Humor...

Humor is one of God's most marvelous gifts.  Humor gives us smiles, laughter, and gaiety.  Humor reveals the roses and hides the thorns.  Humor makes our heavy burdens light and smooth the rough spots in our pathways.  Humor endows us with the capacity to obscure, to simplify the complex, to deflate the pompous, to chastise the arrogant, to point a moral, and to adorn a tale. -Sam J. Ervin.  

According to helpguide.org humor is infectious.  The sound of laughter is more contagious than a sneeze.  When laughter is shared, it binds people together and increases happiness and intimacy.  Laughter triggers healthy physical changes in the body.  Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress.  Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict.  Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh.  Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. 

I know first hand about the healing powers of humor.  I've been able to heal through many life challenges thanks to humor and laughter.  Nothing is better than those gut wrenching laughs that make you feel you will stop breathing if you laugh much longer.  One gut wrenching laugh experience I will never forget happened only a couple of days after major surgery.  When I was 18 I had surgery that basically re-routed my insides.  My friend Jennifer Wise came to the hospital to visit me.  That day only my mom and Jennifer where with me.  It was time for me to go for a walk around the nurses station.  With my mom on my left and Jennifer on my right we began to walk pulling along IV's and tubes and random bags hanging from all around me.  I believe a few of the tubes got stuck or maybe my mom or Jennifer stepped on one.  Or maybe another Trisha Yearwood joke was told.  Whatever happened, all three of us started to laugh.  I of course was in great pain but we couldn't stop laughing.

Humor changes my mood as well.  I can come home after a long day and a long drive in a bad mood; a few of Joseph's jokes are just enough to help change my mood back to good.  I have said many times before that it is important to surround yourself with positive people.  Thinking about my family and friends I have many memories of laughter.  I am thankful to be surrounded by wonderful people everyday! 

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