It’s a Funny Thing

Posted by Kellie | October 3, 2009 | 19 Comments

CatLaugh On Monday, I had a really good, deep belly laugh.

It burst forth, drowning out the softly playing music, bubbling up from somewhere in my toes. After the initial guffaw, I chortled harder because I was only wearing knickers, and everything was starting to wobble. Then I totally cracked up because not only was everything jiggling most energetically, but also because I had a startled audience.

I was in the midst of a full body massage.

The massage was great. The laugh was even better.

****

Laughter is amazing. It is scientifically proven to be both contagious, and beneficial. Laughter is understood around the world, and doesn’t need anything to work, just one person. There are even Laughter Clubs where people can laugh together, not at any joke, humour or object, just laughing for laughing’s sake.

Proverbs 17: 22 tells us “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Consider that preschoolers laugh up to 300 times a day, then think of how many times a day you laugh. Suddenly feel a bit parched? Dry? Even…Old?

I haven’t found a recipe to make a merry heart, but I’m confident smiling and laughing would be key ingredients. I want to keep the feeling of internal lushness my full body (wiggle jiggle) giggle gave me, and not let my humour wither away from neglect. Working out how to keep a cheerful countenance means I’ll have laugh lines instead of frown creases, and more positive memories than cranky, which has to be worth the effort of doing things that make me smile, laugh and feel good.

But so often I just can’t bring myself – okay, allow myself – to do something as “pointless” as watch a funny movie, or visit LOLCATS. Somehow it seems problematic and unlikely for a grown up to say – or even think – “I’m gonna have FUN!”. It can seem immature perhaps, or irresponsible when so many other adult demands and concerns are thrashing around in our heads and lives.

I think I would be more likely to take a HAHA pill if it was next to my vitamin supplement, or if my doctor ordered me to go laugh and have enjoy myself. But considering how much better we feel after a hearty session of giggles, maybe we should be writing our own personal prescription, ordering ourselves to go compete against those cheeky 4 year olds that are getting all the laughs. Or at least share – laughter is contagious, so surely there’s enough to go around.

Do you laugh often? Do you like your laugh?

Is it difficult for you to deliberately have fun? Why?

What makes you smile? Laugh out loud? Have a “merry heart”?

What do you think makes “a merry heart”?

Comments

19 Responses to “It’s a Funny Thing”

Sage
October 3rd, 2009 @ 8:11 am

Kellie! I’m so glad you got the massage. You needed it.

This is a great post. I think you are right about how we start forgetting to laugh and have a cheerful countenance when we become adults and focus too much on our responsibilities.

Yesterday I posted a link to a mother with quintuplets laughing as they are laying around her to my facebook. You may have seen it–it’s been passed around for awhile. There’s something about baby laughter that is contagious and beautiful.

One of my favorite Bishop’s wife (who had nine kids) recommended laughter to help solve problems. I try to remember that.

I also wonder what the definition of “loud laughter” that we are warned against refers to.
Angela
October 3rd, 2009 @ 9:11 am

Laughing is so important. Just yesterday a friend posted a viral video on facebook of a bride who can’t stop laughing during her wedding vows. Loved it, and it gave me a good laugh too. (Isn’t it funny how laughter’s infectious?)

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clw7SAJs_6w

Happy laughing!
annegb
October 3rd, 2009 @ 10:40 am

Bill was asked once how I had gotten through my tragedies. He said, “It was her testimony of the gospel.”

I laughed and said, “No, it’s my sense of humor.” My family is crazy that way.

My sister, whose daughter was killed in August in an ATV accident, told me about going to a group she’s active in and sobbing out her sorrow and despair. A member of the group who has some mental problems and was unaware of my sister’s loss, came up to her afterward and asked, “Have you had your meds checked lately.”

My sister cracked up and so did I when she wrote me of this.

Really funny people have to be able to laugh at themselves.
Aj Shawler
October 3rd, 2009 @ 3:06 pm

I have an exclusive of him (Apatow) on my blogsite – ajshawler.blogspot.com
Jennie
October 3rd, 2009 @ 4:00 pm

I love to laugh! I even do it at really inappropriate times (during a talk in church when I actually had to just sit down because I couldn’t stop.)

Funny cats and people getting hurt always make me laugh.

I think most people don’t laugh enough. Especially at themselves.
mormonhermitmom
October 3rd, 2009 @ 4:17 pm

My mom, my brother and I pun like crazy when we’re together, and the rest of the sibs just groan. My Dad laughs those times we can come up with a lot of them in a row, and then we laugh at each other laughing. My mom will get to a point where she can’t actually speak, she just wheezes and shakes. And it’s genetic. My brother and I do it too. It’s fun!
Tay
October 3rd, 2009 @ 5:27 pm

Hurrah for your massage! I definitely could use more laughter in my life. I fear that I’ve gotten too serious over the past few years. Now I will start remembering to laugh more. Thanks for the reminder!
Melissa M.
October 3rd, 2009 @ 6:03 pm

Oh, yes, laughing is so delicious. And I don’t do it often enough. Thanks for the reminder, Kellie, to look for more humor in life’s little moments.

And Angela, loved the video!
traci
October 3rd, 2009 @ 6:29 pm

I laugh really loud and i like it. i laugh at corny jokes, even outloud in church and at the movies. i laugh hysterically at the tapes we have of “Keeping Up Appearances” usually can’t stop!

i make sure i am always smiling when my husband comes home and always tell him that the best part of the day is when he walks thru the door – it was a suggestion i have kept. i make sure i am smilling whenever i leave the house. sometimes i am gripping the car wheel and gritting my teeth and saying: smile, smile! but you know what it works!
Giggles
October 3rd, 2009 @ 8:00 pm

I’m not called “Giggles” for nothing. And I LOVE that nickname. I’ve been told my laugh is like my aunts, and I think that’s great. It is a different one though, and one that is recognizable once you’ve heard it.

I fully believe that “men are that they might have joy” and try to laugh as much as possible. I keep crayons in my backpack because even as a Ph.D. student, every now and then you need to color.

For me, having a merry heart is not letting go of the fun little moments of each day. I laugh every time I see a quail run across the road, those birds are funny. I look up at the stars and say “wow” often. I have funny little knick knacks on my bookshelves at home and my desk in my office.

I don’t know that I have a full belly laugh often, but I try to smile and giggle a little each day. And those moments when I can make my fiancé laugh till he cries, those are precious.
Giggles
October 3rd, 2009 @ 8:03 pm

One of my favorite quotes too is about how there are two responses to any situation, you can cry or laugh, but laughter requires less clean up afterward.
corktree
October 3rd, 2009 @ 8:17 pm

I love that my husband and I share the same sense of humor and that we still make each other laugh quite a bit after all these years. It brings me such joy when he laughs at my jokes (intentional or not) and he’s usually the only one that can succeed in making me laugh at my craziness. Without that I would take myself WAY too seriously. Oh and I used to be self conscious about my laugh, but now I let it fly so that I never find myself suppressing the joy when I feel it. My husband also regularly directs me to funny stuff, so I don’t feel a need to seek it out, but sometimes I wonder if he does it on purpose to keep me in a lighter frame of mind.

And I love that thought Giggles! I’ll have to take that challenge when life gets me down. Fun post!
Selwyn
October 3rd, 2009 @ 9:54 pm

Sage and Angela – I laughed my way through both of those clips! That’s one good thing about the internet and email, we have more opportunities to have a giggle.

Annegb, faith and humour are what get me through life. Loved the meds comment!

Jennie and Mormonhermitmom – can I come visit?

Traci – I’ve been told that your brain doesn’t understand fake smiles, it just assumes you are happy and responds with endorphins accordingly. I’m going to try that grin in my car!

Giggles – Australia has cornered the market on weird animals, so if you need more funny creatures to look at, try Australian ones! Love the crayon idea too. Your quote reminded me of one of my fave’s by Marjorie Hinckley – “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.”
Carina
October 3rd, 2009 @ 10:59 pm

Sometimes I go to LOLCats because my brain can’t handle anything else and I want to laugh.

And I DO laugh.

(This one made me laugh a lot.)
Michelle L.
October 4th, 2009 @ 9:20 pm

Ya know, I hate to brag, but a huge fringe benefit of having six kids is that they keep you laughing all. the. time. Of course, I happen to think I have the cleverest, funniest kids on the planet, but doesn’t every mother feel that way?

Yep, they may be expensive and time-consuming but at least I’ll go down laughing.
LizC
October 5th, 2009 @ 12:30 am

My husband will tell you he was shocked to marry someone who actually laughs “hee hee hee”–and I do, until I really get going, and then I just shake and wheeze like MormonHermitMom’s mom. Sometimes I’ll even give myself asthma. Or snort, which sets me off again.

Laughing really well is my favorite form of exercise.

It’s never the same trigger twice, but oh, I do relish a good big laugh, joyous and rich and from the deepest parts of the soul. It’s the ultimate in refreshment. I’m convinced a good laugh adds at least a year to my life.

I do end up laughing quite a lot. My mother once said that with seven children, she had two choices: learn to laugh at just about everything, or go smack out of her tiny mind. And since we’re all genetic punsters, there’s a lot to laugh about.

I feel I do have a merry heart. I consider it a gift from God, because I know very dear people who truly struggle to find merriment in daily living. Knowing that such happiness comes more easily to me has been a big deal–I don’t take it so much for granted these days.

One of my biggest laugh-triggers is my current 4yo. She has this high, adenoidal voice, like that shrimp from Shark Tale, but also has this huge vocabulary and very sassy personality (she’s spicy.) So she says big serious things in this little cartoon voice, and it just kills me. And, she has a Wasatch Front dialect, just a little. So she told me the other day (imagine that Shark Tale shrimp voice in your mind), “Modder, dere’s a frickeen ANT in are house today.” (translated: Mother, there appears to be an insect invading our domicile at this very moment.)

I can also creep out my oldest and give myself the giggles by trying to touch her with the fingernail I smashed about a month ago–the nail is coming off as it reaches the fingertip, and we call it the Zombie Finger. For some reason, she’s freaked out about the Zombie Finger, and for some other reason, I find that vastly amusing, and poke her with it at random moments, intoning “Zombie Finger” in my most zombie-like voice, and then laughing like an asthmatic loon. It’s fantastic.
m&m
October 5th, 2009 @ 1:49 am

I don’t laugh enough. I am trying to savor more of the little moments with my kids that can bring a chuckle or a smile. To slow down enough that I can do that.

This was a great post. Thanks.
Sharlee
October 5th, 2009 @ 12:15 pm

My mother, too, often laughed until she wheezed and couldn’t breathe. I inherited that from her, much to the amusement of my kids.

I also inherited my mother’s tendency to get the giggles at inappropriate times. My mother, my sister, and I actually had to remove ourselves from sacrament meeting once because we just couldn’t get it under control!

Laughter is fabulous medicine. Laughter actually saved my grandma’s life once (long story, and I think I shared it here once before, so I’ll refrain now ).

Long live laughter!
annegb
October 7th, 2009 @ 10:12 am

We’re not supposed to eat in our cubicles at work. We can have hard candy. We all sneak little things in but sometimes I put Salt and Vinegar Chips in my bag of work stuff. I usually put some in a smaller ziploc bag, but yesterday I was in a hurry and just stuffed the whole bag in there.

I went on break and as I left the ladies room, I set my bag down on the little table by the mirror and had a heck of a time stuffing the bag of chips back in there. I was banging it around and it just wasn’t going, but I was seriously intent. Another woman walked around the corner and watched me for a second and we both just burst out laughing.

By the time I get to the bottom of my chips, they’re usually just a bag of tiny crumbs.

But that moment—that moment when we both realized how ridiculous this was and shared the laugh, that was priceless.