Laughter

Do you laugh enough? I sure don’t. I really want to change that. This morning I went into my supervisor’s office, and he showed me a couple of things his wife sent him about puppies and a cat. I smiled a lot and chuckled some. Then I got a phone call from a colleague who has recently become a friend. We laugh easily with one another, which is probably why our business relationship morphed so quickly into friendship. We laughed over several things during our brief conversation. Then I got a really funny joke from another close friend and I laughed out loud. Feels so good!

None of these diversions lasted long, but the goodness that comes from laughing can last all day. Sometimes. Unless, of course, someone dumps cold water on it. That’s happened at work several times. Apparently, we’re not supposed to laugh at work. We’re supposed to only work at work.

I’m not a sitcom watcher. I don’t like being told when to laugh by a laugh track. Different things are funny to different people and what’s funny today might not seem so funny tomorrow. Laughter is also a shared joy, I believe, at least for the most part. Oh, sure, I get amused by something on TV or NPR, and I laugh, but if I were with someone, seeing and/or hearing the same thing, I would laugh harder and longer.

Some men I’ve dated over the years have tried telling jokes, thinking (or probably not thinking) that jokes are the best way to make women laugh. It doesn’t work for me. I mean, jokes can be funny, of course, but it’s wit, the turn of a phrase, an intonation, that makes me laugh.

Years ago in a household of 4 boys (5, if you include my husband) we’d always watch “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” on Friday nights. We’d all laugh during the show of course, but what was really funny was after the show, in the kitchen, making snacks, when they all took part in “doing” Monty Python. I laughed far harder and longer than I ever did during the show. My Chicago son can still slay me when he “does” former president W.

Much has been written about laughter, how beneficial it is for one’s health and one’s attitude. If I got my daily dose of laughter and hugs, I bet I’d live to 106. Or maybe longer.

I believe that if we follow the things that make us laugh in life, we will find our bliss.

More to come...