A lot of us are consciously trying to build a lot of things in our lives: wealth, influence, a business, happiness at home, even a better health routine or eating habits. But are you forgetting to create fun in your daily routine??

How do you create fun in your surroundings, when you’re battling uphill struggles of all kinds, against anger, sadness, stress. If you’re in a rut at work, or depressed over the crummy economy or your sad pension fund, how can you remember to keep smiling each day? Joke around with coworkers at the office, pop in a comedy movie at the end of a long day, or get out and go goof around at the park!

In Bangkok, most large city parks hold join-in aerobics classes at 5 or 6pm each day, with dozens (sometimes hundreds) of people following an instructor as loud music plays from speakers throughout the park. The other day my friends Dwight and Mark were in the central Lumpini Park where they came across an admirable older Thai gentleman. This guy was not following the group…

This guy knows how to have a good time! Look at him, it’s as if he came to this park with a purpose, wearing his booty-shakin’ pants. He’s in his own world, giving it all he can, out there looking like Ricky Martin. He doesn’t care what anybody else thinks, he’s having a great time! After filming him for several minutes, the guys decided they just had to join in. And this older man didn’t stop! He went right back to it! The next day, with several more friends, we all started a booty-shaking class of our own at our local park. Just to be totally silly and goofy and make people stare.

Keep Your Happiness Everyday

In Thai, the word for fun is sanuk, and folks like to have a lot of fun in this part of the world! People are frequently smiling, enjoying social time together, joking and laughing with each other, and horseplaying around. I think it’s their “mai pen rai” attitude. When communication barriers get me overly confused, my Thai friends frequently tell me “Don’t think so hard.” When I’m stressed out with work, it’s “Relax!” or “Not so serious.”

Don’t take yourself so seriously. If you don’t get it, mai pen rai, it doesn’t matter. No big deal.

One of my favorite things is when I call my pay-as-you-go mobile phone top-up service, it always reminds me “Remember to keep your happiness everyday!”

I don’t think I need to prove the emotional and mental health benefits of joking, laughing and being happy; you can find the scientific facts elsewhere if you really want to. But I think a lot of us get caught up in our daily lives and forget that we’re not robots. I think a lot of us are stressed out by our jobs and don’t have the time to have fun. But remember that smiling and feeling good gives your mind and body a chance to relax and refresh.

So how do you do it? Creating fun in your surroundings, in your daily life, is actually really easy. While building a company, wealth, or healthy habits feels like a lot of hard work, it’s not really any “work” to have fun! Do something you wouldn’t normally do.

• Take someone up on an invitation you wouldn’t normally say yes to. This Friday I was invited to a Bollywood-themed party with a girlfriend here in town. Mostly Indian families and several NGO types and aid workers; not really my crowd by definition. But I had a spectacular time, meeting new people and learning about their professions, trying wine and delicious Indian food, and even learning authentic, campy moves from a Bollywood dance instructor!
• Go with the flow. I got stuck in the rain twice last week. And I’m talking about crazy flash thunderstorms (nearly monsoon season here in Bangkok). Rather than running for it, we just sat down for street food under a tarp and waited it out with a few beers. Eventually we had to get to the pub, but we sure had a fun time running through puddles and getting drenched. Don’t fight it, just accept it!
• Make fun of yourself. Just like my story above, go do something you love and embrace it entirely. Most of us wouldn’t go to the park and dance like we just don’t care. But maybe we should? Matt Harding has the right idea, interacting with all kinds of different cultures around the world, and dancing like a complete goof the whole way!
• Go take goofy pictures with your friends. I do this all the time, but it is especially fun if you are lucky enough to go on vacation, or visit museums and tourist spots with some friends. Make funny faces or poses. Pretend you’re something you’re not. Just for fun. We especially like to pose with the ancient ruins, pretending we’re pushing over fragile walls or doing yoga with the Buddha.

Some people will get really grumpy when you try to have fun. But mostly, you should ignore them. These are frequently people who forgot that they’re not robots. It is important to be respectful, but as long as you’re not doing something destructive or dangerous to others or yourself, don’t take yourself so seriously. We nearly got kicked out of Ayutthaya once, the ancient Thai capital near Bangkok, for taking silly pictures. I know the rules one observes in a temple or in the presence of a Buddha statue and I was doing my best to respectfully observe them. I was just having fun also! But one of the guides thought differently, and that’s fine. So we relaxed it a bit to appease the gatekeeper.

No matter what your monk says though, I’m pretty certain that the Buddha would have wanted you to smile.

Adapt that to whatever your personal beliefs are, and it still holds true.

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If you liked the video above, please give it a 5-star rating or favorite it on YouTube, or click through to see Mark’s post and give it a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon. These guys did a great job slicing this video together and with this Thai gentleman’s help, they’ve reminded us all to keep having fun! Go check out Dwight’s site In Search of Sanuk and Mark’s site Migrationology.