Our Cognitive thoughts can change our emotions. If we are having success, if we are in a financially good state, if our surrounding situation is good, we feel positive, we feel happy. Conversely, if we are happy and joyful, our cognitive evaluation of the world will be good. Beggar always comes to the house in the morning. Because he knows householders will be in a good mood and they will give alms. In classical psychology, Schachter and Singer establish the two-factor theory to prove how emotions and Cognition are two way linked.
Hence, we can control our emotions. We can manipulate the negative emotions into positive emotions and positive cognitions. The Meditations, Pranayama and Yoga are all the methods to condition the self into the positive side. Every day, due to various reasons, our mood and energy could go down the hill. We may enter into a frustration-anxiety-negativity vicious cycle. But it is our responsibility to pull ourselves up to the Feel-Good State. We need to inculcate some meditations or methods in our lifestyle which would elevate us every passing day. Below is the Laughing Meditation, we may experiment and see its viability.
Every morning upon waking, before opening your eyes, stretch like a cat. Stretch every fibre of your body. After three or four minutes, with eyes still closed, begin to laugh. For five minutes just laugh. At first, you will be doing it, but soon the sound of your attempt will cause genuine laughter. Lose yourself in laughter. It may take several days before it really happens, for we are so unaccustomed to the phenomenon. But before long it will be spontaneous and will change the whole nature of your day.
The first thing to be done is laughter because that sets the trend for the whole day. If you wake up laughing, you will soon begin to feel how absurd life is. Nothing is serious: even your disappointments are laughable, even your pain is laughable, even you are laughable.
