12-9-01,
Sunday Journal, 507
LAUGHING
BALANCES THE BODY
From my journal notes of 1988
We have the notion that it's our sense of humor that makes us laugh. But
nobody ever says, when they see a baby laughing, "Doesn't that baby
have a good sense of humor."
It's not his sense of humor that makes him laugh. He needs no reason to
laugh. Laughter bubbles up from the inside and it keeps bubbling until
we start squelching it. We start thinking it is silly to laugh or that
we have to have something funny to laugh at.
Infants learn to laugh first and then develop a sense of humor. In a
study, Dr. Annette Goodheart found that four year olds laugh 500 times a
day while adults laugh only 15 times a day.
She also says that laughter counters the specific chemicals produced by
fear. It is a perfect cure for fear.
Laughter produces endorphins which reduce pain and causes our adrenal
glands to manufacture cortisol – a natural anti-inflammatory. Charlie
Chaplin believed the formula for laughter was to take pain and play with
it.
I bought a picture of Jesus laughing from the Fellowship of Merry
Christians. It is my favorite painting of Him. And we know that most of
the Buddhas are laughers. Zen Buddhists believe if you laugh ten minutes
upon waking, it's the equivalent of 6 hours of meditation.
So roll over in the morning and laugh. Start your day off right.
PERFECT MISERY
From my 1991 journal notes
As long as you are seeking perfection, you will live in misery. Perfect
misery. It's the only perfection you will find.
This guy made it to 30 without marrying. He told people he was
"looking for the perfect woman." He made it to 40. Still, no
perfect woman.
"Finally," he told a close friend, "I found the perfect
woman in Cairo, Illinois." His friend was elated. "You married
her, of course?" his friend asked.
He answered, "No. She was looking for the perfect man."
Once when I found myself looking with aversion on a severely disfigured
handicapped person, the thought came to me, "This person looks no
worse than Lamar, the dearest friend you ever had. And you thought he
was perfect."
I remembered my little buddy, Lamar, who never weighed over 70 pounds,
was hump-backed from a childhood bout with polio, and walked with a
severe limp on legs no bigger than my wrist.
The thought that came to me that day was so right. To me, Lamar was one
of the most perfect persons I had ever known. It remained that way until
he died at 33. It remains that way today.
So where do we look for perfection? Nowhere. It's the wrong focus. Look
for something beautiful in ever disfigurement, something true in every
liar, something promising in every failure. Just look at what is and
accept it as it is. Your acceptance is the only chance it has to get any
better.