Laughter
Having just completed another hectic holiday season, we now enter a new year. Perhaps this is the time when you rest up or hunker down. Or maybe you are the type to shake off the winter blues with more activities. Certainly many of us find the new year a time to make a resolution or two. Eat healthier, exercise more, watch less TV, read more enriching books, spend more time with loved ones, and on and on. If you are the new year’s resolution type and are looking for something to make this new year different, then I have an easy but perhaps quite impactful idea for you. How about a new year’s resolution to…LAUGH!!!
During a recent sermon, our pastor told a story that went something like this. A little girl comes home from school and tells her parents that a new student from another country just moved to town and joined her class. The parents asked if the new student could speak English, and the girl replied “No, I can’t understand anything she says, except she does laugh in English.” The moral of the story is that laughter is the universal language. That really struck a chord with me. When you stop to think about it, you may not have any clue what someone is saying or feeling, but when they let out a genuine laugh, all doubt is dispelled.
A similar turn of phrase is used with the oft-quoted “Laughter is the best medicine.” Aside from all the neurochemical, hormonal, and other biological consequences of laughter, I think we can all attest that a good unbridled belly laugh makes everything feel better. Even when one is in pain, a good laugh can outweigh the temporary exacerbation of suffering that accompanies it (“I laughed so hard that it hurt”). And the foulest of moods find it hard to resist the unexpected burst of laughter.
Bah humbug, you might say! There is little to laugh about these days. But maybe there is just enough, if only we have the presence to recognize it and go with it. It’s easy to wear a Scrooge frown when someone tries to tell a corny joke, or hold back from laughing at the silly cheesy rom-com movie. But I find that if you give a laugh the littlest of openings, and let it bubble up without suppressing it, all of a sudden, your stifled chuckle becomes a rip-roaring bout of hilarity. Try it. Let yourself go. If laughter is the universal language and the best medicine, why would we want to hold back from that? So maybe this new year, resolve to laugh more often and laugh with less inhibition. Laugh at the silly things. Laugh at the mistakes. Laugh at every chance you get. Maybe that is how we best bring joy to the world this happy new year!
