Following is a Guest Post by Irene Watson.  Although she writes from the perspective of the codependent, her message is right on for senior citizens everywhere.  You can follow her blog at Rewriting Life Scripts.

Being in recovery can often be a balancing act. One point we may have difficulty with, which may not seem like a big deal but is nevertheless vitally important, is our sense of humor, our ability to laugh and especially to laugh at ourselves.

When we’re codependent, or addicted, or any other issue we have that is dysfunctional, we may feel like all the world is against us and we become overly concerned about what other people think. We may have exhibited behaviors in the past that made us look ridiculous, so now we fear people are just waiting for us to mess up in some small or big way so they can jump all over us, either to put us down or to laugh at us, which is a put down as well.

But laughter is one of the true blessings in life. When we can learn to laugh again, it means we are letting go of the need to worry about what other people think, and we are letting go of being so hard upon ourselves.

At first, it might be hard to laugh at ourselves, but we can begin by cultivating humor in our lives. Few things can relax and heal our bodies like laughter so every day we should make an effort to laugh. We shouldn’t have to make an effort at all—laughing should come naturally to us, but just as a bodybuilder can’t lift heavy weight without building up to it until it becomes “natural” for him, so we need to build up to being able to laugh.

To begin, turn the TV channel to some comedies. Find a favorite sitcom to watch. Indulge in laughter. Don’t feel guilty if there’s a marathon of “Friends” or “The Simpsons” or “The Big Bang Theory” or whatever show you find funny. Don’t worry that others might disapprove of what you find funny. Sit there and focus on laughing throughout the program. And when you’re in the car, turn off the music and the news and find the talk radio channels where the hosts are telling jokes. Go to the store and buy joke books. Sign up to get the joke of the day in your email.

Laughter is contagious and everyone loves a good joke so begin telling jokes to others. Then they’ll tell jokes to you. You’ll find that people are laughing with you, not at you. In time, your sense of humor will become a protection for you around life’s troubles—better yet, life’s troubles won’t seem to matter so much anymore.

When you break a glass or drop that knife full of mayonnaise all over the kitchen floor, don’t swear. Laugh. Tell yourself it’s life’s reminder that things don’t have to be perfect and you need a laughter break.

In time, you’ll be able to laugh at yourself. You won’t be upset with yourself when you make a mistake, but instead, you’ll laugh. And you’ll find yourself recounting your silly errors to others to make them laugh and they’ll be laughing with you.

So get started laughing. To help you, here are a few jokes I found online for codependents to laugh at themselves:

Q. Why did the codependent cross the road?
A. To help the chicken make a decision.

Did you hear about the codependent who flunked geography? He couldn’t distinguish any boundaries.

Q: What do you call a codependent who says, “No” and doesn’t feel guilty?
A: Healthy

Get healthy and get laughing!