In the 1950's, an experiment took place that counted how many times people laughed each day.

The average result was 40 times.

A similar experiment was recently conducted and the results were astounding.

They showed that, average, we now laugh about 8 times per day.

The results of this survey prove that we are just not having as much fun as we used to.

Karoly Takacs is an Olympic hero that most people have not heard of. However, his story is one of the greatest Olympic stories.

In 1938, Karoly was the top pistol shooter in the world. He was expected to easily win gold in the 1940 Tokyo Olympics.

One day, however, everything changed for Karoly. As he was training with his army squad, a hand grenade exploded and his right hand, his shooting hand, was blown off.

Karoly spent a month in hospital. He was depressed and did not know what to do. He then decided he would do the impossible.

Daley Thompson is arguably the greatest athlete that has ever lived. He dominated the decathlon, one of the hardest Olympic events.

As a child, Daley wanted to be the best at something in the world. For most of his early years he wanted to be a footballer, until he was introduced to athletics and, in particular, the decathlon.

The decathlon, involves the following ten events: 100 metres, 400 metres, 1500 metres, 110 metres hurdles, long jump, high jump, pole vault, discus, javelin and shot-put.

Daley had an strong and powerful belief about himself that allowed him to tackle an event with so many disciplines.

Brian Wilson and Christine Gunn did not want a normal wedding. In stead, they wanted something unique that was true to themselves.

Seeing that both Brian and Christine loved diving, they decided to marry at the place where they took their first dive together, in the Illinois River.

The couple wore wet suits to their wedding ceremony and wrote their vows down on waterproof cards. They then showed the relevant card when the vicar, Pastor Jim Bard, asked them too.

What celebration do you have coming up? How could you celebrate it uniquely, in a way that is true to yourself?

In the movie Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washington plays a psychologist who helps an angry young man deal with his past.

The key theme throughout the movie can be summed up wonderfully by something that Denzel Washington says.

"Forgiveness is freeing yourself."

When you have anger or resentment towards someone, who really suffers?

There are many cases in which if you were to confront the person who made you angry, they would not be able to recall the incident that is the root of this resentment.

There is a wise proverb that states that "We cannot go back and make a new start, but we can start now to make a new ending."

Many of us live in the past. We let past mistakes limit how we view ourselves. We let past experiences and disappointments outline just what we can and cannot do.

The truth of the matter is that we cannot affect those. They are history for a reason.

In the 1850's, Levi Strauss went to California with the dream of becoming rich in the gold rush.

Unfortunately, Levi did not find gold and could easily have abandoned his dreams of wealth.

Levi, however, changed his strategy and tried a different approach. He saw that all of the miners needed comfortable and durable clothing and started work on creating jeans.

Levi created these by initially sewing canvas together. This grew more and more popular and Levi Strauss expanded very quickly.

In the movie Dan in Real Life, the lead character gives the following advice:

“Instead of telling our young people to plan ahead, we should tell them to plan to be surprised.”

We are often told by our parents, teachers and managers to plan ahead and schedule our time.

Although this has its advantage, it can often cause us stress and frustration when things do not go as planned.

In 1985, PC Keith Blakelock was murdered during riots in London. The police appealed for information but people were frightened of coming forward.

Michael Ashcroft, a businessman, offered to help with the search. He provided reward money and, in January 1988, set up a charity called Crime Stoppers where people could anonymously call in to help the police with either names of suspects or important information that could help to solve a crime.

Recently, Crime Stoppers received its one millionth genuine call.

The importance of Crime Stoppers cannot be underestimated. As a result of Crime Stoppers, 17 criminals are arrested and charged every day and one person is arrested and charged for murder every 5 days.