The Power Of Laughter

Photo by Tonyna

Power300

I sat on the couch the other night, beside me was the constant pile of books to indulge in, but I didn’t think I was in the mood for reading. The TV was on, though nothing much was on it, and I had my staple cup of green tea.  Deciding to have a squiz at one of the books anyway, I flicked a few pages, came across something I thought to be interesting and off I went.

Well, can I tell you, I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe, tears were forming in my eyes and my stomach was aching. It was pure and unadulterated joy and laughter, belly aching, thigh slapping guffaw.  I finished one chapter, started to read the next and had to put the book down just to take a breath and collect myself. It was heaven, it felt so good, my head felt light and giddy and the grin on my face went from ear to ear.

I wanted to share the chapters; I wanted to share the laughter. After I sat there for a while, in awe of someone who can write comedy like that, I realised I couldn’t really remember the last time I laughed so hard. How sad. For all the good feeling it generated why didn’t I seek it out more often?  I have heard of laughing classes, and I have always thought they would be fun. But the mental benefits must be enormous. To be able to simply forget where you are, all the worries, for just a moment, to just laugh… I often watch my kids muck around being silly and laughing; they do it with such ease and sometimes it’s so infectious I find myself laughing along with them, they can be gooses! But as adults we lose that ability to find the laughter so easily.

So I set the challenge today, to find something that makes you laugh; it might be a book, it might be a movie or TV show, or it might be your kids or friends. Do it with ease, make a noise, lose your breath, slap your thigh and see how you feel afterwards. I bet you feel like you can reach the stars.

Laughter really is the best medicine 🙂