Seriousness is a disease are you infected?
There is nothing in life more irresistible and infectious as laughter. Do you remember when you last laughed so hard, that no noise was coming out and you just sat there clapping like a hysterical seal? Uncontrollable, unavoidable, overwhelming laughter seems to get us much more in our childhood, than later, when we are all caught up in the seriousness of life. We have forgotten that the magic of laughter is one of the most simple remedies for many ills.
Please watch this famous 8 minute short film below, even if you know it! We have a personal interest in the sound of laughter and we would love to hear your belly vibrating with joy from all corners of the world…
We don’t stop laughing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop laughing.
Simon and I take our laughter really seriously 🙂 We use it as a pathway to freedom. Laughter definitely is one of the simplest and at the same time most challenging practices. It works like an internal clearing. You have to go after it though, it doesn’t just walk through the front door and take you for tea! Your internal mind channel will give you a heap of reasons why laughing now is really not a good idea: “There is nothing funny! I am too deep in my pain! I can’t laugh. People will think I am totally loopy” and more!
But if we get over that hurdle we can just allow the body to release through this beautiful gift of nature – after all, humans are one of the only species capable of laughter so we might as well use it. What I have felt most is that it clears out the mental debris of taking life too seriously. It plunges me into the cosmic joke of my existence and lets me see the illusion of it all.
So as a practice Simon and I just laugh for 15 minutes a day. It’s blissfully challenging. And after a few minutes we often both start purging, because the laughter travels quickly down into the deep sea of our held emotions and allows them to bubble up to the surface. We cannot recommend it more! It is so powerful and liberating.
The rule of thumb is: What you put in, is what you get out. The more we give ourselves fully, open our hearts and breathe in the ridiculousness of life, the more laughter will become a gentle warrior in our team of life, ready to combat lies and illusions. Just try it. Even if only for 5 minutes a day! If you are not yet convinced, see some scientific facts here:
