For the life of my marriage, 25 years at this writing, one of my goals has been to make my wife cry – every day. In fact, just recently I had tremendous success in this goal – achieving tears over three times in one day! That’s marriage success, I tell you!
Perhaps I should explain.
Amy loves to laugh. And laughter, to me, means you are extremely happy, at least at that very moment. It’s pretty darn difficult to smile, let alone laugh, and be sad at the same time. Might even be impossible. Now, when Amy laughs, really laughs, she actually cries – tears! That means I got her good. That’s the outward expression of, what I believe to be, inward joy. If the definition of attitude is the inner you being expressed by the outer you, I’d say laughter exposes a great attitude. Something worth having and seeing!
My kids have figured this out as well, and so they, too, are striving for Mom’s tears. Funny thing to hear if you didn’t know the real goal.
A quick google search on the benefits of laughter shows its value – both mentally and physically. One quick search showed that laughter reduces feelings of stress and induces relaxation and contentedness. It moves our focus from negative to positive emotions and emotionally connects us to people in ways other emotional activities do not. I read years ago that using humor in training and teaching settings reinforce the learning significantly. Physically, laughter reduces cortisol, promotes healing, reduces stress, and can lead to lower heart rates and blood pressure. All good stuff!
You might remember the movie, Patch Adams, based on the true life story of an unorthodox doctor by the same name. Robin Williams, playing the role of Patch Adams, employed humor and laughter in an effort to promote healing in an otherwise depressing environment of very sick people. Shouldn’t we be somber in this environment? He didn’t think so and turned the place upside down with his funny antics, and medical prowess. The result went beyond the outward displays of joy through laughter. Many of the patients actually improved in health, and thus, quality of life.
Bottom line: let’s lighten up and laugh some more.
Time for me to go make my wife cry.