Laughter is the Best Medicine

This morning as I sat on my rock, I prayed and dedicated my practice to all college age students and to every refugee from Tibet: that they ALL might have the deepest peace that passes all understanding.  I really hope his Holiness, The Dalai Lama gets to return to Tibet in this lifetime. I think this world would be so much better with a free Tibet where everyone could go and deepen their connection to the All.

When I opened my eyes from these prayers, three geese were walking across the last ice remaining on the pond. They looked so funny and awkward, I had to laugh. I wasn’t laughing at them. I definitely look like that too sometimes, out of my element. A big joy for me is to laugh at myself and not take life or myself too seriously. I mean, I am a Costa Rican irish step dancer after all. I aspire to have the sense of humor that the Dalai Lama and Eckhart Tolle have . They can both make me see how funny some of my reactions to life are. One of my best friends really summed it all  up for me in a quote that has stayed with me for all these child raising years….”I know I’m wrong, but I can’t stop yelling!” How I love people who crack me up:)

Here are some ideas to feed your soul from the well of laughter….Call someone you love with a joke. My friend, Ray Hanson called me until he was 92 and told me jokes and wanted to know which of his jokes I remembered:) He had a great laugh. Really, when I think about it, everyone has a great laugh! How I wish I could see him again and tell him this Eckhart Tolle joke that he would love…. A priest and a Rabbi were walking in the streets of Jerusalem. The Rabbi was overcome by the spirit of the Lord and dropped to his knees, crying, “I am nothing! God is everything.”  Soon after, the Priest, overcome by the Holy Spirit, dropped to his knees and cried,”God is everything. I am nothing.” A street sweeper was watching them and was very moved. He dropped to his knees and cried, “God is everything. I am nothing.!” The Priest nudged the Rabbi and said, “Look who thinks he’s nothing.”

Ha ha ha ha:)

Funny movies … Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Princess Bride, and BOTH of the Steve Martin Pink Panther movies

Funny TV shows… Modern Family, New Girl, Friends, and Parks and Rec. I honestly could not have made it through this administration without Saturday Night Live.

Comedians.. Ellen and Trevor Noah. Brian Regan is hilarious for car trips and his humor is clean, so really good for school age kids.

Authors.. I love Susan Branch. Her three books about her life made me LOL in parts. Her sense of humor is warm and inclusive. We are all in this together.

We Woodards think that Calvin and Hobbes is the funniest comic strip of all time. How it use to warm my heart to hear our children laughing out loud with their noses buried in those books.

Think about what makes you laugh out loud and then let me know. The best emoji ever invented is the “laughing until you cry” emoji.. It is the one I use the most! And so many times when I’m writing in my journal, I wish I could use it but I’m absolutely hopeless at drawing that cute little face, I’ve tried!

For a string of days, where there seems to be very little to laugh at, this effective medicine is needed more than ever. Try this… in the privacy of your room or shower just fake laugh for a little while. It is so ridiculous that it  always breaks me up into a real laugh very quickly.

May your health flourish with some good belly laughs.  I love the ones that are so hysterical that if I wasn’t doing my Kegel’s exercises, I would pee in my pants:)