Laughter

"Life is too serious to be serious". I was reminded bySpinoza Bear that there is a lighter side of the story to tell, too. A friend told me I'm getting too introspective with these slices of life of mine.

However, it only served to remind me of an old movie in the family collection I inherited. The scene was a ranch, with the workers sitting around a table at dinnertime. The workers were all chimpanzees. The movie's intent was to teach table manners.  At one point, one chimpanzee reached in front of another to grab a plate of food. Another chimp saw the arm in his face and stabbed the reacher's hand with a fork.

We would laugh heartily every time we'd see it - and of course learned to ask to pass the food. But, sometimes, at the dinner table, my brothers would get rambunctious and mimic a stab  to the arm of the reacher (who forgot) and then we'd roar with laughter all over again.

I have been in a stress reduction workshop or two where one of the techniques to which we were introduced required us to begin laughing and build it up to a roar. Accomplishing this was easy. The result was relaxation, a refreshing humiliation, and, also, a sense of bonding with the others in the group. To participate did require a self-conscious decision. But, this may be true anyway, when encountering the opportunity to laugh.

When I remember to laugh, I laugh when I'm feeling blue for no apparent reason - hormones, maybe , I laugh when I begin to feel outrage at what's going on, I laugh when I'm having a creative block, and I laugh at a joke or comedy scene. I bring laughter into the circle and it becomes the dance.

Try it. What was the experience?