Two weeks ago a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video from a short French movie in which a gentleman boards a subway where everyone is silently absorbed in their own world. Suddenly the gentleman begins laughing uncontrollably. This causes the lady next to him to begin laughing and within a few short minutes the whole train is filled with people laughing. Not one word was uttered--all you hear are the sounds of people laughing. I even found myself giggling and grinning from ear to ear as I viewed the video. At end of the movie, the gentleman departs the train and once silence fills the air as the passengers return to their pre-laughter state. At this point I realized how contagious our emotions are on others. Growing up I never wanted attention drawn to me. I did everything I could to avoid situations that would make me feel silly or embarrassed or worse make me look like I had no clue what in the world I was doing. I'm not too sure if this was caused by my type A personality, but I know it was far easier for me to sit on the side-lines than to put myself out there for others to see the imperfections--imperfections that many times I focused on all too frequently.However, thankfully with age and a tad of wisdom, I am learning to let go of what others think of me. That still doesn't mean I don't get embarrassed or as we say in the south, flustered when I can't quite master a new activity. A few weeks ago in my Pilates class, the instructor had us get on the reformer in order to work on some balance exercises. As I was kneeling on the reformer with one of my legs extended on the leg bar, I reached a little too far and as luck would have it, I kept going, and going, and going. And as you probably can guess, I fell right off the reformer. Thankfully no injuries, unless you count my pride. I was laughing so hard that I was almost crying. Soon everyone in the class was laughing. I am not too sure if I was laughing out of embarrassment or because it was funny. I decided to take the latter and laugh in the face of adversity. So enjoy a little laughter along the way. Life is too short to take it too seriously all the time. My challenge for you is, if you come across someone who is not in a great mood, I ask that you put on an extra smile and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised what an impact your emotions have on others. Do you believe your emotions impact others around you? Have you found yourself in a good mood only to pulled into someone else's bad mood? Are you willing to laugh in the face of adversity?  You will earn 5 SparkPoints
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As her behavior continued, I realized that unconsciously, in response to her stress, I had been "chewing" to bring myself some relief. Sometimes I chewed gum (quietly, but with vigor!); sometimes I nibbled, though I wasn't hungry at all.
The lesson in this for me has been in seeing how I took her stress on, internalized it by eating, and took in all her tension as well. Now that I see the pattern, when she starts cracking for relief I try taking a deep breath or short walk. I'd like to laugh, but sharp repeated sounds at irregular intervals are unsettling from any source. What I can do, however, is distance myself and not let her problems become my own!
Great blog, by the way. It was good to laugh! Report
Staying positive! Report
What I think is funny is that youtube video. Although if a man got on a train and started uncontrollably laughing, I'd probably move to the other side of the train and wonder what he was on....
lol Report
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How do I stop being brought down by the gloomy ones. I try really hard to remain happy by walking away or singing to myself but it is hard.
Happy, Happy talk
Talk about things you like to do
You got to have a dream
if you don't have a dream
how you gonner have a dream come true...
Yes people think I'm mad walking down the street singing to myself but then it probably makes them smile so job done. Report
Have you found yourself in a good mood only to pulled into someone else's bad mood? Yes, and vice versa!
Are you willing to laugh in the face of adversity? If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?? Report
One person came out on stage. He looked at the audience and started to chuckle. Pretty soon he was laughing his head off. Then, one by one the whole cast came out and followed suit. Everyone was laughing including, of course, the audience. Then one by one they all went from laughing to chuckling to smiling and left the stage. Not a word was spoken and I remember it frequently 40 years later. Report
Heather Report