December 20, 2002


THE POWER OF LAUGHTER

Laughter is therapeutic. Annette Goodheart, Ph.D., therapist from California specializes in working with laughter as a tool toward helping disease and depression. At a Health and Wellness conference given many years ago, she requested I go on stage with her in front of 1500 medical professionals and laugh with her for no reason at all. We began with Ho HO Ho, Ha HA Ha, Hee, HEE, Hee, and continued with that series. At first there were embarrassed snickers. After a while the entire audience was roaring with laughter.

I was giving Annette concerned looks as my legs began buckling under me. We leaned on each other and continued our He Haws. Then incontinence began to set in, as everyone knows will happen when we guffaw for long periods of time the muscles relax throughout our body. Still Annette would continue another round. I was laughing, but I wanted to quit. Annette wanted to make her point. She wanted every member seated before us to have a complete experience before she ended.

After I was seated,(And by the way I was dressed perfectly for the part. I had on a red blouse and white suit) Annette went on to instruct us about the benefits of laughter.

Annette Goodheart suggested we stand before our mirror and have a good belly laugh because the benefits to our entire system was phenomenal. The circulation system begins to tune up as we notice by the blood rushing to our face. Our skin becomes rosy. The muscular system totally relaxes and that's why we become incontinent. The respiratory system gets a complete work out as we are breathing deeply. It creates bonding for relationships. Did I mention that everyone treated me as if I were a celebrity for the rest of the weekend? I couldn't move a foot without someone telling me how great they thought I was. And that was just for laughing without having any type of prompting. It feels good. It improves health. Norman Cousins is known for his complete recovery from a fatal disorder because he decided to watch every funny movie he could find at a hotel instead of checking into a hospital and dying. He recovered completely.

So be happy, laugh. The alternate benefits are that you help your immune system.

Enjoy a long happy life. HEE,HEE,HA,HA,HA, HO, HOO, HOO. Maybe that's why Santa Claus has been around so long? HA, HA, HEE HEE, HOO, HOO.