Healing, Bonding, Joyful Laughter

Posted on by Joyful2bee

What is the cheapest, most contagious, most healthy activity for the body, mind and spirit that you can do that doesn’t even involve sweating and exercise? Laughter!!

There are at least two basic kinds of laughter; the good, joyful kind shared by loved ones or just one person; and the other kind which is cruel, harsh and shared by bullies. I am not discussing the later in this post.

While still a child, I started early in this daily addiction. My father loved to use a sense of humor to alleviate fear and sometimes pain.

When I was about 4 I fell and bumped my head on the floor. I was crying until Daddy looked at the floor and pointed out a crack where my head had supposedly struck the floor. He teasingly told me that my hard head had made that crack. Astonished, I paused and looked and was quite amazed at how hard my head must have been. Then I realized he was teasing me, and I laughed!

Growing up with one sister two years after I was born, then 6 years later, a brother and 12 years later, another sister, we had plenty of things to laugh about. Dinner time was  often a riot, when our brother said something funny or made faces at the youngest sister and made her laugh so hard and so long that Moma sent her to her room to “get a grip.” (Not even mentioning the times we spewed our drink or food from laughing so hard.)

Daddy always said, “If you can laugh at yourself, you will always have plenty to laugh about.” (Quote from Shirley MacLaine.) Well, Lord knows that I did a lot of laughing at myself, when it wasn’t too serious of a faux pas. (That’s “blunder” in French.)

We were raised on Red Skeleton, Lucille Ball and other comedians of that ilk. We loved Bugs Bunny, Pepe LePew. Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner always made us laugh when the poor starving critter ended with disaster from his failed plans to capture the clever Roadrunner. (Now I feel sorry for the coyote, but I wondered why he didn’t choose a food source that was easier to capture!)

Both of my sisters and brother live over 5 hours or more away from me now. But several years ago we had a reunion at our brother and sister-in-law’s home. I don’t know which of us is the funniest. But our brother is the most clever at teasing his older and younger sisters. On Facebook he posted a picture of two little girls dressed from the 1930’s and commented that they were his two older sisters in the front of the picture! We older sisters weren’t born until after the 1950’s!!

Then, there are his comments about if there had been a swamp nearby, he could have become an only child. Boy, is he a funny guy! His wife is almost as funny!!

As I grew up, I found that I have a sense of humor that ranges from silly, goofy, and back to silly again. My best friend and I go to movies and sometimes laugh so hard that we cry. Or we laugh out so loud, it’s a wonder we aren’t escorted out of the theater.

They say laughter is the best medicine. Well, in many ways it is. When you are afraid or anxious or sometimes scared, if you can make a silly sentence that begins with: “Well at least I didn’t….” or “Well, it could be worse, I could have…” and fill in the blank with something funny it may alleviate some of what ails you.

As a nurse I found  that laughter (placed carefully and appropriately) could lessen some of the stress in a patient’s mind. I had one patient who had been homeless, was diabetic, had multiple admissions for many health problems. She had little trust for the staff and was always accusing us of being negligent.

As one of my efforts to gain her trust and provide excellent care for her, I had to replace her regular hospital bed with a weight bed. Another staff member and I were switching the beds around in a narrow room when her bed would not move any further. We realized her bed had not been unplugged. I commented, “Well, I guess it would help if I unplugged the bed.” The patient actually smiled! I couldn’t believe it!

When you are meeting someone for the first time, what better way to see them than laughing or even smiling. (Of course I realize there are inappropriate times for laughter.) I like people almost instantly who have smile lines on their faces, around their eyes and mouths. If a person has smiled or laughed that much, they can’t be all bad.

So to insure that you smile or laugh at my post, I will share this brief video. If you don’t feel like smiling or laughing, and there is pain in your life I am very sorry. I hope things get better for you.

Hope you enjoy it.

Made you laugh!!

35 thoughts on “Healing, Bonding, Joyful Laughter”

  1. Enjoyed your post very much and smiling is actually very good medicine. Just the act of moving the muscles in your face releases the endorphins in your brain that cause relaxation. There is even a laughter meditation.😊 Always Look On The Sunny Side Of Life….

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  4. Yes; I laughed!!! It is not simple “laugh” I I had my dose of medicine! It is said “laughter is the medicine”. Thanks and congrats.

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    1. Thank you for affirming that I am reaching people and adding some joy and laughter to this world! That is my biggest goal now. I love this mission!! I love what you said!!! Thank you again!

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  5. When I was younger and my mother was live we would console each other through health issues by saying that it will be funny in a year. We started that when I had my tonsils out and continued until she died. We would start the litany of “remember when you had that butt operation and were afraid you were going to fart on the doctor?” By the end we would be laughing so hard that it didn’t matter if we were going into surgery. It was all funny. That kind of parent is the best!

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  12. OMG, has there ever been a funnier show than Carol Burnett’s? Unless it was some of Lucille’s slapstick… Do you know she was completely paralyzed for two years in her early twenties? They told her she’d never walk again. She did it on force of will, and the rest is history.

    Laughter is also one on the shortlist of deep-belly activities which best pumps our endocrines, which unlike the blood don’t have a physical pump.

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    1. Was it Carol or Lucille who was paralyzed! I know!!! Carol and/or Vicky were so funny. I don’t know who was the funniest: Carol or Vicki, or Tim Conway??? I do love some of “Monty Python’s Holy Grail” too! Definitely a hard choice to pick one only.

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      1. OMG, don’t get me STARTED on MONTY!!! I’ve had the (very very dubious) pleasure of hanging out with folks in the habit of quoting whole SCENES of “Search for the Holy Grail” word for word! Talk about FUNNY!!!

        “Sew… If she weighs more than a duck, she’s…” 🤣😆🤧

        It was Lucille who lifted her own damn self out of that paralysis ~ and of the female greats of that generation I think she won the blue ribbon for physical comedy. Absolutely amazing.

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          1. I’ve been on a fast of both video and audio for years now, but that’s okay ~ some of those scenes are totally fresh in my mind!…
            “Oh? And who made YOU King?” Hahaha!!! “Naughty, naughty, NAUGHTY Sister Zoot!”…
            Goodnight, and thanks for the giggles 😄

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