| “I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter, and that this was the secret of the universe.” — Donna Tartt (The Goldfinch) |
One of the many things that I enjoy about children of any age is that they laugh more than adults. Their present moment awareness contributes to that. If they aren’t worrying about the future or the past, they appear stress free. I have learned that stress is self-created because we always have a choice in what we allow to affect us.
Various studies have been done on humor therapy. Here is the abstract from one of them: “The present study examined the effectiveness of a humor therapy program in relieving chronic pain, enhancing happiness and life satisfaction, and reducing loneliness among older persons with chronic pain. It was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest controlled design. Older persons in a nursing home were invited to join an 8-week humor therapy program (experimental group), while those in another nursing home were treated as a control group and were not offered the program. There were 36 older people in the experimental group and 34 in the control group. Upon completion of the humor therapy program, there were significant decreases in pain and perception of loneliness, and significant increases in happiness and life satisfaction for the experimental group, but not for the control group. The use of humor therapy appears to be an effective nonpharmacological intervention. Nurses and other healthcare professionals could incorporate humor in caring for their patients.” 1
I’ve often thought that laughter and crying are the same emotion, and it has always felt better to laugh than to cry. From the Sunday talk at Unity by Rev Pat Bessey, she was referring to Alan Cohen’s book, Dare to Be Yourself, and paraphrased that “Laughter is an antidote for living in a world of disturbing illusions.”
Did you know that laughter is also an antidote for stress, chronic pain, and reduces cortisol and adrenaline that cause bad cholesterol? At the same time, it increases our immune cells and antibodies that fight off disease. This happens because the feel-good hormone, endorphin, is released. When you are petting your dog or cat, endorphins are released by both the owner and the pet. All of which improves one’s mood.
I’ve collected a few quotes about love from Goodreads.com. It would be great if you would leave a comment about what laughter does for you, or if you have a favorite quote on laughter.
| “Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.” — L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)) |
| “Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face.” — Victor Hugo (Les Misérables) |
| “Laughter is the language of the soul.” — Pablo Neruda |
| “Laughter is poison to fear.” — George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)) |
| “The human face has limited space. If you fill it with laughter there will be no room for crying.” — Rohinton Mistry (A Fine Balance) |
| “Close friends are truly life’s treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.” — Vincent van Gogh |
| “Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings” — John Gillespie Magee Jr. |
| “If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don’t bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he’s a good man.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky |
| “Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything.” — Kurt Vonnegut Jr. |
| “May Light always surround you; Hope kindle and rebound you. May your Hurts turn to Healing; Your Heart embrace Feeling. May Wounds become Wisdom; Every Kindness a Prism. May Laughter infect you; Your Passion resurrect you. May Goodness inspire your Deepest Desires. Through all that you Reach For, May your arms Never Tire.” — D. Simone |
Rev Airin
1 Humor Therapy: Relieving Chronic Pain and Enhancing Happiness for Older Adults
Mimi M. Y. Tse, 1 ,* Anna P. K. Lo, 2 Tracy L. Y. Cheng, 3 Eva K. K. Chan, 4 Annie H. Y. Chan, 5 and Helena S. W. Chung 6
Meta Moments 