Transforming Happiness - The Science behind why babies laugh.
That wholehearted innocent laugh! No matter what mood you are in this sound of baby laughing is very likely to bring a smile to your face.
So I was wondering why do they laugh in the first place? Thought that it may help us learn from them and be happier.
A baby's first smile comes at about six weeks, their first laugh at about three and a half months. Tickling is the single most reported reason that babies laugh. But, the mere physical sensation of something being ticklish isn’t enough. Nor is it enough to see something disappear or appear suddenly (pickaboo, btw, is the other top rated baby-laugher technique). It’s only funny when an adult makes these things happen for the baby. (A mobile app can’t.) This shows that way before babies walk, or talk, they - and their laughter - are social.
Research has found that the best way to make baby happy is to do nothing and just pay attention to them. Parents attention is the world for baby. Incidentally that’s true for adults also.
What's more, babies don't tend to laugh at people falling over. They are far more likely to laugh when they fall over, rather than someone else, or when other people are happy, rather than when they are sad or unpleasantly surprised.
Just a few lessons for us adults:
Love people as they are and love them unconditionally.
People understand the language of laughter. Laughter is social. It multiplies when your share it with someone.
Babies Don’t chase happiness. They are happy! They live moment to moment. Babies generally wake up happy … because they sleep like …. ummm …. babies. So slow down and enjoy the moment!
Learn new stuff. For the sake of learning. As they say “an old man is the one who has stopped learning“
And if you are happy, you makes other happy and the virtuous cycle begins. So what do you want to be? A grumpy old man on the bus that makes you also grumpy. Or the laughing baby on the bus who bring smile to all those people on the bus?
Ref:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150728-why-do-babies-laugh-out-loud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mymMye4purU
