By Cynthia Oser, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)

Mustard paste with lobster sauce is the answer to social anxiety. Well, not really. But silliness and laughter may be a healthy coping strategy for anxiety.

Reader's Digest author, Brandon Specktor writes "Having a good sense of humor reduces stress, helps you cope with pain, creates empathy in social situations, and can even improve your odds of finding a mate."

Laughter is especially good for anxiety. Why? Because anxious people often ruminate about what could happen. They think about the end result of a situation, rather than staying in the present moment. Their mind will play out an entire scenario, complete with how awful it will all end.

Basically, they need a distraction from all that worry. Laughter forces a person to live in that exact moment because they are having an instant reaction to something. My grandmother had a saying. "If you have one foot in the future and one foot in the past, you piss on the present." She was a very funny lady.

Laughing is a simple but effective way to clear your head too. It brings in oxygen. Oxygen and breathing are good things. Ask any scuba diver.

Not in the mood for laughter? Well, that's just crazy talk. Look around you. There's plenty things to laugh about. Traffic is extremely funny when you are stuck in it. Imagine what the people in the cars next to you are saying. "Oh, Harriet! My muffins of doom didn't come out the way I wanted. I'll have to just bring sausages on toothpicks to the luncheon instead."

And pigeons are hysterical. They sit under a bridge in a line, bobbing their heads up and down. Just imagine they are stuffy Parliament types who are debating on Pancho Pigeon's last trajectory car shot. Did thee squirt in a 45 or a 35 degree angle? Hear, hear!

Children are quite funny. They have no sense of gravity. It's like watching a drunk on a ship in a hurricane. Pay close attention to their noises. A shrill scream can sound like a jungle bird with its head caught in a rice picker. That laughter would be for those with a sick humor.

Not one to be around the public? Watch funny movies. Be a cute kitten watcher on YouTube or a "fail" follower. You'd be surprised how a misplaced ramp can lead to massive chuckling. Read the comics, listen to comedians, and invite over your goofiest acquaintances. Try to find people who think gravy is funny. Btw, lumpy gravy is even funnier.

So start laughing to give yourself relief from anxiety. Who knows? Your pigeon watching may lead to an exciting career as a bird stalker. If anything, you'll give yourself a healthy way to feel good and relieve stress.

And for the record, I prefer shrimp sauce on my mustard pasted pigeons.