How not to laugh when it's funny. Laughter helps you blow off steam.

Our life is full of moments that cause society to laugh and smile. Of course, this is wonderful, because thanks to laughter we improve our mood and are charged with positive emotions. But there are times when the event that causes laughter has a double meaning, and your smile can create a negative impression of you. How can this be prevented? How not to smile at the wrong moment? Here are some tips to help you avoid getting into a sticky situation.

Refrain from smiling

Try to remember something sad and sad. This will bring a little discouragement, and the smile will leave your face by itself.
Imagine that someone's mood depends on your smile. And suddenly, with your smile and laughter at the wrong time, you will offend someone very much. Agree, it's not very pleasant to feel guilty.
In order to force yourself not to smile, you can gently pinch yourself. From a slight feeling of pain, you will stop smiling. Just be careful and make sure no one notices.
To prevent your smile from being noticed, find a favorable excuse and move away from the source of laughter.
Try putting something sour in your mouth, like a strong lemon-flavored candy, which will make you forget the funny stuff.
Another way to avoid smiling on your face can be to lightly bite your tongue or lips. Your thoughts about the funny will immediately be replaced by painful sensations. Just do not overdo it with biting, so that later you do not have to treat the oral cavity.

Learn to control your emotions

In addition to the above simple tips, you can form a psychological defense against reacting to funny situations. It is possible to control your smile by practicing in front of a mirror, doing auto-training, developing facial expressions. Constant training will help you at the right time.

Having learned about the possible control over your smile, you should not forget that very often your smile can help a person, give him self-confidence and give him a good mood. Therefore, smile more often and enjoy life!

Instruction

There is a whole system of laughter therapy that helps people learn how to laugh correctly and, thereby, get rid of many ailments. For example, in yoga there is a direction called Haasya Yoga. Its essence lies in the breathing exercises that you perform by pronouncing the well-known "ho-ho", "ha-ha" and "hee-hee". Thus, laughter is stimulated.

If you do not have the opportunity to practice with a yoga trainer, then try to pronounce these magical sounds on your own. The secret is that "ho-ho" must be pronounced from the abdomen, "ha-ha" - from the chest and from the heart, and "hee-hee" - from the place where the third eye, which is not yet open, is located in the east, that is, from the middle of the forehead.

In order to mourn, there is always a reason, and it is he who pushes out all the reasons for laughter. And it should be the other way around. If you feel like a negative load settles inside, stop and stretch your lips into a smile.
Yes, it may look silly from the outside at first, but then you will feel how the dark cloud inside dissipates, and you are calm again. The more positive you are, the easier it will be to make you laugh, as it won't run into many obstacles.

Develop your sense of humor and try to apply it to any situation. It often happens that after bitter tears they laugh, it would not be possible to start laughing right away. Laughter is sobering and helps to find a better solution. Therefore, sharpen your sharp mind properly and learn to take the world not so seriously.

Get rid of all the fears that are hidden deep inside. They not only prevent laughter from penetrating, but also aggravate any insignificant situation. For example, if you are afraid of doctors, then any illness will cause you panic horror. But people who are deprived of this feeling and perceive everything that happens with humor can laugh at the temporary situation in which they find themselves. Even if your leg is broken, you can be sure that by laughing you will only speed up its recovery.

Take advantage of comedies, humorous shows with your favorite artists, go to the circus or rides. You will learn to laugh instantly, because professional actors make even inveterate gloomy pessimists hold on to their tummies.

Sport raises the general tone, evens out breathing and heals human emotions. Remember what a good mood you get after two hours of skating, when even numerous falls make you sincerely laugh.

Practice your laughter daily, whether there is a reason or not. Just stand in front of a mirror or remember something funny, and at that moment a smile will appear by itself. And then just start laughing, laughing even if you have to make an effort at first. Later, you will feel a pleasant tickle in the chest area, this is a sign that everything is working out for you. Every day for 15 minutes of such exercises, and soon your infectious laughter will be envied.

Treating life with humor will save you a lot of nerves. It would seem that there is nothing easier than to laugh or joke about yourself, but no, human pride and ego will not let you relax for a second. In order to develop a good sense of humor in yourself, you need to remember a number of rules that must be observed.

Instruction

Remember to reframe. If something does not suit you, you can find positive aspects in this by slightly expanding the analyzed area or simply turning everything upside down. And if everything is really so tragic that it is impossible to find any pluses, understand that this is precisely the invaluable experience that many lack.

Recognize your shortcomings. Understand that everything that you have is a minus in the here and now and cannot be corrected, is actually a plus in another! Once you actually understand this, you will feel much better about yourself, which is one step closer to your goal of learning to laugh at yourself.

Know how to rebuild according to each of the three - yourself, the second character and an outside observer who is watching all this. Imagine that each of these parties has its own point of view and its own prism of view, and then the comedy of the situation can appear before you in all its glory.

Be simple. People are not interested in abstruse, in-depth reflections with irrefutable argumentation and confirmation on all points, people need simple and easy communication. So give it to them. Smooth corners, joke more often and smile without taking anything seriously. Imagine that this is all just a game.

Steps

Fight the urge to laugh

Try to perceive your desire to laugh as something that is not part of you. Of course, it takes time to learn to deal with the habit of laughing in inappropriate situations, but at the same time, trying to distract yourself from this problem is a fairly easy way to overcome yourself. Try one of these options to get rid of thoughts that make you laugh:

Quick ways to unwind:
Pinch yourself. A slight and sharp pain sensation will quickly distract you from the thoughts that make you laugh.
Start counting down from 100 to 0. Try switching your attention to something banal, like numbers or numbers - this will help calm your emotions a little.
Start mentally making lists. A supermarket shopping list, a to-do list, a list of favorite movies or possible summer vacation destinations - choose a simple theme and go! Making lists in your mind will help you feel in control of the situation.
Try to find objects of a certain color in the room. Choose any color and see how many items of that color you can find around. Such a small goal will help to subdue emotions and divert attention from thoughts that cause laughter.
Sing yourself a song It could be an elementary children's song! The main thing is that trying to remember the melody and lyrics of the song will help you calm down and distract from what makes you laugh.

Find out what makes you laugh at the wrong time. Are you laughing because you are very nervous? Or does laughter help you cope with unpleasant and painful feelings? Maybe you are laughing because you have too much energy and you can't find the words to express yourself? Whatever the reasons, be sure to write down situations in which laughter becomes a problem for you.

Choose a behavior that could replace your habit of laughing. How could you behave instead of laughing nervously?

For example, you can nod, lick your lips, exhale slowly, or click a pen.

What you decide to replace the habit of laughing at the wrong time depends on the circumstances under which you usually feel like laughing.

For example, you may have a habit of laughing nervously during important business meetings. If this example perfectly describes your case - try clicking a pen instead of laughing.
If you are constantly laughing in serious situations, take a deep breath and then exhale slowly (just at the moments you would normally start laughing).

Make a plan to help you replace your laughing habit. Once you know what makes you laugh and what you can replace that habit with, promise yourself that you will try to develop a new pattern of behavior. Refresh this plan in your head - thus, the likelihood that you will follow it increases.
- Tell yourself, “The next time I feel weird in a meeting, I’ll immediately start clicking my pen,” or “When I go to a funeral and people are expressing condolences, I’ll just nod.”
Basic Mindfulness Exercises
Close your eyes and repeat the mantra to yourself. Think of (or say) a word or phrase that helps you focus, such as "calm down" or "breathe deeply." Repeat them for 5 minutes a day, during which time different thoughts will come to your mind, let them come and go, try not to think about them and not judge yourself. Just breathe and return to your mantra.
Scan your body. Try to notice any special sensations in your body, such as tingling or tickling. Don't obsess and don't react to them. Try to "scan" your entire body from your toes to the top of your head.
Come to terms with your emotions. Allow yourself to feel the emotions and sensations that fill you, do not judge yourself. When you notice a new emotion, name it: for example, "sadness" or "discomfort." Relax, accept the fact that you feel it, and then let go of the situation.

How to deal with laughter in inappropriate situations
1. Realizing that you are about to laugh, if possible, try to quickly leave for some secluded place. If the "chuckle" came out before you had time to come to your senses and suppress it, just apologize. This way you will have time to calm down and take a few deep breaths and then join the discussion. Try to remember the feeling you get before you laugh, and also try to identify the triggers that make you laugh - all this will help you stop or apologize in time.
  - You can go
    to the rest room
    If you are at a funeral or in the office.
  - move a little or
    get back in the car
    If you are at the scene.
Treating Psychological Conditions That Cause Nervous Laughter
1. To find out what deeper problems underlie such a habit, talk to a psychologist. It's entirely possible that you're not able to handle bursts of laughter on your own - and that's quite normal. The psychologist will help
  Find out what makes you laugh and recommend good ways to help you break the habit.
  - You can find a good psychologist on the Internet.
2. Ask your doctor if taking antidepressants is a good option for you. Sometimes people experience bouts of uncontrollable inappropriate laughter due to various medical conditions such as pseudobulbar syndrome, bipolar disorder, dementia, stroke, and other neurological disorders. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (a type of antidepressant) in some cases help people get rid of laughing fits.
  - Your doctor will decide if a particular medication is right for you. Keep in mind that serotonin reuptake inhibitors may not work for all patients, and they may interact with other medications they take.
3. Find a cognitive behavioral therapist if you have Tourette's syndrome or OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). These diseases can cause inappropriate laughter. If you have Tourette's syndrome, your laughing fit may come on as a kind of tic, but with OCD, it's more of a habit to laugh. Fortunately, this behavior can be learned to cope, although it is difficult.

Surely each of us at least once in his life faced with a situation where it is tempting to laugh at some important and serious event. But you have to restrain your impulses, because the consequences of inappropriate laughter may not be too fun. How not to laugh at the wrong moment?

Laughter at the wrong time can be caused by various reasons., from an “overdose” of seriousness and even pathos to the need to somehow ease the tension (nervous laughter, a kind of defensive reaction). But whatever the cause, you're not likely to get away with laughing out loud in an inappropriate environment. But how not to laugh? How to restrain yourself?

One of the most common tricks is to disguise laughter as a cough.. Sometimes it works, but it is so well known to almost everyone and everyone that you can be very easily "bitten". And a loud cough can be just as inappropriate as loud laughter. Especially if you haven't shown any signs of illness before.

Can try to contain laughter with the help of unpleasant physical sensations, it might distract you. You can pinch yourself, prick yourself with a pin, or discreetly bite your tongue, the inside of your cheek, or your lips. Just do not overdo it so as not to injure yourself.

If you don't like such "barbaric" ways, you can just hold your breath, as if trying (if others notice that you are holding your breath, hiccups can just be justified). But keep in mind that holding your breath can have the opposite effect and make you laugh even louder, so be careful.

There is also the opposite way: you need to make a good exhalation, such that the air accumulated in them leaves the lungs. To laugh, a person needs a sufficient volume of air in the lungs. There is no air - it will not work to laugh. Only the exhalation should be as silent as possible, if it turns out too loud, you can, again, simulate a cough.

Also you can try to think of something abstract maybe it will help you not to laugh. What can you think about? Anything, as long as it distracts you somehow. Count mentally from one to ten and vice versa. Repeat the multiplication table for nine, if it doesn’t help, then for all other numbers. Remember the birthdays of all your friends and relatives.

You can also try think of something sad- perhaps it will turn your mood 180 degrees and help you not to laugh. Remember some sad movie or book, the latest world news (they rarely make you happy), insults that have ever been caused to you by close and not so people. It's annoying, but if it's very important to you not to laugh, this method can be effective.

Or try remember the problems you have not solved, which you constantly put on the back burner. The memory of them will discourage the desire to laugh, and the benefit of this may be - what if you manage to come up with a solution to any of these problems?

Some people help not to laugh. appeal to one's own conscience or fear of the consequences. Just think about what awaits you if you laugh at an important meeting. Depending on the nature of your superiors and the importance of what is happening, inappropriate laughter can lead to a variety of consequences, from being called to the mat to being fired. Are you ready to take the risk?

By using all these methods, try not to look at the reason for your laughter- sometimes it seems that you managed to cope with laughter, but it is worth throwing one glance at the one who made you laugh, and an uncontrollable attack of laughter will begin again. So look somewhere else - even at the wall, even in a notebook, even at the toes of your shoes.

In general, laughter, like crying, is difficult for our control, and sudden bursts of laughter are not at all a sign that something is wrong with you. But this, of course, does not mean that you need to laugh with or without reason - there are some standards of decency. We hope that our tips on how not to laugh at the wrong moment will help if you ever need to contain inappropriate laughter.

“Laughter, like any other emotion, does not stop immediately and does not disappear without a trace. For complete emotional complacency, it takes from 10-15 minutes to several hours, ”explains the reason for your prolonged hysteria at a recent meeting of shareholders, Doctor of Psychology, Professor of the Faculty of Psychology of the VSGU Alexander Tikhonov. But it's not all bad: managing emotions is a skill that can be mastered.

Before the storm

If you feel that laughter is already rolling in and the abdominal muscles are starting to contract (and how to resist if the dead man fell out of the coffin again and fell straight into the cake with his face!), Try auto-training.

Close your eyes and repeat to yourself: “I hold back laughter”, “I control emotions”, etc. Most importantly, avoid phrases with a “not” particle (like “I’m not funny”). Convince yourself only with affirmative sentences.

“Since the process of inhibition during a surge of emotion is much weaker than the process of excitation, the brain will not perceive a negative particle,” Alexander assures.

If joyful adult laughter is already heard nearby, beware of looking at the faces of others. Laughter is as contagious as a yawn. It will be easier for you to refrain from him, not seeing those laughing. If possible, take a short walk, take a few deep breaths, and drink a glass of water in large sips.

The task of mindfulness

“A good distraction can be switching attention to some object or business,” Alexander promises. Laughter is not such an arbitrary reaction as it seems.

In fact, laughing at the chef's pants that have come apart (due to which his rudimentary third leg became visible), you are doing a certain conscious work. Change it - do something else. Although it may be a mental activity, muscular activity works best.

Scatter a stack of documents and start picking them up, drop your pen under the table and rush after it, release a bat and start catching it. All this will stop you from laughing, although it will make everyone else laugh.

Stranger

Step away from the situation that makes you laugh. You should not become a participant (albeit passive) of what is happening, but an outside observer. Change your perspective on what's going on and the tourist hatchet in the groom's back won't sound so funny anymore.

If the cause of laughter is a certain person, find any difference between him and yourself. Is his position inferior to yours? Is he bigger than you? Any of these reasons will make you special, and you can treat the person who made you laugh like an exhibit under glass that you can study without showing emotions.

It hurts

Nothing helps? You probably belong to people with high emotionality. However, in this case, there is a way out. “Pain is the strongest of human feelings, which outweighs any emotions,” our consultant hints, prompting you to take concrete actions.

Twist your finger, bite your tongue, give a kick. The hurt nerve will not keep you waiting long: you will instantly shake yourself up and be able to do well, looking in the mirror

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