What is one simple secret to becoming a happy family?
Humor tops the list of ways to be happy together. Humor has the power to uplift. Our mantra could be this simple: make people laugh. Try it yourself. Yelp or whoop. Really let loose a loud sound from deep within. Experience sheer exhilaration. To experience the family soul, we must be playful, even silly at times. Put your playfulness out there for all to see. Don’t be afraid of letting the creative and silly emerge. Allow the lively, good-humored, lighthearted fool to come out and be a part of your day. Humor helps us get through the difficult times and handle struggle and stress. Bring humor into your daily life. And when you do, it will permeate into the life of your family.
Bottom line: Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have friends who make you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with them. Discover that when you make someone happy, it will make you become happy too. Check out this video on a secret to a happy family. (...continue reading)
Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski has taught at 8 universities, now at Northwestern University and Loyola University in Chicago. She is an award-winning author of 6 books, 3 on families and 3 on leadership, including her newest, Becoming A Happy Family: Pathways to the Family Soul (2015), and her best-selling, The Sacred Flight of the Teenager: A Parent’s Guide to Stepping Back and Letting Go, which was released (2019) in Egypt in Arabic. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she has researched extensively how children learn social skills and teens become leaders. A frequent radio and television guest, she has appeared on "The Today Show" and speaks regularly to parents and educators. Listed in Who's Who in the World for 12 years and an International Fellow of Columbia University, her 35 years of college teaching and research have made her an expert on issues devoted to the contemporary family.
