“A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.” Proverbs 17:22 MSG
Who in your life brings a burst of easy laughter out of you? I imagine you look forward to spending time with this person.
Cultivating a good sense of humor serves us well. The most fun-filled people are those who bring out the light side of life’s ups and downs at an appropriate time and in appropriate ways. We all need comic relief to give balance to life’s hardships. There is a time for everything; ”a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
The work of healing is intense as we process difficult emotions such as the sadness, anger, and fear that trauma brings. Persevering in this work increases our capacity to experience the other side of the emotional spectrum, such as joy, confidence, and peace. In other words, ignoring or numbing difficult emotions curtails the intensity of our enjoyable emotions. When we do the hard work, we fight for the joy Jesus paid the ultimate price to give us.
“Laughter is a pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli.” Wikipedia
I once had a comic-relief moment that I believe was therapeutic. I was sharing my hurting heart with two wonderful, godly women and said something that was a bit out of character for me. They knew me well. My friends burst out laughing, and before I knew it, we had laughed for about five minutes. When one would stop, the other would snicker and start laughing again. The laughter was contagious. To this day, I remember that as a “healing laughter” moment. My friends provided me with a safe space to share and together, we discovered the lighter side of trauma in a dark season.
Suffering betrayal will not have the last word on our ability to laugh! We must embrace that resolve individually and in community. A wise pastor once said: “We take God seriously, not ourselves.”
Laughter is good medicine. As opportunities come, give yourself permission to laugh out loud. Make plans to see those fun-filled people who help to bring out your lighter side. It is good for your health, heart, and healing.
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