Humor Heals

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“Gentlemen, why don’t you laugh? With the fearful strain that is upon me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die.”  ~ Abraham Lincoln

Recently Andy left a comment on the blog and contacted me afterwards to ask if I had thought some of his comment inappropriate, as the topic was about grief. In my reply to Andy, I found myself saying that a bit more levity is what this blog needs. I can be very serious in my posts, and actually that’s not me in reality. So I turned once more to my friend Therese Borchard for some wisdom on the  subject and wanted to share her thoughts on the importance of humor with you today.

“Of all my tools to combat depression and negativity, humor is by far the most fun. And just like mastering the craft of writing, I’m finding that the longer I practice laughing at life—and especially its frustrations–the better I become at it, and the more situations and conversations and complications I can place into that category named silly.” says Therese.

Employing humor in your armoury of coping mechanisms, can help you combat fear, boost your immunity, relax you, and reduce your overall anxiety and stress levels. Humor is like gratitude in that it nurtures optimism, and Dan Baker writes this in “What Happy People Know”:

[Appreciation] is the first and most fundamental happiness tool. … Research now shows it is physiologically impossible to be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. Thus, appreciation is the antidote to fear.

So if humor can change a perspective on a painful memory of the past or a gnawing issue of the present into opportunities to laugh at the inherent craziness of life at times, then a person can better facilitate his own healing.

So, I am introducing a new feature in the blog…Smile Saturday. I am dedicating the Saturday blog post to something which will make us smile, because after all humor spreads happiness and we could all do with a bit more of that in our lives 🙂

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