These are tough times in the United States. With unemployment at nine percent and a double-dip recession hanging in the balance, we are looking for solutions. But it is important to remember that solving some of our serious problems might require more than just serious fixes.

Fun is often thought of as superfluous, extra, something to get to when you have time and a tool not to be used in serious situations. In fact, we have sayings to reinforce this notion: “this is no laughing matter” or “serious times call for serious solutions.” But fun can be, and has been, a powerful tool for transformation when tapped appropriately, as our past and recent Nobel-Prize-winning women demonstrate.

Read the following article “The Nobel Peace Prize: A Laughing Matter?” from the Huffington Post. It most excellently explains the power and importance of fun as a valid solutions to address difficult problems.

Choosing to have fun, play or laugh in the face of adversity is not about being naive. Quite to the contrary, it is a sign of emotional maturity. If you are in the worst position you could possibly be in, you are there and can’t change that. What you can change though is your attitude about it. This is most critical because you need to take action, fast, and laughter will help you get a better perspective of what’s happening to you.

The wisdom that Laughter Yoga teaches can be summarized in not even a statement, it’s a question to constantly ask yourself: what can I do now with a positive attitude to address my current challenges. Me, not you, him, her or they. Do with the whole of me, not simply “try”. Now, not tomorrow.

I see it as one of the most powerful training that exist on how to get the best out of your own life that you can possibly get. At the end of the day, what happens to you is nowhere near as important as the meaning you assign to it. Nerve impulses are just that: they have no meaning of their own. Change your perception and you will change your experience of life.

Consider the following next step.