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Prescription: Laughter
"They" say that laughter is the best medicine. And whoever
"they" are, I'd have to agree.
In fact, studies have shown that when we laugh we...
* lower our blood pressure.
* promote relaxation and reduce stress.
* increase the oxygen level in our blood giving us more energy.
* increase the endorphin activity in our body resulting in a
sense of well being.
In addition, laughter seems to have a positive effect on our
*healing and recovery processes, as some physicians like Patch
Adams and other medical professionals are beginning to
understand.
And all I can say is, IT'S ABOUT TIME!
When my mother was first diagnosed with cancer in 1993 she did
all of the things the doctors told her to do, which included,
among other things, surgery and radiation. She also did some
things that I told her to do, including guided meditation and
visualization. And she did some things that my sister told her
to do, like taking vitamins and herbs with names I can't even
pronounce, let alone spell.
And she did something else, something she came up with on her
own without the help of all of us bossy people in her life.
Mom laughed .............. A LOT!
Already a very optimistic person by nature, she was convinced
(as I am) of the importance of the mind/body connection in
relation to healing and health. So she believed that a large
part of her recovery, whatever the final outcome, would be found
in a positive attitude with lots of laughter.
She took to heart what Norman Cousins said in "Anatomy of an
Illness" - that we who laugh...last - and put it into practice
in her own life and illness by self-prescribing a variety of
movies, tapes, and books that made her laugh. And I mean really
laugh - the kind of deep belly laugh that is sometimes
embarrassing - the kind that might make you snort, or might
cause liquids to come out of your nose if you happen to be
drinking at the same moment something strikes you as incredibly
funny.
(Warning: drinking Coca Cola while laughing hysterically CAN
lead to a very painful situation - carbonation and sinus
cavities do NOT mix!)
Oddly enough, my mother's favorite motion picture medication was
a VERY SILLY movie - one that remains close to her heart even
now, nine years since her original diagnosis, and five years
cancer-free since a recurrence in 1997.
I say "oddly enough" because my mother isn't typically amused by
pratfall or physical humor. She always considered herself to be
sophisticated and maybe even somewhat snobbish about what
tickled her funny bone (okay maybe it was the rest of us who
considered her to be that way, lol). But she rarely agreed with
the rest of us about what was humorous. For instance, she never
really understood why we kids enjoyed Monty Python as
much as we
did.
So, since we all figured that her idea of comedy was limited to
programs like "Upstairs Downstairs" on Public Television -
imagine our shock and delight when we discovered that a little
film called "Weekend at Bernie's" had captured her comedic
heart. Yes, Mom, Bernie, Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman
laughed their way through months of cancer treatment together -
and for that I am truly grateful (and highly amused).
For those of you unfamiliar with this 1989 comedy, "Weekend at
Bernie's" is about two guys invited to spend the weekend at the
beach home of their wealthy boss (who is actually planning to
murder them because they've uncovered an embezzlement scheme of
which he, the boss, is a part). When they arrive, they find him
- well, to put it delicately - they find him dead - and they end
up dragging him around with them all weekend, pretending he's
alive, so that they aren't blamed for his death.
Confused? Sorry about that, it's really quite simple, and silly.
The movie is full of juvenile pratfalls and predictable sight
gags, including water skiing with the deceased Bernie and other
zany antics and madcap hijinks, lol. But for whatever reason,
Mom found "Weekend at Bernie's" to be just the right
prescription for her laughter regiment, with a little "Grumpy
Old Men" thrown in on the side.
Sometimes she laughed so hard that she cried when she watched
"Weekend at Bernie's" - and all the while she told herself that
no matter what, even if cancer were to ultimately be the cause
of her death, she'd go out laughing.
That is a legacy she's given to me as well - and I do my BEST to
make sure I laugh, HARD, several times a day. And I am always
amazed at how better I feel after a good robust laugh!
So here is my prescription for a healthier, happier life - a
good hard belly laugh at least five times a day, the harder the
better! And if "Weekend at Bernie's" isn't your cup of tea, find
out what IS, plug it in, and LAUGH!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * *
*When I speak of "healing," I am talking about something
entirely different from "curing." For me, people who end up
dying of a disease may still have experienced healing in their
life - it just may not have come in the form of a cure. Healing
for me means becoming whole again and experiencing a sense of
oneness and peace in spite of any physical or emotional trauma.
To my way of thinking, a person can be cured without being
healed - and a person can be healed without having been cured.
About the author:
Susan Ryder likes to laugh, and is an author on a site for Writers
(http://www.Writing.Com/)- her portfolio can be found at
http://www.Writing.Com/authors/sophie - so stop by and read for
a while.
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