Catching up with Karyn

We all know the old saying: “Laughter is the best medicine.”  

And it’s true! When you laugh, you’re: 

• Relieving anxiety
• Decreasing stress
• Giving people a socially acceptable way to express their anger 

But many of you probably already know this. So, why is it important? Well, according to a study, laughter, and the stress reduction that comes out of it, can improve one’s memory and learning ability as we age! Crazy, right?! Allow me to save you some time and summarize this awesome finding:  

Chronic stress, manifested in the hormone cortisol, takes a toll on your brain over time, eating away at your learning and memory functions. When you laugh, you reduce cortisol levels, increasing your memory and recall functions, as well as your capacity to learn. 

All this to say, who couldn’t use more memory space in the hard drive that is your...

One of the most amazing things about laughter is how profoundly and immediately it alters our mood. Laughter is not only the best medicine, it's incredibly fast-acting medicine.

That's why I recommend that people create a Fun List of activities, media, and people that are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. When you're feeling down for whatever reason, drag out the Fun List and choose one of the options on it. Laughter doesn't solve our problems, but it does make it easier for us to handle those problems.

After speaking at LaughFest (an awesome event you'll want to add to your calendar every year!) my new friend Dawn asked me to share what's on my own personal Fun List. Here you go - these are the 15 fun things that never fail to put a smile on my face:

1. Big Bang Theory (sitcom)
2. David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall (CD/MP3)
3. Reading Sunday comics
4. Watching funny movies (Top picks: "In & Out" with Kevin Kline, "When Harry Met Sally" and "Steel Magnolias")
5. Youtube: Laughing...

Having your plans change can certainly be a stressor. Luckily, humor provides us with an all-natural, drug-free way to boost our emotional resilience - minimizing the impact of stress on our physical and emotional health. With that in mind, I offer the best joke I've heard all day to you:

Q: How does an octopus go to war?

A: Well-armed!

Want to boost the benefit you just got from that simple laugh? Share it with a friend. Try the 24-Hour  Humor Challenge: see how many people you can make laugh - or at least groan! - with that joke (or anything else that makes you laugh!) over the next day. You'll be surprised how much fun it can be.

48 hours out is when the freakouts start. There are two types of holiday freakouts.

The first one is exhibited by the Type A personality who started shopping way back in June, put up their decorations two minutes after Thanksgiving was officially done, and STILL haven't gotten everything they need to get to make this holiday perfect...do you know how hard it is to find purple sequined Santa hats in this world, people?

The second type of holiday freakout is exhibited by people who haven't started yet. Even though retailers have been pushing the message that Christmas is coming pretty well continually for 6 months now, these folks completely failed to get it. Christmas sneaks up on them, surprising them all at once with its imminent arrival.

Whichever type of holiday freakout you're currently experiencing, you can get over it faster with laughter. Smiles and laughs can diminish muscle tension. They’re also contagious. Practice wearing a smile to share with others and notice how...

One of our best tools for beating holiday stress is simply getting enough sleep. Don’t fill every minute trying to cram in 101 more things. Take a power nap so that you feel refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the day.

When you sleep, you have more energy and are likely to be in a better mood than if you're overtired. This makes you a lot more fun for everyone around you. Be creative in searching out opportunities to grab a few ZZZZ's: even an extra ten minutes in the morning can be a tremendous boost to your holiday spirits!

Kids realize something that we have forgotten as adults: The power of play. Don’t take the holidays so seriously that you have no time to sing, dance, play—even jump on your bed! Make time to play every day, even if it’s only for 30 minutes.

If you have kids around, grab them and head outside. If there's snow. make a snowman! If there's no snow, choose a more active game. Expending the excess energy the kids have stored up means they'll sleep better at night - great for your stress!

Play invigorates the body, challenges the mind, and lifts the spirit. If there's one gift you need to give yourself this holiday season, it's PLAYTIME!

The holidays mean gathering with our family and friends - and that means that unless you've recently purchased a teleporter, you're going to spend some time on the highway with lots of other people who have all promised that they'll be home for Christmas.

Talk about stress!  If you get stuck in traffic, take this as an opportunity to reframe. Take a deep breath and visualize the person behind you - the guy compulsively honking his horn --  driving in his underwear.  Imagine the look on his face when he unwraps a sack full of coal and rocks.  At all costs, keep your sense of humor!

Airports can be stressful as well. Bear in mind that while humor can make the hassles of travel easier to bear, you want to exercise some judgment about when and where it's appropriate to joke. TSA agents, for example, are not well known for their sense of humor. This fact is not likely to change during the busiest travel days of the year!

Many of the travel frustrations are caused by...

I'll be the first to admit it: while I have many great skills, present wrapping really isn't one of them. There's the paper, there's the present, there's the bow, there's the tape, there's the tag, there's me: that's at least one too many moving parts for this to end well.

The situation gets even worse when I rush. And it seems like at this time of year, I'm always rushing. One of the reasons I'm rushing is it seems like every night, there's a holiday party.

(I know: first-world problems!)

I love parties, and I love my friends, so when my friends have a party, I want to go. However, if I'm trying to keep stress levels manageable, sometimes I have to be realistic and say "As much as I'd love to, I just can't tonight."

Holiday parties tend to descend all at once. Don’t feel obligated. Go to those you want to attend and regret the rest. Can’t think of a good excuse? Don’t give one. If it’s a true friend, she won’t need one and if it’s not a good...

At this point in the Christmas Countdown, I'd like to stop and say "AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH! One week until Christmas! What are we going to do?"

There's a reason for that. And the reason is that no matter how good your stress management skills may be, there is going to be a time when you just go to work. We fight stress, and frankly, sometimes stress wins.

Have you ever had the experience of knowing you were just stressed out to the max? That you knew, with absolute certainty, that while you could easily handle everything that was going on in life right that minute, the addition of any additional bit of pressure to your life would push you right over the edge?

That is the moment your child will discover he is virulently allergic to fruitcake - having 'sampled' some he found in the box of last year's holiday decorations. You can imagine the mess. We're talking ho-ho-oh no vomit here - a sight that sends your Very Helpful Mother-in-Law into overdrive, with ginger ale...

Spending money can be exhilarating. Paying the credit cards can be devastating. Think through what you're spending on holiday gifts before you spend it. What feels great in December can feel really not so great in January...and February...and March.

The fact is that sometimes we just can't afford to buy everything we want to buy. Accepting that is actually much less stress inducing than spending ourselves into incredible debt. Spending big is not your only holiday option.

Try providing gifts of service instead the traditional wrapped present. The price is right, you won’t have to wait in line, and the giver and receiver will both enjoy it more. Examples of service gifts: an evening of babysitting - the parents you know will love a night out (or a chance for some serious napping!) Shovel somebody's snow, or play chauffeur for a day for someone who doesn't drive.

Try providing gifts of sentiment. A heart-felt note telling someone how much you appreciate them will be more...