The Case For Laughter

August 1, 2024

 

Growing up, my family took my mom’s cue (who was able to find humor in her wretched MS) and laughed about everything. Mundane acts that were once effortless for her (like showering, getting dressed, eating, and seeing), became exhaustive endeavors requiring no less than three people to complete. It was too absurd not to also be downright hilarious at times.

We laughed at her first electric wheelchair having a seatbelt, and we laughed when she started to need to be belted in. My dad made up a doctor character for the times he changed her catheter. I put on accents for her; in the evenings I hosted a cooking show while preparing her dinner, and before bed I moonlighted as a European facialist. Once, she got frustrated and yelled, “It’s not like I’m handicapped!” And we cracked up so hard we toned our abs. Together, we teased the shit out of her dumb disease.

We were never attempting to deny the severity of her chronic illness. But we leaned on laughter as our coping strategy, and as our redeeming factor: if things had to be as arduous as they were, we at least deserved to find humor in the hardship.

Each time we chose to laugh together, we prioritized joy over despair, filling the room with a spirit of vitality that sustained us.

It’s my belief –and it was my mom’s–that life is intended to be joyful. Laughter is a portal out of pain. Even if it’s a temporary respite, it’s essential. Laughter–true laughter–is engaging. It requires us to be in the present moment (which is restorative in itself), and it invites us to enjoy the unfolding of our varied lives.

Nothing is so serious that it can’t also be the source of great humor. In fact, the things that could cause us anger, offense, or grief are often the ones we ought to be laughing about the most.

This month, my wish for us all is to increase the laughter in our lives. To loosen up enough to zoom out from our ego and see through a wider perspective that considers delicious irony and pure joy.

Stiffness, resentment, anger, and an extended attitude of feeling sorry for ourselves is stagnating and calcifying. Having the willingness to laugh means possessing an evergreen ticket to spiritual freedom and a refusal to succumb to negativity.

Be serious when it’s appropriate. Feel what you feel. Acknowledge what’s real. And all the while, don’t let an opportunity to laugh pass you by.

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