The FREE Miracle Drug for Better Relationships & Longer Life

“Let your joy be in your journey—not in some distant goal.”

 

     – Tim Cook

 

Have you ever said this: 

 

“Life will be so much easier once I get through this present challenge. I can’t wait until then.”

 

I’ve said that. A lot. Especially over the last year.

 

Here’s the problem: when we keep wishing away the present, we get exactly what we ask for.

 

We become so focused on weathering the storm that we rarely make time to notice, much less appreciate, the joys along the way. That is especially important when we consider that the storms will always overlap.

 

If we continually wait for a storm-less day to arrive, we’ll never get there.

 

That is not pessimism. Nor is it a comment about reality, but rather our perception OF it.

 

Because we’re wired to focus on the negative, we tend to always prioritize the crisis over the opportunity. 

 

Unless we make joy a priority, it will always be drowned out by the challenges life will keep throwing at us. 

 

The solution is to weave joy into the fabric of our lives on purpose.  Plan for it.  Create it. Capture it.

 

Maybe it’s a joke of the day every morning, weekly traditions like movie night, or game night together the first Friday of every month.

 

Or put a stake in the ground today for that vacation, concert, or comedian you can all enjoy together.

 

Along the way, we should be sure to make laughter a priority. Consider these conclusions from the piles of research done on laughter:

 

 

Laughter not only improves our experience of life, but it also connects us more deeply with others and extends the time we have here.

 

If I told you there was a pill that did that, and it’s FREE, who would say No?

 

Would you want your kids to take that pill every day? 

 

Pop Quiz:  When was the last time you heard your kids really laugh?

 

We’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine.  But why wait until we’re sick? If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, we should be “treating” our families with laughter preventatively.

 

Plus, laughter has an “extended-release” feature. Creating memories saturated with laughter tees up future fun conversations, often beginning with, “Remember that time when you…” 

 

None of this means we ignore all our un-funny obligations, of course. Left to their own devices, they will always insist their way onto our front burner whether we want them there or not. 

 

But the world will not conspire to create joy for our family. And it’s too important to leave to chance.  As dads and leaders, we owe it to our kids to hunt down or manufacture opportunities to laugh together.

 

Start doing that today and your 80-year-old self, looking back on his life, will thank you.