Friday, March 5, 2010

Seriously, I'm still laughing!

Recently, I typed the sentence "Seriously, I'm still laughing!"
When I went back and reread what I had written, that sentence stopped me.  And I thought ... what an oxymoron.  Then I thought about the seriousness of laughter, or rather the importance of laughter. 

Proverbs tells us that a merry heart does good like a medicine.
And there is scientific evidence to support that proverb.
According to ScienceDaily, medical researchers discovered that the anticipation of “mirthful laughter” had surprising and significant effects.

One guy with an autoimmune disease self-prescribed the viewing of comic shows (in his day, Candid Camera).  His disease went into remission. He wrote a paper on his theory that was then published in the New England Journal of Medicine and then a book that became a best seller.



A personal story I have where a simple sight brought laughter and changed my "health" is this.... I was driving one dark morning (emotionally dark - the day was bright and sunny) on a country road.  With no water in sight anywhere, across the road in front of me was waddling a mother Peking duck with numerous yellow balls of feathers tagging along in a long line behind her.  Well, I had to stop and wait for the ducks to cross the road.  Then an 18 wheeler coming from the other direction stopped.  A couple of cars lined up behind me with more lining up behind the truck.  We started getting out of our cars, watching and waiting for all of the ducklings to make it across the road.  It was a little time consuming as some of the babies decided to have a sit along the way.  Anyway, it was quite comical.  We were having shared laughter amongst strangers. (In fact, I'm sitting here grinning at the memory of it.)  We wondered out loud where they were coming from and where they were going.  (I personally believe God plunked them there for my benefit - little duck angels.)  Needless to say, my day was changed.  I noticed the brightness and the sunny-ness.  My outlook was changed, and my health was changed.  I had a merry heart!

So my encouragement to you is this....

Strive to have a merry heart.  LOL.  Have Lots of LaughsLaugh out Loud.  Watch America's Funniest Videos.  Search for the humor that surrounds you.  Do whatever it takes for you to have a deep, genuine belly laugh.  Seriously, have a dose of laughter each and every day!

2 comments:

ladydee said...

Love that smile:)
Love your stories:)
Love how they always give me a merry heart:)
and
Love how you always laugh at your own jokes:)
LOL


ps... I LOVE you:)

debdigi said...

I was probably laughing at my own joke in that picture... hee-hee :)
Love you too!