One of my absolute favorite things to do is to laugh. I like laughing until it hurts. “Cracking up” is a euphemism for laughing hard, so hard that the tears are rolling down your face or laughing so hard you simply cannot catch your breath. Gasping for air while laughing seems to make things funnier, furthering the inability to catch one’s breath.
If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think.
Laughter has always been important to me. I have been laughing all my life. As a teenager my cousin Tammy and I just lived a few houses from each other on the same street. We played together every day. When something funny would occur we laughed together. On occasion something very funny would occur, sending us into a hysterical laugh that could not be stopped. Our efforts to stop laughing only produced even louder guffaws.
Most of our laughter occurred outdoors where we played. At times we would be indoors visiting our grandmother and, lo and behold, something funny would happen. After hearing and watching us go into a fit of laughter, our grandmother admonished our behavior. She told us it was not kosher to laugh in the manner we laughed. To our surprise we stopped laughing to listen. The question was, ‘How shall we laugh?’ Her answer was; to place one hand over our mouth and let out a titter with our head tilted slightly downward. My cousin and I proceeded to practice this new way or method of laughter to honor our grandmother.
Laughter Medicine
The Bible tells us that laughter is good like medicine. Medicine is used for our healing. When you engage in laughter the neurotransmitters responsible for positive feelings are released into the brain. Up to 80 muscles can be used during laughter and because the air sacs in your lungs are working simultaneously your respiratory system is strengthened as well. Even when sad or crying over a loss, people have been known to burst out laughing. What a mystery that is. God can turn your crying into laughter. The Great Physician gives life through laughter, isn’t that something?
The light of laughter serves as life to the body, soul and spirit. It is quite contagious in light of humor. In trying to appease our grandmother in the manner of expressing pure heartily laughter, Tammy and I still to this day enjoy both the titter and guffaw.
- Laughter: the spontaneous sounds and movements of the face and body that are instinctive expressions of lively amusement.
- Titter: to laugh in a restrained, self-conscious, or affected way. As from nervousness or in ill-suppressed amusement.
- Guffaw: laugh in a loud or boisterous way.
The smartest people I know are the funniest.
Laughter is a neurotic reaction that occurs in humans in a variety of situations. It is, in general, an emotional reaction to a humorous encounter or high sentiments of joy, pleasure, well-being, and optimism. There are many benefits that laughter can bring to our body, acting as a true natural medicine for the body and also the mind. many are the benefits involving the spirit, the body, and the mind.
