Laughing Worship

Remember the department in the Reader's Digest called "Laughter -- the Best Medicine"? And the story of Norman Cousins, who watched comedy movies and otherwise laughed his way into recovery from a serious illness?

Laughter just plain feels good (overly obvious statement). But I wonder if genuine laughter isn't getting lost to some degree in our multi-tasking culture, along with so many other values that might be summarized as "stop and smell the roses." Appreciating beauty and enjoying laughter have to be among the greatest gifts we receive during our sojourn on earth. Angels, I would imagine, must certainly laugh when they're not busy playing harps or rescuing lost souls.

Then there's the blessing of being able to laugh at ourselves and our circumstances. Laughter definitely helps to reduce a catastrophizing ego to silence (at least temporarily). And laughter for sure helps to change perspective and banish "little" troubles without having to think about it.

I recently encountered (twice in two days!) an exercise sometimes referred to as "laughing yoga." A friend of mine introduced it to a group we both belong to. The idea is as follows: the group stands up, everyone walks around the room -- and laughs. There are a couple of ways to orchestrate this. One is to shake hands with each other as you meander around the room, look into each other's eyes, and laugh. A variation is to raise your arms over your head and laugh.

At first this tends to feel horribly artificial, but very soon you feel so silly doing it that you start to laugh in earnest. It really helps to have the whole group laughing -- the laughs are deliciously contagious. After "time" is called, it takes a few minutes for the laughter to settle. And one feels incredibly energized, as well as light, clear and aware.

Try this out sometime soon. It's excellent for waking up a dull party or a sleepy business meeting (or a sleepy congregation?).

Kenneth G. Mills has said, "I could never believe in a God who couldn't dance." I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I altered that to include "I could never believe in a God who couldn't laugh."

God bless the fool -- in everyone!