The Fun Way To Make Your Brain Brilliant

One of my favourite quotes is from the writer and philosopher Jean Houston who said “At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.”

Now that sounds very poetic and lovely but it’s also scientifically accurate. Laughter opens up possibility thinking and that can make your brain brilliant because you have access to more creativity.

So how does this work? When we laugh feel-good neurotransmitters fire up a part of our brain called the Anterior Cingulate Cortex. The ACC helps us have those Aha moments when we suddenly identify connections and have creative insights and see inventive solutions.

Hey look, there's a tiny me inside your brain pointing to your ACC! I promise to leave soon.

A bad mood on the other hand inhibits the activity of the ACC because when we’re feeling stressed the brain contracts, limiting our ability to think creatively. When faced with a challenge a stressed brain will only search for obvious choices that it thinks will provide the basics - safety and security.

A laughing brain that feels secure and buoyant will search in the files of its cerebral folds for what are known as “remote associations”. Unusual, non-obvious and surprisingly novel ideas. Herein lies brilliance!

So if you need a new idea or a solution try this: watch a short comedy video or two. You can do this by yourself or with a team. The goal is to get your laughter happening so you can make your brain brilliant. The laughter will induce a good mood that activates the ACC and then remote associations will flow and then your universe will be flung into a kaleidoscope of amazing new possibilities.

Being able to generate new possibilities can change the trajectory of your life and steer it in the direction of increased creativity, happiness and success. And if enough of us generate such possibilities we might just be able to change the trajectory of the planet and steer humanity to a more positive destination, and also enjoy the process!

Betterer Wishes, Anthony

Anthony Ackroyd, CEO Feel Betterer

Humourvation is a keynote or workshop that teaches businesses how to apply the unique creative principles used to produce humour to boost their own creativity, success and profit. Here's a link to more info: Humourvation

 ©Anthony Ackroyd 2022