Eat, Laugh, Love

Our lives are made up of small pleasures, fabricated through daily work with our own two hands. We surround ourselves with activity either because we receive it or because we create it, and we call those little handiworks verbs. The verb is action, life, that which moves the world (as much as others may say that this is love).

A book can have just three verbs as its title and you can figure out the content – the well-known novel demonstrates this: “Eat, Pray, Love” – but the question that we are asking today is what three verbs would describe a fulfilling life?

Some would answer “travel, work, take risks;” for someone close to us, it could be “get up early, forgive, know,” and we could even find someone who’s choose “make, plan, arrange.” Others would tell us that three are not enough and that a life cannot be organized around three words.

However, there is a trio that could bring states, actions, and protagonists together, one that would gather and summarize a life in order to recommend it to somebody: Eat, laugh, love. And this is the topic of today’s article…

Eat

Let us set aside the evidence that eating is necessary for human beings to survive. However, behind this verb spins a world of opportunities beyond the flavors and textures. What can it bring to each and every one of our lives?

• Experience: human beings are curious by nature. They like to try, approach, choose, and discover. Curiosity is not lost; it is transformed and chooses different paths as we mature. The culinary world offers us many opportunities to try, discard, and experiment based on what we already know and by taking risks.
• Share: in the table or in the kitchen, you can find moments to “be” with others. Sharing moments, experiences, the pleasure of a conversation, or the peace of silence. All of this rotates around this verb.

• Disconnect: Based on the philosophy of mindfulness, food is a great ally for connecting to the present moment. The variety of flavors, textures, and temperatures can help us direct our attention towards that moment that we are sharing as we eat.
• Eat the world, sometimes your words: repeat this to yourself every morning: “I am going to eat the world,” and active your strengths. Also make mistakes, though, eat your words, take risks, and if it is necessary, ask for forgiveness. Learning is found in your mistakes.

Laugh

Laughter has proven physical benefits. Medical publications tell us that, among other things:

• It has pain-relieving effects, as it releases endorphins
• It makes digestion easier
• It improves breathing
• It reduces insomnia
• It rejuvenates the skin, as it has an invigorating effect

Laughter manages to distract us from our worries and interferes with our negative thoughts. The main idea is that there cannot be both positive and negative thoughts in our mind at any given time.

This is something that gives us confidence towards ourselves and others. Laughter stimulates the feeling of closeness with the person before us and this makes it easier to cooperate with others. It seems clear that sincere laughter and conflicts cannot walk hand in hand, which will avoid the predisposition to these types of situations and will reduce aggressiveness in general.

Many people need others to find moments to laugh. It does not only depend on external elements. Laughing at oneself feeds our resilience and is a symptom of good mental health. How many times have we told the story about that disastrous thing that happened to us and ended up laughing with the person we told?

Love

How often do we relate this verb with intimate relationships or between family members and friends? In reality, if we look up the definition of “love,” we find the following things:

• To fancy or desire
• To love, have affection, goodwill, or inclination towards someone
• To have willpower or determination to do something
• To resolve, determine
• To want, try, or manage something
• To be close to being or verifying something

“To want,” “to love,” in the most general sense of the words, include verbs related to the impulse of “living,” of expressing the present, programming the future, and valuing the moment, and this is not only related to people… there are the books, jobs, travels, and all of those things towards which we feel the power of attraction, satisfaction, and personal wholeness.

Wanting urges and motivates us to be creative, both for others and ourselves. It boosts us in a direction and pushes us to act. Showing love and letting it be shown to us is something that multiplies our feelings and transports us to states and moments of happiness that are not comparable to anything that we know.

Therefore, if someone were to ask me what three verbs I would want to accompany me in the process of life, I would choose eat, laugh, and love. Within these three, you can find an infinite number of elements that give life meaning. But which would you choose?