Laughter: It’s a Magical Thing
by Phylis Clay Sparks

    As I was returning home to St. Louis from Orlando via Southwest Airlines, my connecting flight was delayed for more than two and a half hours due to bad weather. By the time we got off the ground, it was somewhere around midnight, so you can imagine how cranky people were. Well, the flight attendant was a real comedian. When everyone was on board, she got on the intercom and said, “Sit back, make yourself comfortable – or stay uptight and tense, we don’t really care. Please use caution when opening the overhead compartments as shift happens.” That got our attention.
    She went on to say something like this: “Please pretend to pay attention to the flight attendant as she demonstrates the safety features of this aircraft. In the event of an emergency, an oxygen mask will drop from the overhead compartment. When you stop screaming, place the mask over your nose and mouth and breathe normally. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more. You may also want to help people sitting next to you who are behaving like children.”
    Needless to say, things had lightened up quite a bit. By the time she was finished she had the whole plane laughing and applauding. A little later, she got back on the intercom and said, “This is only a fifty-minute flight, so if you want any peanuts we’re going to have to make it quick. When the peanuts come by you’ll have to reach out in a hurry and grab some.” Then she proceeded to throw the bags of peanuts down the isle. The passengers started bending over, picking them up off the floor and passing them with laughter to the persons next to them.
    Any guess what effect this approach had on the passengers? All of the passengers on that plane who had been hanging around the airport, getting tired of waiting, forgot about their frustrations and simply lightened up. And it felt good.
    Humor is a magical thing. A team at Stanford University found that comedy activates the same region of the brain as cocaine. Want to get high without losing your house, your car and your spouse? Laugh more!
    According to the November, 2007, issue of the Harvard Business Review, one of the ways to build the brain and exercise “cognitive fitness” is to read funny books.  Humor enhances our health. Even the immune system seems to love a good joke. Our immune systems are strengthened by laughter, lightness and a sense of humor.
    You may be thinking, “But sometimes it isn’t appropriate, or right, or possible to laugh at a situation or to have a sense of humor about it.” Well, perhaps not, but the sooner we can lighten up and laugh, the sooner we will experience well-being. Laughter signals relief and release — a letting go.  Laughter is freeing and stirs up the joy chemicals in our bodies that relieve tension and help the emotional reactions move through us and on out to be released.
    Now, if you want to be maudlin, or sad, or unhappy, or fearful, or depressed, that’s up to you. But remember, “Those who enjoy being on the train, and those who do not enjoy being on the train, get to the same destination at the same time.” We can choose lightness and joy. We can enjoy the trip.
     Humor is a magical thing.