Laughter
“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.”
Mark Twain
“Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough!”
William Saroyan
The book, Anatomy of an Illness, by Norman Cousins, was published in 1981, and chronicled his journey through ankylosing spondylitis, a disease of the endocrine system that causes disintegration of the connective tissue in the spine. Cousins was in terrible pain. He determined that if negative emotions cause the release of negative chemicals in the body, then positive emotions would produce positive chemistry, and therefore, he could affect his endocrine system by stimulating the right chemicals. He induced laughter by watching the TV show, Candid Camera, old Marks Brothers movies, and by having his nurse read aloud from humorous books. He discovered that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter, which he referred to as “internal jogging,” gave him two hours of pain-free sleep. Weeks of hearty laughter paired with large doses of Vitamin C to increase oxygenation of his blood, cured the ankylosing spondylitis. Cousins’ self-research stimulated a great deal more scientific study into the effects of laughter on the body. Now, around the world, there are laughter clubs that meet simply to laugh loud and long and improve health by creating the chemistry of happiness.
My cousin, Sandy, and I had our own laughter club yesterday, looking at old family photos, telling tales about our childhoods, and delving into the mysteries and myths surrounding family. Family gatherings can be tense and intense affairs, especially in families where there is shared trauma—and what family does not have some of that? To be able to laugh and poke fun at one another and at life in general is good medicine for the body and for the soul. An old Yiddish proverb states: “What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” Sometimes the very best thing to do about the chaos that life serves up is to laugh.
Happy day,
Jane
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