and we laughed

“We laughed and laughed, together and separately, out loud and silently, we were determined to ignore whatever needed to be ignored, to build a new world from nothing if nothing in our world could be salvaged, it was one of the best days of my life, a day during which I lived my life and didn’t think about my life at all. Later that year, when it became cold, we held each other and made a fire and used our laughter for kindling.” – Jonathan Safran Foer < Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close>

Ah.

Laughter … and laughing.

Laughing actually does you good.

No kidding.

On a serious note … the Mayo Clinic outlines some data suggesting positive things laughter can do.

A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn’t just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body.

Laughter can:

–          Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.

–          Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response and increases your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.

–          Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

Aw.

The heck with that.

E. B. White once wrote … “humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.”

Dissecting laughter is silly if not stupid.

Laughing is fun. It feels good.

It is good.

In fact … laughter is kindling to provide warmth in life.

Anyway.

I decided to write about laughter because I found that wonderful quote I opened the post with and wanted to use it.

I loved it as soon as I saw … ‘and we laughed together and separately … out loud … and silently.’

Laughter is like opening a window in Life and letting fresh air in. it is maybe the one moment in time where you completely ignore everything around you … and enjoy … well … you.

If but for a moment … there is nothing but whatever that feeling is that occurs when you laugh.

I can’t put my finger on it or I would try and put words to it.

It is just the feeling of laughter. The laugh … the style, the depth, the decibel … is almost irrelevant … the laugh is simply the display … the façade for the housed feelings.

But laughter is more than a personal thing.

Have you ever noticed how heads turn to look when they hear laughter?

It happens all the time.

Almost like we are seeking whatever may be there to grab for ourselves so we can get the feeling.

While laughing is very personal <and a really precious gift we give ourselves on occasion> laughter is bigger than us.

Which leads me to another wonderful thought from the same author:

“Feathers filled the small room. Our laughter kept the feathers in the air. I thought about birds. Could they fly is there wasn’t someone, somewhere, laughing?” – Jonathan Safran Foer < Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close>

Wouldn’t it be great if this was true?

Our laughter lets birds fly.

Nice thought.