Choose Laughter

For the last several years, it truly has been one thing after another, after another, after another, after another, after another, after another...you get the picture.  But that is life, isn't it?

It really is the way that things go -- you climb the side of the moat, only to find that there is another hurdle waiting just around the next turn, so you jump it and then find another moat or mountain.  The key is to keep going, and to find a way to enjoy the journey regardless of the next obstacle that leaps out into the path.

Finding the funny in every miserable situation is the answer.

You keep going, and enjoy the challenges anyway, by finding a way to laugh in the face of all that life throws at you.  That is the answer.

It is an answer that I have discovered in all of this seemingly endless slog over the last few years.  As I keep telling myself, though, it could be so much worse, because there are so many people on this little planet of ours who have lives so steeped in misery and hardship that finding laughter is seemingly impossible.

But that is sometimes where you find some seriously genuine enjoyment of life, laughter at the little things, and an ability to truly appreciate and focus on the individual moments of joy in such a concentrated fashion that the laughter that roars out is incredibly genuine.  Laughter is such a gift -- to yourself and to the folks around you -- and it is one that we would all do well to cultivate a little more.

It is a festival of angry and cranky all around us far too often.  Especially in this country where pundits and politicians stoke divisions and nastiness for personal gain, we can choose to turn it off, turn away and turn to laughter instead.

Laughter unites us.  It warms the soul and brings joy into the room.  Speaking from experience, especially over my last year of cancer treatment, laughter heals in ways we cannot even quantify:  the light that enters the darkest corners after a good laugh is worth more than you can possibly imagine in terms of healing and hope.

So when you are feeling blue or ill or in need of a pick-me-up, choose laughter.  You'll be glad you did.

The Monty Python folks have had it right all along.


(Photo via Alexis Gravel.)