Close-up on 7 ways of coping: De-cluttering, laughter and healthy bacteria

Coping Strategies
Part 13 - Close-up on 7 ways of coping

De-cluttering, laughter and healthy bacteria

(v). De-cluttering

If your home is overrun because more things are coming in than are going out, you may benefit from making a pledge to yourself to readjust the balance and focus some of your energy on removing items either to the bin or to be recycled. Hopefully such an act will provide you with the following benefits:

More structure
More control
More space to breathe
Less chaos
Less stress
A sense of achievement

De-cluttering contract to myself

I will remove items a for the next starting on and ending on

Signed
Date

Witnessed by
Date

(vi). Laughter

If the act of laughing is good for you – and a lot of people seem to think it is – could you make a conscious effort to do it more often? Could you actively find things that are humorous or find ways in which your body is in a pleasurable state of fits and convulsions?

This could involve setting time aside to see a funny film, or to watch a comedian, or listen to comedy on the radio. If you were more serious about laughter, it could be something that you perform as a matter of routine, either on your own or in a group of people.

One thing that may stop us from letting go of ourselves and giving in to laughter is being self-conscious or feeling silly or stupid for doing so. Nonetheless, if we don’t give it a try, how will we ever know the benefits of what we are doing?

Possible ways to laugh

All of these suggestions can be undertaken either on your own, with someone else or as part of a wider group. (The advantage of laughing with other people is the contagious aspect of laughter.) These can be done singularly or combined; standing or seated; with or without a mirror. All of these possibilities require a willingness to want to laugh for the good of your health. If you are resistant or just not in the mood, then perhaps it is better not to do it at that moment in time. By all means fake-laugh if it helps you get to the real stuff. Once you are up and running, find ways to stoke up, prolong and enhance the quality of the laughter.

Pull a variety of absurd facial expressions
Contort your face with your hands
Form noises in your mouth and throat that are not usually part of your range
Form and repeat words that amuse you
Judder your shoulders
Rub your tummy up and down
Puff out your cheeks, blow a raspberry
Mimic the mechanics of your usual laughter
Mimic the laughter of an archetypal insane or evil person o Snigger, gurgle, guffaw
Make up nonsense words
Find ways to gently poke fun at yourself
Exaggerate ridiculous movements or dance routines
Find ways to clown around
Pretend to be someone else
Pretend to be an animal or an alien or an object
Imagine someone has let off a canister of laughing gas o Sit on a whoopee cushion

(vii). Healthy bacteria

Our stomach is sometimes referred to as our second brain, due to the fact that as well as receiving messages, it also sends messages to the brain.

Inside our gut we have millions of neurons that communicate with billions of bacteria. How healthy the bacteria inside our tummy are goes some way to determining what type of signals our neurons send to the brain.

Bad bacteria from too much junk and processed food can create a toxic environment that can affect our mood, with higher levels of stress, depression and anxiety. Conversely good bacteria can help to reduce these things.

Below are some possible ways to improve the health and diversity of our stomach microbes:

Fibrous food
‘Live’ yoghurt
Plant-based food
Fermented food
A varied diet
Probiotics (e.g. lactobacillus or bifidobacterium)

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