a whole lots of different to who you are.

When I was into bead making, one thing I always assures my customers is that, they will never see someone else wearing the same design of beads, except it’s from me. I never pick my designs from any book or catalogue except where a customer comes with one and wants me to reproduce it.  When I say the beads whisper to me, people laugh, but it’s true. I talk to the bead and the design comes together in my head and I produce it.

Even in my cooking, some days I woke up, and I’m tired of eating the same food, the same way all the time. All I will do is look around my kitchen, see what I have and think of a way of combing them to create something new, just  the use of my imagination and behold, a new recipe is created.

So, it doesn’t take much to be creative, all you need is imagination, inspiration and zeal, to release your creative ability. Creativity is your willingness to exercise your brain and use your hand to produce something new and different. It is all about using wisdom to harness your God giving ability and talent to do ordinary things in extra ordinary ways

Many people don’t fully maximize their creative potentials, most often because of fear. Yes, many are held down by fear; they’re afraid of failing, afraid of mistakes or afraid of ridicules from others and so they don’t bother.

To some, it’s just laziness. They don’t want to go the extra miles required to create something unique and so, they rein their potentials. And some have this wrong notion that they don’t have any creative potentials in them. That’s false reasoning. If we are all created in the image and likeness of God and God is creative, it means that, there is creative nuggets inside of us, it's only waiting to be released.

Creativity is not all about the ability to write, to act, to sing, to paint or be an artiste. No, creativity is what makes you break out from where you are. Also, it is that instinct that comes from wanting to make a change in your life, in your career, in your business and even in your marriage.

 Discontentment and that inner push to rise above your contemporaries and the zeal to break new grounds are what give birth to creativity. You cannot change what you choose to tolerate or conquer what you will not confront. So free your mind.

 I dare you to break out, to give in to your creative instinct and discover your abilities. Experiment, take risks, set new record and then have fun doing that.

EVEN THE MOON BLEEDS FOR THE EVIL IN OUR LAND.

BRING OUR GIRLS BACK

 It started like any other ordinary day. They all woke up with plans and expectations for the day; they left their homes to the park to board buses and cars to different destination; some to work, and some to business.

 As usual, the park was bustling with activities; there was the clamour for passengers from drivers, the usual shouts of hawkers announcing their wares, buying and selling was going on in various places in and outside the park. Cars and buses was driving in and out.  Some others were eating breakfast in various food vendors’ outlet within the park.  Life was going on as usual, the people unaware of the angel of death lurking around.

Then an ear splitting explosion, for a split second, there was an eerily silence; then, pandemonium broke, and by the time the smoke of the bomb blast settled, there were human parts scattered all over the place, grotesque charred human remains were everywhere, the wounded and the maimed screamed and cried out in pain, but no immediate help was in the vicinity, the survivors were still dazed and helpless.

It was the scene of yet another bomb attack by the dreaded agent of destruction, The Boko Haram at Nyanya Park Abuja. They struck, leaving in their wake; tears, blood and sorrows. The carnage was so massive that darkness came at the break of day, the evil so thick that even the moon bleeds and blurs at night time.

 Again and again, they came, they kill, they destroy, and the people looked on hopelessly and the leaders watched helplessly. 

Still within the same week, the perpetrators struck yet again and slithered away with two hundred and thirty-four school girls for victory orgies. Again nothing was done, and the Chibok school girls yet to be found.

Let me ask,

 How many ears must our leaders have, before they can hear the cries of the people?

How many deaths will it take before they know that too many people have died?

The answer……