Laughter In The Park for BHF Laugh-A-Thon

Submitted by tonyplant on May 28, 2006 - 18:41.

The weather was kind and it was just the sort of warm, sunny day that encourages people to slough their inhibitions and laugh, just because it feels good. I probably have more opportunities than most people to be part of a laughter train but it is always good fun. I ran several sessions and the age of the participants was from 18 months upwards.

One of the participants was in his 80s: he gave us a spirited rendition of The Laughing Policeman. Getting a licence for this events involves so many considerations that I have to confess have a momentary concern about whether or not I needed a licence that specifically mentioned singing - and then I decided that the guy was a participant, it was up to him whether or not he sang in public on a sunny day in the park.

I had some interesting chats about laughter and happiness with people after the sessions. I also had some wry comments from people who were laughing at themselves for smoking while they took the British Heart Foundation balloons for their children.

My next large-scale event is August. I've been invited to be the warm-up for the Concert in the Park: apparently one of the acts is a T-Rex tribute band that actually has two of the original members of T-Rex. Is this a special hybrid-tribute category? Selfishly, the best thing about this event is that it is my first opportunity to run a laughter event for an audience of several hundred people. It wouldn't be safe to run the Laughter Train exercise but there are some exercises (like the Laughter Wave - like the Mexican Wave but involving different pitches of laughter) that are made for large numbers.

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Why The Politics Of Happiness Makes Furedi Mad

Submitted by tonyplant on May 27, 2006 - 17:30.

Somewhere or other, Frank Furedi claims that in the UK and US,

self-reliance and problem-solving through informal relationships have been gradually replaced by a therapeutic culture that, by medicalising everyday behaviour, encourages helplessness and promotes new forms of social control.

More recently, amongst various other protestations about the politicisation of happiness and the rise of the 'therapeutic state', Furedi writes:

Individuals are no longer seen as self-determining subjects capable of exercising democratic citizenship, but rather as potentially ‘damaged goods’ who need the support of professionals and Layard’s army of 10,000 counsellors to instruct them on how to be contented...The new therapeutic social contract is underwritten by the paternalistic assumption that the unhappy patient needs the management and ‘support’ of officialdom...Public policies delivered by thousands of therapists are likely to turn the public citizen into a helpless patient – and the focus on the self will likely reinforce people’s sense of atomisation...

I need to write a fuller response to Furedi's piece - amongst his other arguments is that

Rather than causing us to be unhappy, hard, purposeful work is often the means through which we cultivate our own sense of happiness.

I wouldn't disagree with him - and I doubt that the mainstream happiness researchers would either. Happiness is not solely concerned with hedonism, self-indulgence or the abdication of personal responsibility: it is not necessarily either ridiculous or politically dangerous. Authentic happiness (to use the Seligman term) encompasses the need for work and engagement in life. Happiness demands involvement, it is rarely something that can be delivered solely by external means.

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Laugh-a-thon for British Heart Foundation, May 28th And More Muda

Submitted by tonyplant on May 26, 2006 - 17:27.

The next big event on the laughter calendar is the national Laugh-a-thon on Sunday, May 28th which is being run in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation.

The Laugh-a-thon is sponsored in aid of the British Heart Foundation and is also an exploration of the health benefits of laughter. After some local difficulty, I managed to chat with my local BHF co-ordinators and organise an event for Spurriers Cafe, Harlow Park, this Sunday 28th at 1pm..

 

So, unless it is contra-indicated, and you have been warned off laughing - have a look at what is available in your local area and go along to a Laugh-a-thon event. Laughter really is good for you!

Never one to pass up the opportunity for a whinge, the local difficulty was that I went to my local BHF shop to find out more about the event, only to be told that the shops aren't allowed to participate in local fund-raising. I was told some probably-defensible but ludicrous-sounding story about how two local men had raised £1500 at an event and wanted to donate the money for use in the local area: anyway, you aren't allowed to make a directed donation for local use, so the shop couldn't accept the money. This whole area was obviously the source of ill-feeling but I am glad to say that the shop did accept some advertising material for the event once everything was sorted. I shall whinge about that in a separate paragraph.

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Laugh-a-thon Interview on Radio 2

Submitted by tonyplant on May 11, 2006 - 10:57.

My Laughter colleague, Joe Hoare, is on Radio 2's Johnnie Walker show this afternoon, between 2 and 3. He will be talking about the Laugh-a-thon event. I'll see if there is a link that I can post later for anyone who misses it.

The next big event on the laughter calendar is the national Laugh-a-thon on Sunday, May 28th which is being run in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation.

The Laugh-a-thon is sponsored in aid of the British Heart Foundation and is also an exploration of the health benefits of laughter. I'm chatting with my local BHF co-ordinators to see if we can organise an event in my local area.

 

So, unless it is contra-indicated, and you have been warned off laughing - go along to a Laugh-a-thon event. Laughter really is good for you!

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