Kick Back—Refresh

Is your life the American norm: hustle and bustle and stress-laden? Do you find yourself “coming and going”? In a rat race? Then you need to find a way to kick back and relax. It might only be a three-minute break in your busy schedule, but you have to stay healthy to continue in your role as a caregiver. One of the best ways to relax is through laughter.

Studies show that belly laughs result in muscle relaxation. While you laugh, the muscles that do not participate in the belly laugh relax. After you finish laughing, those muscles involved in the laughter start to relax. So the action takes place in two stages. Laughter also aids in diminishing pain, if by nothing more than providing a distraction. Laughter is free and has no negative side effects. The dictionary defines laugh this way: to find amusement or pleasure in something; to be of a kind that inspires joy.

Joy! The word joy or joyful is used more than two hundred times in the Bible. Find those passages and meditate on one each day. Seek out a source of joy. Look for things that are joy-producing: a funny sitcom with Lucy and Ethel, or Moe and Curly. A joke in a magazine. A child’s laughter can be contagious. Ask God for laughter to relax.