Jan. 24 Belly Laugh Bounce from Europe Your laughter is wonderfully contagious. Thank you for letting the world catch your Belly Laugh on January 24, at 1:24 p.m. EUROPE AZORES Kindergarten Class CROATIA Zagreb Weston DENMARK Alexander Kjerulf Chief Happiness Officer,author Happy Hour is 9 to 5  www.positivesharing.com Chris Nunan, MA, coach, speaker www.inner-business.dk ENGLAND London Aaron John Cremer, www.johncremer.co.uk teacher of improvisation skills and director of the Maydays - the UK's sharpest, funniest improv company www.mayday.uk.net FRANCE Family in Paris GERMANY Michael Titze Ph.D. founded Psychotherapie and psychoanalysis, therapeutic humor Humor Care auf deutsch Michael Titze website in english Dear Dr. Titze has there been any research into how many times a day children laugh? In 1983 Josef Scheppach started a fine article dealing with the phenomenon of laughter with these words: "It's really not ridiculous: We Germans lose our humor! We laugh only 6 minutes a day. 40 years ago it was, anyhow, 18 minutes ‑ in a time which has been in every respect less funny!" This has been published in P.M. a (popular) scientific magazine. In a book dealing with humor in psychotherapy (published in 1985) I mentioned this statement of Scheppach in a short sentence. In the following years a countless number of journalists cited my quotation of Scheppach's statement. Eventually, even the London Times published it. Since 1996 1 have organized conducted several international congresses dealing with therapeutic humor in Switzerland and Germany. 1998, on the occasion of a panel in which participated, among others, William Fry and Patch Adams someone said that children laugh 400 times a day and adults only 17 times. Because I was moderating this panel, journalists implied that I was the origin of this statistical statement! On the other hand, I am convinced that in our postmodern time the situation for everyday man is developing increasingly confusing (cf. Oliver James: Britain on the Couch). People seem to less appreciate a good humor. At least in Central Europe they enjoy more and more sarcastic forms (derisive forms of humor, schadenfreude). This, again, has lead to a specific fear of laughter which I have called "gelotophobia" (cf. search engines). IRELAND Belfast Rochelle NETHERLANDS Rangeeni Franssen  A deep belly laugh relaxes the muscles and refreshes the spirit. Laughter generates vitality, self-awareness, power, creativity, liveliness, zest & spontaneous pleasure.  Laughter is freedom.            laughing meditation Ferdinand Reus Twenty years ago I fell in love with Africa and I have returned many times for work and leisure, always with a camera in my bag. Now, as a Dutch dairy trader, I travel frequently to different parts of Africa, with the focus on West Africa. I particularly like positive travel photography and aim for smiles, colourful people, more smiles and an occasional overloaded truck. News about Africa that reaches the western world is often negative while my impression of this wonderful continent is entirely positive. I hope my pictures show a bit of this. Just go there ! Smiling Photos SCOTLAND Jeya Jeyaratnam, nlp practitioner, laughter yoga workshop leader www.science-of-laughter.com  Are You Having a Laugh? SWITZERLAND Megha Baumeler laughter yoga leader, nlp practitioner