The Best Medicine

What is the greatest reward of being alive? Is it chocolate, sex, ice cream, tropical vacations, hugs from children, a perfect night’s sleep, or the satisfaction of a job well done? A thousand people, a thousand different answers. But one supreme pleasure that spans all people is laughter.

Little can compare to the feeling of a deep, complete, heartfelt laughing spell. No matter your age, wealth, race, or living situation, life is good when laughter is frequent.

Life is also healthier. Research finds that humor can help you cope better with pain, enhance your immune system, reduce stress, even help you live longer. Laughter, doctors and psychologists agree, is an essential component of a healthy, happy life.

As Mark Twain once said, “Studying humor is like dissecting a frog — you may know a lot but you end up with a dead frog.” Nonetheless, we’re giving it a try. Here are 19 tips for getting — or growing — your sense of humor, based partly on the idea that you can’t be funny if you don’t understand what funny is.

1. First, regain your smile. A smile and a laugh aren’t the same thing, but they do live in the same neighborhood. Be sure to smile at simple pleasures — the sight of kids playing, a loved one or friend approaching, the successful completion of a task, the witnessing of something amazing or humorous. Smiles indicate that stress and the weight of the world haven’t overcome you. If your day isn’t marked by at least a few dozen, then you need to explore whether you are depressed or overly stressed.

2. Treat yourself to a comedy festival. Rent movies like Meet the Parents; Young Frankenstein; Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; This Is Spinal Tap; Animal House; Blazing Saddles; Trading Places; Finding Nemo. Reward yourself frequently with the gift of laughter, Hollywood style.

3. Recall several of the most embarrassing moments in your life. Then find the humor in them. Now practice telling stories describing them in a humorous way. It might take a little exaggeration or dramatization, but that’s what good storytelling is all about. By revealing your vulnerable moments and being self-deprecating, you open yourself up much more to the humorous aspects of life.

4. Anytime something annoying and frustrating occurs, turn it on its head and find the humor. Sure, you can be angry at getting splashed with mud, stepping in dog poop, or inadvertently throwing a red towel in with the white laundry. In fact, that is probably the most normal response. But it doesn’t accomplish anything other than to put you in a sour mood. Better to find a way to laugh at life’s little annoyances. One way to do that: Think about it as if it happened to someone else, someone you like — or maybe someone you don’t. In fact, keep running through the Rolodex in your head until you find the best person you can think of to put in your current predicament. Laugh at him, then laugh at yourself!

5. Read the comics every day and cut out the ones that remind you of your life. Post them on a bulletin board or the refrigerator or anywhere else you can see them frequently.

6. Sort through family photographs and write funny captions or one-liners to go with your favorites. When you need a pick-me-up, pull out the album.

7. Every night at dinner, make family members share one funny or even embarrassing moment of their day.

8. When a person offends you or makes you angry, respond with humor rather than hostility. For instance, if someone is always late, say, “Well, I’m glad you’re not running an airline.” Life is too short to turn every personal affront into a battle. However, if you are constantly offended by someone in particular, yes, take it seriously and take appropriate action. But for occasional troubles, or if nothing you do can change the person or situation, take the humor response.

A Daily Ritual

9. Sign up to receive the Top 10 list from David Letterman every day via e-mail. You can find it at www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow.

10. Spend 15 minutes a day having a giggling session. Here’s how you do it: You and another person (partner, kid, friend, etc.) lie on the floor with your head on her stomach, and her head on another person’s stomach and so on (the more people the better). The first person says, “Ha.” The next person says, “Ha-ha.” The third person says, “Ha-ha-ha.” And so on. We guarantee you’ll be laughing in no time.

11. Read the activity listings page in the newspaper and choose some laugh-inducing events to attend. It could be the circus, a movie, a stand-up comic, or a funny play. Sometimes it takes a professional to get you to regain your sense of humor.

12. Add an item to your daily to-do list: Find something humorous. Don’t mark it off until you do it, suggests Jeanne Robertson, a humor expert and author of several books on the topic.

13. When you run into friends or coworkers, ask them to tell you one funny thing that has happened to them in the past couple of weeks. Become known as a person who wants to hear humorous true stories as opposed to an inpidual who prefers to hear gossip, suggests Robertson.

14. Find a humor buddy. This is someone you can call just to tell him something funny; someone who will also call you with funny stories of things he’s seen or experienced, says Robertson.

15. Exaggerate and overstate problems. Making the situation bigger than life can help us to regain a humorous perspective, says Patty Wooten, R.N., an award-winning humorist and author of Compassionate Laughter: Jest for the Health of It. Cartoon caricatures, slapstick comedy, and clowning articles are all based on exaggeration, she notes.

16. Develop a silly routine to break a dark mood. It could be something as silly as speaking with a Swedish accent (unless you are Swedish, of course).

17. Create a humor environment. Have a ha-ha bulletin board where you only post funny sayings or signs, suggests Allen Klein, an award-winning professional speaker and author of The Healing Power of Humor. His favorite funny sign: “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

18. Experiment with jokes. Learn one simple joke each week and spread it around. One of Klein’s favorites relates to his baldness: “What do you call a line of rabbits walking backward? A receding hare line.”

19. Focus humor on yourself. “Because of my lack of hair,” Klein says, “I tell people that I’m a former expert on how to cure baldness.”

人生的最大追求是什么？ 是巧克力，性爱，冰激凌，热带地区的观光，孩子们的拥抱，美美的睡上一觉，还是做好工作带来的满足感？ 每个人给出的答案都会不同。 但是有一样极致的乐趣雅俗共赏，那就是欢笑。

没有什么能与一阵开怀大笑的感觉相提并论。 不论年龄，种族，身体状况或是生活境况，只要笑口常开，生活就是美好的。

生活也会更健康。 研究表明，幽默可以帮助你战胜病痛，提高免疫功能，减轻压力，甚至有益于延年益寿。 医生和心理学家也认为，欢笑是健康幸福生活的一个重要元素。

正如马克·吐温曾经说过，“研究幽默就像解剖一只青蛙—也许你能获益良多，但最终得到的只是一具青蛙尸体。” 不管怎样，我们还是要试一试。 下面给出19条小贴士，帮你培养幽默感，或是助你一臂之力，前提思想是如果你不明白好笑之处，你就不会惹人笑。

1. 首先，重拾微笑。 微笑和欢笑不尽相同，但两者又紧密相连。 感到一般的乐趣时一定要微笑—看到孩子们玩耍，爱人或朋友朝自己走来，圆满完成了一项任务，目睹了令人称奇或是幽默的什么事情。 微笑说明你还没有为生活的压力和负担所压倒。 如果你一天内几十次的微笑都没有，那你就需要问问自己是不是患了忧郁症或是压力过大。

2. 给自己找些乐子。 租一些电影录像回来看，比如说“拜见岳父大人”，“新科学怪人”，“妙人怪谭”，“巨蟒与圣杯”，“摇滚万万岁”，“动物屋”，“神枪小子”，“颠倒乾坤”，“海底总动员”。 经常奖励自己一点欢笑，好莱坞式的那种。

3. 回想你平生最尴尬的几个时刻。 然后从中找到幽默。 再练习编织故事，用幽默的形式表达出来。 也许需要加点夸张或戏剧色彩，但好故事都是这么讲出来的。 要是自曝短处，自我嘲笑，你就更加融入幽默的生活方式了。

4. 无论何时发生了什么令人恼火，令人泄气的事情，坦然面对，发现幽默。 要是泥水溅脏了衣服，踩到了狗屎，或是无意中将一条红色毛巾混在一堆白色衣物中洗，你当然会很生气。 事实上，这也许是最平常的反应。 但这于事无补，只会坏了心情。 最好还是找个办法讥讽生活中的小烦恼。 可以这样做。 想象一下如果这些事发生在别人身上会是什么样子，你喜欢的某个人—或是你不喜欢的某个人。在脑海里不停的翻阅名片夹，直到找到你认为最适合放在你眼前窘境的人选。 讥笑他，然后讥笑自己！

5. 每天看一些漫画书，剪切那些和你的生活相关的章节。 将它们贴在记事板，电冰箱或是随便什么你能经常看见的地方上。

6. 整理家庭相册，写上好笑的标题或是你最喜欢的一句话。 累了就合上相册。

7. 每天晚餐时，让家里人说一件他们当天有趣甚或是难堪的事。

8. 当有人冒犯了你或是惹你生气了，用幽默还击，不要报以敌意。 比如，如果有个人老是迟到，对他说，“好哇，我真高兴你没有开一家航空公司。” 人生苦短，别太过于计较个人恩怨。 但是，如果某人总是冒犯你，那就不一样了，得把它当回事儿，采取适当的措施回敬他。 但对于偶尔的麻烦，或是你怎么做都改变不了那个人或是境况，就用幽默回敬吧。

每日功课

9. 在网站注册，用电邮订阅大卫·莱特曼每天的头十条。 你可以登陆www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow找到。

10. 每天花15分钟参加哈哈课程。 玩法是这样。 你和另一个人（拍档，小孩，朋友等）躺在地上，把头放在她的肚子上，她的头放在另一个人的肚子上，以此类推（人越多越好）。 第一个人说，“哈。” 下一个人说，“哈哈。” 第三个人说，“哈哈哈。” 以此类推。 保证你会笑个不停。

11. 浏览报纸的互动栏目，挑一些惹人笑的题目参与。 可以是马戏，电影，单人戏剧或是搞笑表演。 有时候需要一位职业人士帮你重拾幽默感。

12. 在你每日的工作备忘上增加一条： 找些幽默。 做不到就不要擦掉，吉安尼·罗伯特森建议，他是一位幽默专家，写过几本这个课题的书。

13. 当你遇见朋友或同事，让他们给你讲一件最近几个星期发生在他们身上的趣事。 罗伯特森说，让人知道你是一个想听幽默的真实故事的人，讨厌听流言蜚语的人。

14. 交一个幽默的死党。 罗伯特森说，这个人是那种你只是为了告诉他一件趣事而打电话给他的人，那种也会打电话给你讲一些他所闻所见的趣事的人。

15. 夸大吹嘘麻烦。 吹嘘实际情形可以帮我们找到幽默的视角，帕蒂·沃特说，他是一位获奖幽默家，“同情的欢笑”一书的作者。 她说，有利身心的玩笑，卡通漫画，闹剧喜剧，诙谐文章都在运用夸张。

16. 安排一个愚蠢的计划来打破坏心情。 可以是用瑞士口音说话（当然，除非你是瑞士人）。

17. 建立一个幽默的环境。 做一个哈哈记事板，上面只贴有趣的俗语或谚语，艾伦·克莱恩说，他是一位获奖职业演说家，幽默的愈合力量一书的作者。 他最喜欢的一句话是： “千万不要和猪摔跤。 你俩都会弄得脏兮兮，但是猪喜欢那样。”

18. 联系讲笑话。 每周学一个简单的笑话，给周围的人讲。 克莱恩最喜爱的笑话之一和他自己的秃顶有关： “一队兔子倒着走路，打一谜语？ 秃子梳头。”

19. 拿自己开涮。 克莱恩说，“因为我头发少，我跟别人说我以前是治疗秃顶的专家。”