Laughter Is So Good For Us

1. 

   "Laughter releases endorphins, feel-good chemicals that act as natural stress busters. A good belly laugh also improves circulation, fills your lungs with oxygen-rich air, helps relieve pain, and counteracts fear, anger and depression." Susan Smith Jones, Ph.D.
   
   

   Yesterday when I was in a funk over the grief of options not chosen, I watched the movie, Boy In Striped Pajamas, which makes any loss we are experiencing pale in comparison with the devastation of the holocaust.  Then, when my mood of feeling left behind had been ameliorated by this very sobering movie, I watched a short comedy.  It was a silly piece, but there were times when I laughed unabashedly -- a wonderful remedy for fear and sadness.  Yes, there were dozens of tasks I might have been doing instead; but I honored my feelings by feeling them so that they could move through me and beyond.  The fastest way to move through feelings is to feel them.  It is important to take the time to honor what we are feeling, so that we do not become stuck in those feelings.  By honoring them, they move, and other feelings take their place -- feelings of well being can come after we honor our sadness and feeling left out.