Laughology: Improve Your Life With the Science of Laughter

By Stephanie Davies

A practical guide to using laughter and humour as a thinking skill to feel better and communicate more effectively. This book will explain simple techniques that will improve the reader's ability to gain a more positive perspective in difficult situations and increase their happiness through adopting the techniques from the Laughology model.The key subjects covered are What is laughter;What is humour; The psychological connection;

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Release date: Jun 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781845908126

Stephanie Davies

Stephanie Davies is recognised as one of the UK's leading voices in the psychology of laughter and humour. She has over ten years' experience of developing interventions that have been applied in a wide variety of settings dealing with complex public and mental health issues and building teams in high profile organisations. She is an award-winning stand up comedian who has worked with world-renowned Dr Patch Adams exploring the relationship between health, humour, community and the arts.

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PRAISE FOR LAUGHOLOGY

Well written and funny … Stephanie Davies has created a toolkit for helping us to positively reframe our daily lives and for putting laughter at the heart of who we are.

Dr David Perrin, Centre for Work Related Studies, University of Chester

Laughology is a wonderful idea and gives people the tools to live life to the full by linking humour, emotion, psychology and health.

Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire, author of 59 Seconds

It is too tempting not to say it – go on, you’re pulling my leg. Someone flogging a book about laughter! Tell me another one (all said, of course, in a Cockney accent, preferably whilst wearing a John Bull bowler hat and quaffing manfully from a pint glass). How surprised was I to open the pages of this book and find a deeply compassionate exploration of the human condition through the medium of Laughology – the technique of life enhancement through laughter. This is too superficial a description however. Stephanie has taken one of the simplest and most generic of human emotional expressions – the laugh – and, with insight and intelligence, dug deep beneath its public face (my brain is playing old Frankie Howerd footage as I write) to find explanations in surprising places.

As a neurobiologist I am very aware of the effects of emotional states on the brain, but Stephanie expands and develops on this in a beautifully constructed piece of work that is understandable to anyone. Ultimately life is about finding ways to reframe the bad, not to ignore it but to make it manageable, to allow your brain the space to deal with the crap. As Stephanie so brilliantly points out in this book, actually that reframing can as easily be done with a smile or a laugh as with any over-earnest or deep exploration of areas that you would rather leave alone. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Maybe, though there is so much political correctness out there now it’s sometimes hard to know when you can laugh. But you can certainly adopt Stephanie’s approach – laugh and your internal world may learn to laugh with you. That sounds like a good result.

Andrew Curran, practising paediatric neurologist and neurobiologist, author of The Little Book of Big Stuff about the Brain and Get Off the Sofa

You’d have to be agelastic, or even misogelastic, to keep a straight face through this playful and practical guide.

Dr Jon Sutton, chartered psychologist and managing editor of The Psychologist

To all the people I have had the privilege of working with and helping over the years – you have all helped me as much as I have hopefully helped you. To the wonderful children, young people and carers at Claire House Hospice in Merseyside who continue to inspire me every day. But most of all this is to my family who are all brilliant and funny.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all the services that have believed in and used the Laughology model through the years and who continue to use it to improve lives and potential.

I would also like to thank Caroline Lenton who believed in Laughology, the book, and the team at Crown House for giving me the opportunity to write it.

My mum who has been a supporter and promoter of Laughology from the beginning. My dad, who always has made me laugh and encouraged me to believe I can be and do anything. My step-mum Marian, Aunt Michele, Susie, Paul and cousin Alex who tirelessly drove me to gigs and events and listened to my comedy material before it was funny, but supported me and clapped as if it was. My brother Daniel and sisters Ruth, Fiona and Beth and step-brother Paul who all make me laugh and have believed in me from the very beginning and have supported me through the triumphs and tribulations of running a business which hasn’t seemed so funny at times. All my nieces and nephews who continue to remind me of the importance of having a young outlook, playing and having fun: Ryan, Jade, Jack, Ben, Max, Holly and Thomas. My wonderful partner Nick Harding who has been the main ingredient for my happiness and who took the time to cast his experienced eye over my humble writings, and Millie and Lucas who sat patiently and played while he did.

To all my wonderful friends, I cannot name them all, but each is important and has supported me and constantly asked, ‘So when is the book out again?’, making sure I did actually finish it.

And a huge thank you to the brilliant Laughology team, Kerry Leigh, Juliette Yardley, Alan Matthews, David Keeling and Maurice De Castro, who continue to promote and build Laughology and without whom I wouldn’t have been able to spend time writing this book.

Thank you all.

CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Prologue

PART ONE: Story, Context, Science, Practical Application, Points to Remember

Chapter 1 What is Laughter?

Chapter 2 Your Laughter Triggers

Chapter 3 Happy People

Chapter 4 The Power of Laughter

Chapter 5 What is Humour?

Chapter 6 The Mechanics of Humour

Chapter 7 Young at Heart

Chapter 8 Improve your Life with Laughology

PART TWO: Laughology – Your Humour Toolkit: FLIP

Chapter 9 Your Humour Toolkit: F is for Focus

Chapter 10 Your Humour Toolkit: L is for Language

Chapter 11 Your Humour Toolkit: I is for Imagination

Chapter 12 Your Humour Toolkit: P is for Pattern Breaking

PART THREE: Five Steps of SMILE

Chapter 13 The Power of a SMILE

Epilogue

Appendix: Frequently Asked Questions

Bibliography

Index

Copyright

PROLOGUE

LAUGHOLOGY: A WORKBOOK FOR A NEW MODEL OF LIVING

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.

Jean Houston

At 14 I was lucky enough to get the chance to work with one of the greatest comics of the 21st century: the late Norman Wisdom. Norman professed to have had an unhappy childhood. ‘All my boyhood all I ever wanted was to be loved’, he told me. In later life, not only did Norman use humour and laughter to entertain, he also used them as a way to help himself through difficult times. One day on set we were talking about his childhood and I mentioned some difficulties I was going through, as teenagers do. Norman’s words seemed to make more sense to me than any advice I had been given before: ‘Stephanie, laughter truly is the best medicine; if you can laugh and make others laugh you’ll always get by.’

I remember thinking he was right; it was simple, laughter really does lift your spirits. I love laughing; I don’t know anyone who doesn’t (unless you have asthma, in which case laughter isn’t always the best medicine – Ventolin is). It was at this point that I decided I wanted to make people laugh too, much to the disappointment of my teachers. I started to become more aware of my own sense of humour and how laughter made me feel, how I used it and how others used it – family, friends and people on TV. I learnt my humour skills from a variety of places, mainly my dad who was always a joker and managed to create laughter even in the most difficult circumstances. I quickly learned to use laughter as a coping mechanism for the ups and downs of adolescence. My school report read: ‘Stephanie is always the class joker and does well when she has centre stage, though she needs to learn that joking and clowning around is not a career option.’

During my final year of university I started writing and performing comedy. After being offered an open mic spot at a local comedy club, I realised I had found my forte and became a working comedian – making a living ‘joking and clowning around’.

While learning my stage-craft, the words of Norman Wisdom resonated in mind. I realised he was right: laughter and humour are the key to getting by in life. Not only were they providing me with earnings, they were helping me to see life clearly, gain perspective and become a more resilient, confident and happier human being. There is no other place you need to be more resilient than as a woman in a comedy club on a Friday or Saturday night.

As my career as a comedian took off, my sense of humour developed further and I looked to my own life and the world around me for observations I could use to twist and turn into comedy routines. The more I did this the more I found my perspective on life changed, and more often than not a problem would become potential for a routine. Once I had flipped the situation on its head and found the ‘humour perspective’ I would feel better about the issue, and when I felt better it would be easier for me to move forward and solve the problem.

So that is what this book is about: the choices we make that enable us to see life in different ways and the tools and techniques that allow us to do this.

In the past 12 years my comedy career has evolved into a vocation, which is still based in laughter and humour but is now more person-focused. My passion remains laughter and humour but now that passion goes deeper than standing on a stage and hoping people find me funny. Nowadays my work is about helping others to be happy, to achieve more and to think, feel and work better.

Since starting a career in the laughter business in 2001, I’ve been developing ways to help others use laughter and humour as a personal development tool – I call this technique Laughology. It has been built on my understanding of humour and laughter as a comedian and also from a psychology point of view. More recently I have been lucky enough to study for an MA at the University of Chester, making links between humour, laughter, psychology and health, while also practising these techniques in specialist mental health units.

I have been fortunate to work in a variety of settings with individuals and groups with mild to moderate and acute mental health issues. Laughology has been delivered successfully in small and large organisations to encourage thinking skills, positive engagement, organisational development and great leadership, as well as to enhance health and well-being in many different settings – from schools and hospitals to some of the top blue-chip companies in the world.

Some of the greatest comedians have lived with disorders including depression and bipolar. It seems that if you peer behind the laughter and smiles you will sometimes find someone who has faced many challenges in life. Humour, laughter and comedy can be a way to cope with these challenges: they are survival tools that we can all tap into.

It is an ancient truism that ‘laughter is the best medicine’ and for aeons humans have enjoyed a good giggle. The pleasure and joy that a good laugh can bring to individuals and groups is of immeasurable worth, although it can be dismissed too easily as simplistic or not sufficiently scientific to be considered as a tool for coping. Not only is humour quite rightly regarded as a positive emotion – a pleasant thing to share with friends and something you look for in a partner (must have a GSOH) – but its outward manifestation, laughter, is a universal currency. No matter where in the world you are, the slightest hint of a smile can immediately connect strangers, no matter what the language and cultural barriers may be.

Although we are all born with the capacity to process humorous circumstances, it is also a skill that can be improved and honed. We develop and evolve this ability throughout our lives – influenced by family, peers and experience – learning when and how to use it. But can humour be controlled? Can we consciously harness this innate ability and use it whenever we want to improve our communication and relationships, enhance our well-being and bring joy to others? The simple answer is yes – and, using the techniques developed by Laughology, this practical guide is going to show you how.

Laughology is about understanding how we process information from the outside world and then respond and react to these circumstances internally. It uses a flexible cognitive approach that is easy to learn, sustainable and adaptable to many situations. Laughology fundamentals are based in science and psychology