“Laughter separates us from despair and gives us a chance at love.”
– Craig Ferguson

When is the last time you laughed? I mean, really laughed – belly-laughed until your cheeks hurt from smiling and you were wiping tears of joy from your eyes? If you can’t remember, it has been too long!

Laughter brings a great release from the prisons of angst, sadness, self-pity, worry, and anger. So, why don’t we do it more? Maybe because real belly-laughing isn’t something you can plan. Real belly-laughing is something that happens, more often than not, by surprise. But, it happens because we are open to it. It happens when we are willing to let joy into our lives. Sadly, there are many of us who have forgotten how to do that.

In March, my husband and I went to see comedian Kevin Hart. He was beyond funny, and by the end of the show, my cheeks hurt from smiling, my eyes had let go many tears of joy, and my throat was dry from laughing so hard. However, the best part of the show was listening to the sound of my husband’s laughter. It is a rare thing for my husband to really let go and laugh like that. When it happens, it is like music to my ears, heart and soul. For me, there is nothing that brings me more joy than to know that someone I love is happy, free, at peace – and Kevin Hart’s comedy did that for my husband on that particular night.

I share that simply to point out that our unwillingness to let joy into our lives doesn’t just have an effect on us, it also impacts the people we love as well. As Craig Ferguson states in the quote posted at the top of this blog entry, when we laugh, we move away from sadness and into a place where we are open to more positive emotions like love. Our hearts are free to let go of everything else for that moment, and therefore, available to receive love as well.

So, for today, would you be willing to let joy into your life? Watch a silly internet video of babies laughing or kittens playing… Binge on episodes of your favorite sit-com… It is true that you can never orchestrate a real belly-laugh, but you sure can open yourself to it.

The following link might help you get started…… Happy Birthday, Craig Ferguson!