Create a Signature Style with Joy, Laughter, and Smiles

In this uplifting episode, explore the transformative power of joy, laughter, and smiles. Learn why these simple expressions are more than just reactions – it’s prescribed by God, Great Physician, for our physical and spiritual well-being. Discover how to reclaim joy even during challenging times. Gain the benefits of these positive expressions.

• Learn about laughter yoga and humor therapy
• How to embrace joy without guilt, even in difficult seasons
• Weave more smiles and laughter into your daily routine
• The ripple effect of choosing joy in your interactions with others

Whether you're feeling weighed down by life's demands or simply want to cultivate more joy in your daily experience, this episode offers both spiritual insight and practical strategies for developing a signature style that radiates positivity.

Find Terri on Facebook at Terri L. Hutchinson's page for more encouragement and community connection. Follow her on YouTube for video devotions and the podcast.

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Transcript

Today's episode is creating a signature style made of joy, laughter, and smiles.  We don't do it enough and we are missing out.  I'm talking about laughter, smiling, and joy.  Do these and it lifts your mood.  Laughter exercises your lungs and those muscles in your chest, abdomen, and the face.  If you laugh long and hard enough, you'll get that dreaded side cramp. 

Don't you miss laughter and joy?  The absence of both is a product of busyness, moving between tasks and obligations at a rapid pace.  If we do laugh, we don't linger in it, reaping its benefits. If we smile, it probably doesn't even register in our mind.  And joy, that's the pinnacle, right?  But our intake of the suffering and sadness around the world makes living in joy seem out of reach. 

A few of us may even feel guilt if we have joy. Oh, yes.  Joy can feel uncomfortable and insensitive in the face of other's sufferings.  We may feel we don't deserve to be joyful.  

Consider the funeral setting. You'll find small groups gathered awaiting the service. People get reacquainted and share memories with low voices. Smiles and soft laughter fill the air as they reminisce. Joy and suffering can coexist.  

Ecclesiastes 3:4 sums it up.  There is a time for tears and a time for laughter.  There is a time to mourn and a time for joy.  

I believe if the center of our being was joy filled, we'd want nothing else.  But the daily struggles grind our joy into a pulp.

We were created to live in joy, and we will when God brings heaven and earth together.  In the meantime, we can revive joy in our heart and our head. Because of the significant amount of evidence on the health benefits of laughter, it has generated what's called yoga laughter.

If you attend a laughter yoga class, you might be asked to participate in an exercise using the words Mississippi and Tennessee.  You say those two words and then you laugh with the same cadence when you said Mississippi and Tennessee.  So I'll try it.  Mississippi, Tennessee.

"Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee Hee". Yes, the laugh is forced. 

But imagine sitting in a class where 12 of you are attempting to laugh in this cadence over and over.  Evidence says hearing even forced laughter sparks genuine laughter. The point of the exercise is during and after a laugh, you feel great because of the release of endorphins, chemicals that enhance your mood. 

With humor therapy, it harnesses the power of smiles and laughter and is often used with hospital patients and those residing in nursing facilities.  

Here's an important question.  How often do you laugh?  Seriously, can you remember when you laughed? Finding something to laugh about is challenging because we're inundated with negative messaging. 

If laughter feels a little out of reach, what about a smile?  What makes you smile?  Your smile conveys delight,  joy, happiness, peace, and cheer.  Your smile is an invitation to passersby.  When I worked at a large medical university, I walked between buildings or the hallways of the hospital.  If I smiled at someone, they often stopped me for directions. 

My smile and eye contact made me approachable.  Smiling, like laughter, has many health benefits. But, you need to do it.  And God has something to say about joy and laughter. 

Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength. Proverbs represents the wisdom God gave King Solomon. God is prescribing a dose of cheer, also known as joy, as medicine for our run down souls.  

Psalm 98:4 Shout to the Lord, all the earth. Break out in praise and sing for joy. Let your lips release pleasant words, chasing away negativity.  Tell God you are seeking joy. Give God praise for the breath in your lungs, the heartbeat in your chest, and his gift of grace for your soul. 

Proverbs 31:25 says, She is clothed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. Get in your closet and put on an attitude of, I rejoice, I am loved by the Father. Wear joy and release it in the presence of others.  

1 Peter 1:8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust Him, and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

Let's say your day starts out rough. You get up late. Your son misses the bus. You have to rearrange your appointments. You run over broken glass, probably puncturing your tire.  But you look up, and you lift your face to the Lord. You rejoice He is your God. And you ask Him to bring you through this day from moment to moment to moment. 

Acts 2:44, 47. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had,  all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. Let your clenched hands open.  Let your eyes seek the good and give your strength to lift another's burden. Joy comes in a multitude of packages.

Be joy, and you may receive joy in return. Smile more, laugh more, and make it your signature style.  

Thank you for listening. I hope you'll join me on my Facebook Page, Terri L. Hutchinson.  I'd love to come into your mailbox with my monthly CareLetter designed to boost your trust in God, tell you about vetted resources for anxiety and worry, and remind you, you are loved by God. 

Go to the episode description and click on care letter to subscribe.  Until next time!