Encouragement
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Proverbs 17:22
Many years ago the American editor and author, Norman Cousins, was in the last stages of a degenerative disease, and had been told by his doctors that he had but a few weeks to live. While he was in the hospital, he looked around at the other patients, and he could see worry, anger, and depression etched on their faces. It was then that Mr Cousins considered the idea that if an illness can be the outcome of a sad and negative outlook, then maybe thinking positively could create good health and well-being.
Believing that laughter is one of the most positive activities known to man Mr Cousins decided to make an experiment of himself by renting all the old movies he ould find of comics such as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Laurel and Hardy. He stopped taking the prescribed drugs, and then when the pain was at its worst he would put on one of the films and have a good laugh. Fifteen minutes of giggling, he claimed, could provide him with several hours of relief from the nagging pain. And it worked! The happy outcome was that he fully recovered from his illness, and lived another 20 happy and productive years.
There is a story in the Bible where God promised Abraham that a son would be born to his wife Sarah. Abraham burst out laughing and cried, “This is nonsense, shall a son be borne to a man who is 100 years old?” Sarah joined in the laughter, but sure enough a child was born to them, and they named him Isaac, the Hebrew word for laughter.
And there is the tale of the great preacher, Charles Sturgeon, who was severely rebuked by some elders who thought that a man of God should be always solemn. Spurgeon replied that he could be solemn when the occasion demanded it, but added “I would rather make people laugh for five minutes than have them sleep for half an hour.”
Humour has many faces, and it can express every shade of emotion and feeling that we experience. Laughter creates an environment for healing and can help to diffuse a stressful or even potentially explosive situation. Yet unfortunately some people consider laughing a frivolity, a waste of valuable time, something to be indulged in just once in a while. But nothing could be further from the truth for laughter is essential for relieving tension, and helping to put things into perspective.
Laughing is a physical tonic. The whole body is relaxed when laughing. The tension in the face and body muscles relax, the lungs expand, and we are able to breathe more easily. In the Indian city of Bombay there was even a Laughter Club International. This was the brainchild of Dr Madan Kataria who believed that laughter is good for the heart and soul. The club members gathered each day for the sole purpose of having a good laugh together. And as for relieving pain – it really does, as there is firm evidence that a good laugh can cause the release of endorphins, the body’s own natural painkillers.
For instance, a committee meeting held long ago had reached a stage where feelings were running high and there was a great deal of tension in the air. Then suddenly the door flew open and a latecomer rushed in, only to trip over and fall flat on his face, his papers flying across the room. As the unfortunate man lay on the floor gathering his wits there was a burst of laughter from the rest of the committee, and in an instant the hostility and bad feeling had disappeared.
Dr. William Barclay wrote some years ago: “Life is always a problem for the man who takes himself too seriously, and there is always hope for the man who can laugh at himself. The man who cannot laugh at himself is in the grip of pride, and the man who can laugh at himself has at least humility.”
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I love your article so much, because laughter has been my anti-depressant since I was a young child. The real kind of laughter, anyway.
That said, I would really enjoy seeing you clean up some of the spelling and typos so that picky readers won't lose your terrific message because of them.
I make these same errors all the time and am always so appreciative when people point them out...