Laughter medicine: giggle and guffaw your way to a lighter view of life with Michele Horvath.

Our most recent American tragedies have been very I close-to-home disasters on the Gulf Coast. Third World countries face the challenges being confronted in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas every day. While I know it's important to be an active member of my community, to stay informed on global issues, and to be involved for the greater good of humanity, I often find that the very surest way to induce depression is to watch the news or read the daily paper. What do I mean by such a polar statement? Find balance. The other day I took a break from watching CNN and flipped to the first season episode of "Ellen." For those of you who don't know, Ellen DeGeneres started out as a stand-up comic, developed her own talk show and recently performed for an HBO special. She started this episode talking about the heart-wrenching tragedy we are witnessing on the Gulf Coast and offering up her suggestion--that, between moments of paying attention to the pain in the world, you take a break from facing these sobering issues to find laughter. How can I take her advice and learn to lighten up?

I usually enjoy the process of nurturing my body with healthy foods, so grocery shopping is a chore that I regularly don't mind. However, when finances are tight I can work myself up into a steady stream of fear. On one particularly serious shopping trip, I experienced a moment of en-lightenment. While grim-faced and comparing the prices of two types of beans, my concentration was broken by a chorus of laughter. A young first-grade boy with bright blue eyes and dark hair was telling knock-knock jokes to his younger sister in a lavender jumper.

"Knock-Knock."

"Who's there?"

"Olive."

"Olive, who?"

"Olive right next door to you!"

"Knock-Knock."

"Who's there?"

"Isabel"

"Isabel, who?"

"Isabel out of order? I had to knock."

On and on he went for what seemed like forever; there was no limit to his creative resources. His audience was just soaking in each joke and rebounding with the kind of laughter that leaves you unable to catch your breath. Her whole body shook when she laughed--pigtails and all. When was the last time you or I laughed like that? That grocery trip was just one instance where I have caught myself responding to the increased demands of life with limiting beliefs and falling into profound forgetting of what is truly important. And then, a moment of clarity: 1. Most things in life are not meant to be taken so seriously; remember to play, and 2. Laughter is a simple yet essential part of our health and our ability to gain perspective. The ability to laugh with others is a great gift. The ability not to take yourself so seriously is a great gift. The ability to take all that you experience not quite so seriously will give the gift of healing and surrender to yourself and others. Even when very serious problems occur, laughter can be a great tool for bringing balance to the situation.

Not only do you feel good when you laugh, your body is releasing endorphins that could possibly help put an illness into remission. (1) One particular study, run by Dr. Donald Black, M.D. at the University of Iowa, showed the impact of laughter on our physiology. When you laugh, you "give the heart muscles a good workout, improve circulation, increase your pulse rate, fill the lungs with oxygen-rich air, decrease tension, and can momentarily reduce the sensation of pain in the body." Dr. Black suggests that laughter is like "internal jogging," a form of exercise that keeps the body and the mind fit. (2)

The happy little neurotransmitters triggered by that "internal jogging" set off a chain of biochemistry that might be involved in making us smarter as well. "Good moods, while they last, enhance the ability to think flexibly and with more complexity, thus making it easier to find solutions to problems, whether intellectual or interpersonal.... one way to help someone think through a problem is to tell them a joke. Laughing ... seems to help people think more broadly and associate more freely, noticing relationships that might have eluded them otherwise ..." (3)

How interesting that sometimes only in letting go of your attachment to a problem can the natural flow return and the solution surface. Am I suggesting that you should no longer experience sorrow, despair, or rage? Of course not. But now you have another tool to help you work through it. Let yourself feel your sadness or fear. Let yourself move through it, and find your way to laughter: spend time with your best friend who was the class clown in high school or your niece or nephew who is perfecting their own repertoire of knock-knock jokes, watch a humorous movie or your favorite stand-up comic, sit by a fire and tell jokes with friends. Feed your soul with laughter and your brain will come around.

The simple joy of a child rallied my consciousness from the fog of fear, and suddenly the ten cent difference between cans of beans seemed a silly thing to be so serious about. His laughter reminded me that I have a real choice: to take myself oh-so-seriously or lighten up? To laugh or not to laugh? Moreover, it wasn't saving pennies on beans that was going to help me feel better. I needed to release the stress from my body, so I Stopped fretting and went home and rode my bicycle. If it weren't for laughter on that day, I would not have rebounded into the mental clarity that showed me the solution to my fear. Every day now, I seek to maintain my sanity through the simplest of joys, like laughter. I encourage you to do the same.

The Key to Happiness

Unfortunately for some of us, a University of Minnesota study of 4000 twins concludes that fifty percent of a person's experience of satisfaction is genetically determined. Your ability to handle stress is influenced by your genes. Surprisingly, environmental factors--marital status, income, religion, and education--only account for eight percent. What is the rest? Fate?

One way to ensure happiness, according to University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Martin Seligman, is to pay a "gratitude visit." Write a letter thanking a teacher, friend, parent for their role in your life. Then visit them and read them the letter. People who do this only one time "are measurably happier and less depressed a month later," Seligman says.

For 2006, turn over a new leaf of happiness and commit to paying one gratitude visit per month. If you're really industrious, try for one per week. By December 2006, you'll be brimming over with gladness!

Source: "Pursuit of Happiness," Ode Magazine, October 2005, p. 10

Footnotes

1--Pert, Candace. Molecules of Emotion, New York: Scribner, 1997.

2--Virtual Hospital. http://www.vh.org/adult/patient/psychiatry/prose/laughter.html "Laughter: It Does More Than Improve Your Mood "The University of Iowa, 2000.

3--Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence, New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

Michele Horvath is an energy-consciousness practitioner with a private practice currently in Spartanburg, SC. Michele has been practicing the ancient healing art of Reiki for ten years and has trained in energy healing and transformational psychology at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. Contact her at 1-908-246-3017.