Three cheers for our care-free friend, endorphins

I’m sure the last thing anyone wants right now is another suggestion for a New Year’s resolution. But, just hear me out. This one doesn’t involve dieting, exercising or organizing. It doesn’t involve budgeting, giving up sugar or learning a foreign language.

My suggestion involves endorphins. Effervescent, ever-loving, energizing, endorphins. You’re familiar with endorphins, right? They’re the good guys, the laid-back happy, hippie hormones. I’m suggesting letting the endorphins run wild this year.

Release them and you’ll understand.

One sure fire way to fire up endorphins is to smile. So, I ask you, “What did the thesaurus have for breakfast?” Drum roll, please: “A synonym roll!”

Ba-Da-Bing. I hope that released a few endorphins.

OK, now tell me, “What is the worst day to be an egg?”

Yep. That would be Friday. Get it? Fry day? That could be every day. But then, one would probably grow tired of eating fried eggs. Some days, you might just crave a sweet, sticky, synonym roll.

Are you smiling yet? I hope so. I’m not giving up. I have two words for you: Chicken Dance. I watched the funniest movie over the holidays. I’m begging you to check out this YouTube video. Search for “EdTV Chicken Dance.”

I can’t take credit for the jokes or the video, but I will take credit for attempting to make you smile.

And about that smile, it doesn’t even have to be genuine. It can be a fake smile. Supposedly, our bodies don’t know the difference. They think we’re happy, so they release the endorphins.

I read that our bodies have two modes. Fight-or-flight mode, fear, stress, worry, conflict or relax/repair mode, laughter, love, gratitude and focusing on something that makes you happy. Of course, silliness works too. You’re never too old to be silly. Silly is a good thing. Trust me. I have experience.

Fact is, fight-or-flight mode releases cortisol, the angry, negative, party-pooper hormone. You will never see it doing the Chicken Dance. Give me the relax/repair mode, endorphins to the rescue, healing hormones treating your cells to a mini-cell spa.

Let me ask you this: In the last few weeks of 2016, how many people told you to “have a happy New Year?” And how many people did you tell to have a happy New Year?

With all this happy New Year stuff, I say we do it. Let’s have a happy new year.

Ready? Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Bring on the… EN-DOR-FUN!

This story was originally published January 11, 2017 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Three cheers for our care-free friend, endorphins."