What can cause you to double over with laughter? What incites a snicker or a full-throated guffaw? What evokes repeated chuckles, signaling happiness for all who can hear you – and if they can’t hear you, your body language reveals all?
Bust-a-gut laughter can be cathartic, better than a good cry.
- a harsh bark (that I’ve been admonished to abandon by a renowned voice specialist)
- a musical glide through the scales
- a teehee, perhaps anxious titter, in which I often cover my mouth
- a giggle that reaches down to my toes
I’d forgotten what it felt like to laugh in recent months. The vagaries of politics and complicated health have undermined my natural light-heartedness.and deep-rooted sense of humor. Many have commented that the sparkle in my eye had been snuffed by a general heaviness. So mired I was – and my dear husband along for the ride – that neither of us noticed that we’d lost the benefit of daily humor hits that marked our nice life.
So, when a chance to attend a local comedy show arrived, I snagged two tickets pronto.
Good idea # 22. It was a full throttle laughter night!
I’d forgotten the extra jolt of endorphins that comes when you’re laughing along with a crowd of other people. I’d forgotten what a laughter work-out feels like. I’d lost touch with my inner giggling child, the one who didn’t take life seriously… and benefitted from that daily point of view.
Nearly a week later, as I write these words, I’m still okay. The world hasn’t changed, but the part of me that is sick of being sick and tired has. I’m a little braver, a little more limber of thought, less fragile as I hear sensitive news.
Funny is not about looking on the bright side, right? The best humor causes a pinch of pain, recognition, or both. As I laughed last Saturday, I was laughing at the things that scared me. I was laughing, sometimes uncomfortably, at myself.
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