Poverty, inequality, violations of human rights and other forms of social injustice aren't usually associated with humour. But growing numbers of international development organizations are using humour both to catch our attention and to make us think more deeply about serious issues of global injustice. While some global charities still use pictures of sad, hungry children in their communications, others are using much more creative strategies involving humour -- from satire to parody to slap-stick comedy.

I am awake late again tonight, longtime sleep warrior that I am. Sleep and I, we have not yet found a way to comfortable exist together. I am forever hopeful. Bouts of insomnia tend to make one feel isolated, cut off from the world, so I try, these dark hours, to think of all the other people awake right now.

Suzanne LeFebvre-Martin pioneered the laughter program at St-Michel, a school in Northern Ontario. She deals with troubled students and said she was inspired to integrate laughter after reading research about how laughter exercises reduced anxiety in children. It worked.

Do you long for the good old days of childhood when things seemed much simpler, easier, more joyful and laid back? Maybe it never was that way for you, but it can be "yet to come" by simply reinstating a sense of wonder in your life. Arianna Huffington advocates wonder as an antidote to daily stress.