Laughter Is a Powerful Antidote free essay sample

Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health. Laughter is good for your health Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after. Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease. Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain. We will write a custom essay sample on Laughter Is a Powerful Antidote or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. The social benefits of humor and laughter Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment. Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds, but sharing laughter and play also adds joy, vitality, and resilience. And humor is a powerful and effective way to heal resentments, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times. Incorporating more humor and play into your daily interactions can improve the quality of your love relationships— as well as your connections with co-workers, family members, and friends. Using humor and laughter in relationships allows you to: Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles. Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget judgments, criticisms, and doubts. Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back and holding on are set aside. Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface. Bringing more humor and laughter into your life Want to bring the fun? Get a pet†¦ Most of us have experienced the joy of playing with a furry friend, and pets are a rewarding way to bring more laughter and joy into your life. But did you know that having a pet is also good for your mental and physical health? Studies show that pets can protect you depression, stress, and even heart disease. Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life. Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with working out, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything you do. Here are some ways to start: Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter. Like laughter, it’s contagious. Pioneers in â€Å"laugh therapy,† find it’s possible to laugh without even experiencing a funny event. The same holds for smiling. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling. Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the good things in your life will distance you from negative thoughts that are a barrier to humor and laughter. When you’re in a state of sadness, you have urther to travel to get to humor and laughter. When you hear laughter, move toward it. Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, â€Å"What’s funny? † Spend ti me with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities–and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious. Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, â€Å"What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life? † Developing your sense of humor: Take yourself less seriously One essential characteristic that helps us laugh is not taking ourselves too seriously. We’ve all known the classic tight-jawed sourpuss who takes everything with deathly seriousness and never laughs at anything. No fun there! Some events are clearly sad and not occasions for laughter. But most events in life don’t carry an overwhelming sense of either sadness or delight. They fall into the gray zone of ordinary life–giving you the choice to laugh or not. Ways to help yourself see the lighter side of life: Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take yourself less seriously is to talk about times when you took yourself too seriously. Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them. Look for the humor in a bad situation, and uncover the irony and absurdity of life. This will help improve your mood and the mood of those around you. Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun. Keep things in perspective. Many things in life are beyond your control—particularly the behavior of other people. While you might think taking the weight of the world on your shoulders is admirable, in the long run it’s unrealistic, unproductive, unhealthy, and even egotistical. Deal with your stress. Stress is a major impediment to humor and laughter. Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing. The ability to laugh, play, and have fun with others not only makes life more enjoyable but also helps you solve problems, connect with others, and be more creative. People who incorporate humor and play into their daily lives find that it renews them and all of their relationships. Life brings challenges that can either get the best of you or become playthings for your imagination. When you â€Å"become the problem† and take yourself too seriously, it can be hard to think outside the box and find new solutions. But when you play with the problem, you can often transform it into an opportunity for creative learning. Playing with problems seems to come naturally to children. When they are confused or afraid, they make their problems into a game, giving them a sense of control and an opportunity to experiment with new solutions. Interacting with others in playful ways helps you retain this creative ability. Here are two examples of people who took everyday problems and turned them around through laughter and play: Today, I would like to talk and with you all on a very important topic that is health is wealth. If you sit much of the time, for most of the days and months, you Being a habitual early morning walker in the neighborhood park, I regularly find many people like me standing together in a corner and laughing boisterously without any rhyme or reason. Initially, it came to me as a great shocking surprise, for I found no reason for them to laugh at all. But as the mystery was unfolded, I was given to understand that all of them were the active members of a laughter brigade, who laughed daily as a ritual to provide their lungs with the much-required free flow of oxygen. Laughing takes off your killing tension and makes you forget the frets and fumes of daily moments. There is little surprise that owing to its magical effect, even a patient is advised to have a hearty laugh by his doctor these days. Experts say that many of our health problems are mental. Physical sufferings or ailments are often the symptoms of some inner mental disorder or conflict. So, if we change our attitude towards life in general and to diseases, in particular; have frequent occasions to laugh and remain optimistically in good humour, we shall surely be able to overcome many of our physical ailments. It is a scientifically established fact that laughter, in the sense of a cheerful and hopeful temperament, improves digestion; regularizes hormone secretion in the body; and thus provides us with energy to resist many diseases. A good number of doctors wisely proclaim that laughter chases the toxins out of the body-system, necessary to make one feel greatly refreshed-physically as well as mentally. Depression and anger result in the release of adrenalin into the stomach, which can often lead to grave body disorders. All this indicates that a joviality of temperament and an optimistic attitude to life are unavoidable essentials for a healthy living. A healthy state of mind and a cheerful attitude helps to solve many problems and makes one fit to take on life’s innumerable depressions and, perhaps, come out victorious in the end. One who has a desperate approach towards life creates problems for oneself. Life seems bleak and devoid of charm, forcing anyone to cry: Out of the day and night, A joy has taken flight. A cheerful attitude towards life gives one the strength to face adversity boldly and courageously. Everyone likes a cheerful person. He is like the bright sunshine for others. A smiling, cheerful, exuberant bearing can win one a job or a higher place in the rung of progress. John Masefied has correctly said: â€Å"Laugh and be merry, Remember, better the world with a song. †

Babe Ruths 1927 Home Run Record

Babe Ruth's 1927 Home Run Record Babe Ruth was known as the Home Run King and the Sultan of Swat because of his powerful and effective swing. In 1927, Babe Ruth was playing for the New York Yankees. The Competition Throughout the 1927 season, teammates Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig competed for who was going to end the season with the most home runs. The competition lasted until September when both men reached their 45th home run of the season. Then, unexpectedly, Gehrig slowed down and all that was left was for Babe Ruth to hit the incredibly high number of 60 home runs. It got down to the last three games of the season and Babe Ruth still needed three home runs. In the second to last game, on September 30, 1927, Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run. The crowd cheered wildly. Fans threw their hats in the air and confetti rained down on the field. Babe Ruth, a man known around the world as one of the greatest baseball players of all time, had done the impossible- hit 60 home runs in one season. Gehrig finished the season with 47. Babe Ruths single-season home run record would not be broken for 34 years. Previous Records The previous highest number of Home-Runs in a single season belonged to Babe Ruth at 59 home-runs hit during the 1921 season. Before that, Babe Ruth also held the record in 1920 with 54 HRs and in 1919 at 29 (when he played for the Boston Red Sox). The earliest single-season record was held by George Hall of the Philadelphia Athletics with 5 home runs in 1876. In 1879, Charley Jones batted 9; in 1883 Harry Stovey batted 14; in 1884 Ned Williamson batted 27 and held the record for 35 years until Babe Ruth burst onto the scene in 1919.   Current Record Although Babe Ruth remained the reigning Home Run King for 34 years, several notable athletes have since broken the record. The first of which happened during the 1961 season wherein New York Yankees star Roger Maris batted 61 home runs in the season. 37 years later, in 1998, Arizona Cardinals play Mark McGuire revitalized the competition with an impressive 70-home-run season. Despite impressive seasons from Sammy Sosa in 1998, 1999, and 2001 (66, 63, and 64 HRs respectively), he never held the title of Home Run King because of Mark McGuire slightly edging him out for the record. The reigning Home Run King in 2017 is Barry Bonds who hit 73 home runs during his 2001 season with the San Francisco Giants.

Albert Hofmann and the Invention of LSD

Albert Hofmann and the Invention of LSD LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938, by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in Sandoz Laboratories in Basle, Switzerland. However, it was a few years before Albert Hofmann realized what he had invented. LSD, known as LSD-25 or Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, is a psychoactive hallucinogenic drug. LSD-25 LSD-25 was the twenty-fifth compound developed during Albert Hofmanns study of amides of Lysergic acid, hence the name. LSD is considered a semi-synthetic chemical. The natural component of LSD-25 is lysergic acid, a type of ergot alkaloid that is naturally made by the ergot fungus, though a synthesizing process is necessary to create the drug. LSD was being developed by Sandoz Laboratories as a possible circulatory and respiratory stimulant. Other ergot alkaloids had been studied for medicinal purposes. For example, one ergot was used to induce childbirth. Discovery as a Hallucinogen It was not until 1943 that Albert Hofmann discovered the hallucinogenic properties of LSD. LSD has a chemical structure that is very similar to the neurotransmitter called serotonin. However, it is still not clear what produces all the effects of LSD. According to a Road Junky writer, Albert Hoffman deliberately dosed himself [after a milder accidental dose] with just 25 mg, an amount he didnt imagine would produce any effect. Hoffman got on his bicycle and rode home [from the Lab] and arrived in a state of panic. He felt he was losing his grip on sanity and could only think to ask for milk from the neighbors to counter the poisoning. Albert Hoffman's Trip Albert Hoffman wrote this about his LSD experience, Everything in the room spun around, and the familiar objects and pieces of furniture assumed grotesque, threatening forms. The lady next door, whom I scarcely recognized, brought me milk†¦ She was no longer Mrs. R., but rather a malevolent, insidious witch with a colored mask.† Sandoz Laboratories, the only company to manufacture and sell LSD, first marketed the drug in 1947 under the trade name Delysid. Legal Status It is legal to buy Lysergic acid in the U.S. However, it is illegal to process Lysergic acid into lysergic acid diethylamide, the psychoactive drug LSD.

Theology of Immigration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Theology of Immigration - Assignment Example While Congress is making new laws evangelical Christians, on the other hand, are protesting and trying to make sure that these laws are in accordance with the teachings of the bible regarding immigration and how immigrants should be treated. An immigration law that ensures justice, values an individual’s self-esteem and does not affect the country’s image as a welcoming country. A fair immigration law will help in making the country’s economy and society stronger. Immigrants have played a significant role both in American history and bequest, due to this American’s should encourage immigrants to take part as American citizens who pay taxes, vote in elections and work legally (Staver, 2013). Immigration laws should consist of suitable fines, timings to wait for their hearings, a proper background check should be done, confirmation regarding honorable character and loyalty towards America by learning their native language. The Bible regarding the issue of im migration states that people need to make to make a choice between greeting the immigrants which will direct them towards endless paradise and not greeting the immigrants will direct them towards endless penalty. (Staver, 2013) In this paper, we will discuss what the Bible says regarding the issue of immigration and will also put light on the issue of Iraqi immigrants and what the Christians have to say about it.   The topic of immigration usually creates a gap between devoted parishioners and denominational ministers, a number of Catholic bishops believe that illegal immigrants should be given official pardon. They are constantly working in the favor of open borders. The codes of conduct stated by their religion are the basis for many American policies and their politics. The Christians who form the policies and the Christian citizens of the United States may perhaps want to take into account how the Bible looks at the issue of immigration. The United States has an extensive rela tionship with Christianity and its effect on the process of policymaking. The Bible clearly states rules about some issues of public policy making, however on a few issues nothing is said clearly so people themselves have to interpret what the Bible is saying.   (Edwards, 2009) The Bible has told its people the role God has determined for the Civil Government of the country. It specifies that those with power need to maintain law and order in the country, look after the citizens and penalize those who commit a crime.   (Edwards, 2009) In 1 Peter 2:13-14 NIV it is said: â€Å"Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.† This tells us that those who are making the laws have a very serious responsibility given to them.  

Human Resource Management Process Research Paper

Human Resource Management Process - Research Paper Example Human resource, as the name implies, refers to the workforce, and the management of the human resource is essentially the management of the workforce. The workforce is one of the most fundamental resources of an organization because all work is conducted through the workforce. Management of human resource includes addressing the individualistic and collective needs of the workers and keeping a check on their daily performance so that their salaries or other organizational benefits can be adjusted to suit their performance. Planning is the first phase of human resource management process. In this phase, managers assess the specific skills required to accomplish the tasks that need to be done in the project at hand. Different tasks require people with different sets of abilities. Some tasks require more physical input, so they need to be assigned to physically strong employees. Other kinds of tasks that require more mental input need to be assigned to employees that are mentally sharp and have a good academic record. Once the required sets of skills have been identified, the managers assess the various options for recruiting the employees. There is a whole range of methods that can be used to recruit the workforce. These methods include but are not limited to a face-to-face interview, interview over phone or skype, physical test, and tests directed at checking the intelligence quotient (IQ). Interviews can also be classified according to types in addition to the means of conversation. There are behavior-based interviews that tend to estimate an individual’s personality by listening to the individual’s behavioral response to a situation that he/she is likely to experience in the kind of job he/she is applying for. Interviews may be structured or unstructured depending upon the choice of the manager. In structured interviews, the manager assesses the responses of individual candidates against a particular set of questions. There is no addition or subt raction to these questions. The questions are chosen with the mutual consensus of expert professionals. In unstructured interviews, there is no definite set of questions that are to be asked to the candidate. The conversation can take any route but it ultimately leads the manager to make a rational assessment of the skills of the candidate. Interviews may be conducted individually or in the group. In the individual interviews, candidates are called into the office one by one for interview whereas, in group interviews, candidates are called in in groups. Big companies usually recruit the employees by conducting panel interviews of each candidate individually. In such interviews, the candidate is supposed to satisfy a whole group of experts, that tend to analyze the candidate’s abilities in their own ways. The candidate is first given a brief demonstration of the organization, it works, and its culture, and then each professional avails his/her turn to ask the question.

A Glimpse into Nineteenth Century Brazil Essay -- Brazil History Histo

Esau and Jacob by Joaquim Machado de Assis portrays the tumultuous relationship between twin brothers, Pedro and Paulo, during the late nineteenth century; the twins symbolize the Brazilian political struggles during the transition from a monarchy to a republic. The brothers are emblematically born in 1870, â€Å"at the end of the Paraguayan War, a time when the Brazilian political elite split between conservatives and reformers† (xiii). The brothers fight; their most contentious arguments regard politics. Paulo is a republican and Pedro is a monarchist. The only commonalities the twins have are their love for their mother, Natividade, and their courtship of Flora. As an allegory, Natividade represents the old nation of Brazil – prior to the end of the monarchy – and Flora represents the new Brazil, which wavers between conservatism and liberalism. Both boys, and both political ideologies, vie for Flora’s affections, yet she, like the bud ding Brazilian nation, cannot choose between the suitors or the two political beliefs. In a pessimistic foreshadowing of the future, Flora dies without deciding between Pedro and Paulo, an ominous message from Machado de Assis regarding Brazil’s indecision to pick a definitive ideology after the fall of the monarchy. Despite Flora’s and Natividade’s dying wishes for the twins to cooperate, Pedro and Paulo are unable to cease their malicious antagonism, another grim reminder from Machado de Assis about the fruitlessness of political bickering and a warning about the future of Brazil. Why Read Esau and Jacob Unlike a conventional history book, the novel Esau and Jacob provides a personal glimpse of Brazilian society as it transitions from monarchy to republic. Joa... ...Empire and Stringing Together a Nation provides an integrated perspective of the complications of a divided Brazil during the fall of the monarchy. De Assis writes about the personal experiences and utilizes characters to convey the feelings and ideas of the time, Da Costa provides historical analysis as to why the monarchy collapses, debunks the myth of racial democracy, and Diacon explains how the two Brazils become one Brazil, a concept de Assis could not imagine. The three books depict a more complete image of Brazil during the fall of the empire. Works Cited Da Costa, Emilia Viotti. The Brazilian Empire. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill; 1985. De Assis, Joaquim Machado. Esau and Jacob. Oxford University Press, Oxford; 2000. Diacon, Todd. Stringing Together a Nation. Duke University Press, Durham; 2004.

Obstacles in intercultural communication Essay

Introduction As industry and trade continues to spread globally and communities intermingle, the difficulty of language barriers becomes more prominent. This barrier includes not only language, but a way of thinking also. Simply learning a language does not infer that the culture of the language learned is comprehended. This can lead to major communication difficulties in all areas: intercultural marriage, working or teaching abroad, relocating to another country, and negotiating any aspect of daily life. Intercultural communication demands much more than simply speaking a language; it demands good listening skills, an open mind and the ability to step outside one’s own culture mentally. This type of learning doesn’t happen with everyone, but with some sense of adventure and the willingness to see beyond one’s own mind set, it is rewarding for both parties. This paper will look at various obstacles to intercultural communication, how they occur and suggested methods for circumventing them. Wherever we are born, our culture defines us. We may be American, but from the South, very different in culture from the West Coast. Every country has its own sections of culture, ethics, morals and dialects. When different cultures come together and attempt to communicate, even in each other’s languages, difficulties arise due to culture more than language itself. Even though nations have varying cultures within them along with a common language, the variance is not enough to cause the difficulties that arise when people of two very different cultures interact. Perceptions, values and beliefs are the root of cultural differences (Anna Jones & Xuan Quach, 2004). First of all, bridging the gap in regard to intercultural communication involves perception. People of different cultures perceive things in different ways, according to the way they were raised. Perceptions in terms of beliefs and values are learned early in life, then they become an integrated part of an individual’s way of thinking; the way the individual conducts his or her life will bring about societal consequences that are wide and varied. According to Jones and Quach, awareness of perception is the beginning of understanding. What works well for one culture may disgust or offend another, and these things may not be obvious. What is â€Å"common sense† in one culture will not be to another. Therefore, knowing another language does not introduce an individual to a culture. Culture is easy to observe, but not to define, since it is based upon perceptions. Culture is basically learned behaviors shared among people who, for the most part, share the same language and live in the same place (Richard Brislin, 2002). Culture is passed on from generation to generation not specifically through overt teaching and learning, but through familiarity and repetitive exposure. Culture is person-made behaviors, collectively. Contributors to culture may be climate, topography, economics and technology (or lack of it), but is people that make the culture around these external factors. An individual from a technologically advanced culture would have some amount of difficulty understanding an individual from a Third World culture, and vice-versa. The individual from the ease of high-tech life will have difficulty understanding the slower and less frenzied ways of a low-tech individual. In this case, we can compare Americans to rural Mexicans. Americans expect services and tasks to be accomplished expediently and efficiently. Rural Mexicans (and even Mexicans in cities) do not have the advantage of equipment and technology to expedite tasks such as landscaping, home repair, even making a driveway. They work with hand tools and the work is slow. They do not set time limits in terms of â€Å"deadlines† as Americans tend to do. Therefore, an American living in Mexico would need to understand that while the job will eventually get done, it might not get done as fast as it would back at home. This is an example of differences in value. Americans tend to value speed and efficiency, and do not tolerate having to wait very well since technology has made nearly everything on-demand. A very good example of potential culture clashes can be illustrated in the following conversation, between an American living in Mexico and a Mexican technician who is to install a satellite dish (A = American and M = Mexican).