Laughter Clubs
Have you ever heard of “laughter clubs?” I hadn’t until this morning.
It began with curiosity, as most wonderful things do. “‘This is amazing,’ Moses said to himself. ‘Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.’” The woman-who-was-no-longer-at-the-well said to her neighbors, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?”
I was curious as to what feelings or emotions really are. This curiosity was not academic. I’ve been struggling with all kinds of emotions here of late, especially feelings of depression.
Plus, last night at work, I had a bad spell physically. For the first two hours, I was feeling fine. We weren’t all that busy, but I had several customers. But then, I suddenly got very short of breath and flushed, dizzy, and sick at my stomach. I clocked out early, and drove home the back way so as not to encounter a lot of traffic. I drove very slowly, and did not sideswipe anyone, though I’m sure I weaved a bit, and no doubt irritated a lot of drivers behind me. (I pulled off whenever I could, in order to let them go around me. Fortunately, it was too dark for me to detect any rude gestures.)
Feeling depressed is a serious matter. Feeling bad physically isn’t exactly pleasant either. A cocktail of the two is especially toxic. I still felt bad this morning. I say again that my curiosity was not academic. It was intensely practical.
I ended up at the following web site: http://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/feelings-vs-emotions/, accessed 12-16-2016. Since the author of this site mentioned that fact that he had been interviewed on NPR, I then went there to read their summary of the interview with him. (If you would like to do the same, go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6641178, accessed 12-16-2016.)
This is how I found out about laughter clubs—clubs where people get together to do laughing exercises. Just thinking about this, I got to laughing so hard that I was afraid that I would awaken my wife. The very idea! Laughing clubs! Really?!?
And, as inexplicably as it came, the depression was gone.
Anybody want to join my club? There are no dues. The only requirement is to be willing to laugh. You don’t even have to mean it.
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