Laughter and Healing

Laughter and Healing        reprinted

By Dr. Michael Basso

When I was in high school, a friend, also named Mike, and I, decided to skip school and hang out with another friend who had moved to another town and also decided to play hooky. Unfortunately, we were in a car accident with his mom’s car that day. Mike was hurt seriously with broken ribs, internal bleeding and a broken nose.

At one point, he was by himself in the ER, yet was laughing uncontrollably. We at first though that he was laughing at our fear of telling our parents what had happened, but that was not the case.

Laughter can serve a variety of adaptive psychological functions. These functions include, but are not limited to, stress relief, panic abatement, and distraction.

The results of these psychological functions are not only adaptive from a psychological perspective; enhanced immunity, mitigation of severe pain reactions and many positive physical results can occur.

In one case, a famous editor, Norman Cousins, claims that he cured himself of a very painful and often lethal connective tissue disease, ankylosing spondylitis, primarily by a strategic use of laughter. ( He did some important nutritional things as well)

Cousins would watch amusing videos every day while in the hospital. He concluded that even ten minutes of intense laughter would allow him to sleep peacefully for several hours afterwards.

Of course, it is extremely important that the patient:

1)      Is OK with this type of therapy

2)      Is not offended by either the type and / or timing of the laughter intervention

3)      Is not in a severe crisis state when the intervention is happening

When a person has suffered a severe trauma, it is reasonable to conclude that they might not resonate with jokes, funny videos or even want to converse in any way. So, it my not be appropriate to commence laughter therapy until the patient is: somewhat stable, they have been assured that someone close to them is alive and safe, and that they have an inkling where they are and what has happened to them.

Some believe that the laughter sometimes heard coming from someone who has just come out of anesthesia is also a stress coping mechanism.

It is extremely important that the patient not assume that they are being laughed at and the jokes are done at the right time. The person who has just been electrocuted or has suffered a serious heart attack may also want assurance that laughter therapy is not the only therapy that they may expect.

Of course, inappropriate humor, including off color jokes, insulting, slanderous or racially oriented humor may resonate with negative emotions.

Some researchers believe that laughter can be a gateway to the positive emotions – including joy, hope, love, purpose and confidence.

Next time we are going to talk about fun.

For the fun of it, I published a few books over the last year that some of you might find of interest. The titles are: Holistic Tips for Everyday Living a guide for Being on Planet Earth; The Human Side of Quality and the TAO the Greening of Leadership; and High Steel and Great Whites a Mystical Adventure Novel. Hope you like them!

Dr. Basso has a Ph.D. in Professional Psychology and Biomedical Systems and an MBA in executive leadership. Michael is president of the CT Holistic Health Association, is an adjunct faculty member at UCONN and is a research affiliate at the Yale School of Medicine.

Money as a survival tool Dealing with Financial Trauma Part II

By Dr. Michael Basso       reprinted

Money is a symbol for survival at many levels and how when it becomes scarce, people tend to loose their sense of control. When we loose our sense of control over stressful situations for extended periods, our stress can turn to depression. In today’s feature, we are going to briefly discuss some additional ways of dealing with financial trauma. To better understand financial trauma, it is important to first look at the situation from a broader viewpoint.

Paraphrasing Lincoln, the present is based upon the past and the future is based upon the present. This most powerful idea is reflected in human thought both consciously and unconsciously. We also tend to react to situations based upon our current level of distress.

So, if our stocks plummet right after we receive our “no thanks” letters from potential employers, it can be pretty stressful. And remember, financial losses can be linked to other losses we have experienced in the past, financial and otherwise. To make matters worse, the financial crisis is blasted all over the media 24 / 7! What are we to do! LOTS - if you want to reframe a nasty situation into a series of unique opportunities.  And how you look at matters makes all the difference in the world.

There are many who believe that moods and emotions, like physical pain, are there to help us survive. For example, there are researchers that even believe that some aspects of depression are actually ways our brains make us rest to conserve resources – a carryover from the animal kingdom.

Taking a few days to rest and rejuvenate after a series of financial losses is sometimes a good way to start. And remember that former boss who laid you off and how angry you were at them. They’re probably working gobs of overtime to make up for the job you lost! Still as angry ? This is real cool if the rest is paid by our former employers! After the rest period, then what!

You can fight the flow of circumstances and say “poor me ….”, and even let anxiety get the best of you. OR, you can use your new found time to start that new career you’ve been wanting to make happen. You might also now be able to resume schooling and take all kinds of opportunities to learn, learn and then learn more. You can leverage that new found energy to be creative, have fun and dream as big as you want. Of course, some will call you a dreamer, or that your ideas are grand… BUT, remember, this is YOUR life, you have been giving lots of NEW OPPORTUNITIES.

All of civilization is based upon dreams and dreams give us HOPE, so you can create a new destiny that YOU are in control of! Even if your big dreams don’t turn out as big as you want, you probably are having lots of FUN anyway, regardless of what others say! You can even learn from criticism!

Given the circumstances, you may even be a bit edgy and oversensitive to criticism, BUT, remember criticism can spawn new and betters ways to improve old ways of doing things and even create new and better ways altogether.

More to follow!

Writing can be a powerful learning too example re released

High Steel and Great Whites: A Mystical 

Adventure Novel is a novel learning tool

High Steel and Great Whites; A Mystical Adventure Novel, by Michael R Basso, brings to light many useful psychological and spiritual concepts in ways that are fun and easy to understand. Can also be read just for the fun of it.

- ISBN 978-1448693795

Many useful  psychological and spiritual concepts are integrated into this fun filled  adventure story from an East/ West Perspective, as Dell learns to master life on Earth.

Dell may also be viewed as a super hero of the highest order - just for the fun of it !

Dell was a college senior, ready to enter medical school at Harvard; or so he thought. Little did he know that the ‘Masters of the Great Silence’ had other plans for him which would make a modern medical education like child’s play for him. Through a series of seeming coincidences and disconnected events, he would eventually learn of the mystical initiations that he endured over many lifetimes (regardless if you believe that they are biological memories, spiritual ones, or just made up to help resolve deep seated issues) and their significance as part of a greater whole. He would learn of his own inner trappings as well as those of the dark force and the demonic hierarchy.

It was now time for the higher initiations. He would be one with the great white shark, regardless of how many times he would have to die trying. Only then would he be able to graduate to the higher planes of Gods many mansions and still maintain mastership over physical existence.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter   1    :   Introduction

Chapter   2    :   The Tightrope Walker in Spain

Chapter   3    :   The Swordsman in France

Chapter   4    :   WWII, The Civil War, and  the Distant Past

Chapter   5    :   The German Monk in the Middle Ages

Chapter   6    :   The Scottish Highlands and the little People

Chapter   7    :   Africa, Incas, Indians, and Trolls

Chapter   8    :    Power and Its’ Abuse

Chapter   9    :    Lady Magdalene

Chapter   10  :   Tibet Long Ago

Chapter   11  :   The Quality of Life

Chapter   12  :    Strange Coincidences

Chapter   13  :    No Way

Chapter   14  :    Meeting the Shark and the First Attempt

Chapter   15  :    Trapped by the Dark Force

Chapter   16  :    The Exorcism

Chapter   17  :    Dell Saves the Lives of Reena and Jared

Chapter   18   :   Learning to be a Co creator like the Divas

Chapter   19   :   Beautiful Designs

Chapter   20   :   The Initiation

Epilogue

Hope you enjoy this book !

Total Stress Management

Total stress management is the comprehensive bio.psycho.techno.spiritual theme of this site. It should be part of an advanced TQM system; a Holistic Quality System which is in turn an integral subsystem of Total Excellence System. The goal is to simultaneously prevent and manage internal and external conflict, minimize waste and encourage holistic resilience.

To do right work, and work right, the TES system would be a top down / bottom design where each aspect of the design is optimized for quality, reliability, LEAN processes, creativity, innovation and wellness.

The TES system is applied throughout the enterprise and at each program phase and phase gate, from concept through design, development, production, distribution, service, and continuous improvement feedback and feed forward.

The total stress management system, as part of the HQS and TES system, is applicable to all types or organizations, including: industrial, business, health and wellness, academic, governmental, religious and more.

For more ideas, you are invited to see these books by Michael:

The Human Side of Quality and the TAO: the greening of leadership

The Development and Implementation of Wholistic Organizational Quality Systems

The Philosophy of Leading Humans

Spiritual Medicine: A guide for clinicians, educators and researchers