Have you ever had something happen in your caregiving that was really funny or at least struck you that way? What was it? What happened? How did you feel afterward?

Humor is an attitude, a state of mind, a way of placing in perspective the events life hands us. Humor and laughter can take negatives and turn them into positives. Humor and laughter can:

• Ease tension
• Convey goodwill
• Defuse negative emotions
• Relieve stress and sadness (by making muscles relax)
• Help reassert control
• Increase flexibility in problem solving by helping you see things from another perspective
• Perk up the immune system
• Release natural painkillers (endorphins) in the body

Humor can spontaneously relieve fear, anxiety, anger, and depression. By learning to poke fun at our problems and circumstances, we can gain mastery over situations that otherwise threaten to diminish us.

You can develop a positive approach toward caregiving and enhance your sense of humor by thinking funny thoughts and developing a happy, healthy attitude. To keep humor in your life:

• Read funny books
• Go to funny movies or rent funny videotapes or DVDs
• Watch comedy shows on television
• Collect funny jokes and stories
• Send funny cards and e-mails (humor is contagious—you might get some back!)
• Look for humor in the ordinary routines of your day or the unexpected mix-ups of your life