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The Magic in Laughter
As adults, we typically don’t believe in magic. As kids, the first thing we want to learn how to do is to successfully execute a magic trick with cards or pull a rabbit out of a hat.
My one magic trick was to make my thumb disappear. My
grandfather taught me and that moment, that one moment in time is
embedded in my memories of him. He would also pop his eyeball out and
put it in his mouth, but I considered that trick gross when I was six
years old. I still cringe when I think of it.
But ordinary, grown-up magic? I can’t say I’ve ever really
seen it although David Copperfield sure has given everybody a run for
their money through the years. Also, there is Houdini. Don’t forget
about him.
The kind of magic I’m talking about is laughter.
If it is a kind of inclusive, laughing at yourself sort of
laughter it can put an exchange between people on an entirely different
footing. It is so magical that I think nobody really notices.
Basically, I think people are good at heart. Even the bad guys. Hey, somebody must have loved them once.
When I think about a soul, I think they are all good.
Although there are times when I have to stand back and wonder what
happened to a person to have them act the way they have in this
incarnation. Mass murderers and despots come to mind. You do know what
they say about Karma. I believe in that. Sure, we have laws, but I also
know there are times when people are not held accountable for what they
have done. At least in this lifetime. Karma takes care of that if
mankind does not. Personally, I have a feeling God doesn’t care. It’s
just a feeling.
Maybe it comes down to thinking good and bad are just the
same sorts of lessons. I have noticed when I don’t take care of some
issue that comes up to repeatedly taunt me year after year each time
that situation makes a reappearance in my life it gets harder and harder
for me to deal with. If it is one of those “life lessons” it can get
dicey.
I think the best policy would just be to address whatever you
can at that moment in time and hope for the best. If it didn’t work
completely then you can work on it more somewhere down the road. There
is a rule out there that all you have to handle is what you can handle.
Take care of the business at hand and it will make you stronger later on
when it comes up again.
There is also the consideration that when you are afraid of
something things begin to morph and get all magnified. Magnified terror
is no laughing matter.
How do you identify a life lesson? I think, bear in mind I am
no expert on this, but I think a life lesson is important and my
experience of learning is that I never seem to get it right in the first
go. I have to practice. I have to highlight. I have to write notes.
Also, the older I get, unfortunately, the more likely I will lose the
thought. My sister told me at one time our father had post-it notes
covering the cabinets in the kitchen of his house. I can emphasize.
But laughter cuts through all social pretenses. You just go
immediately into a relationship with another person if you are connected
with laughter. The social do-si-do is gone. The I’m better than you is
thrown out the window. Laughter is an equalizer. That’s what happened
when I had a hot flash at work and told the person on the other end of
the phone that I had to take my clothes off. She understood immediately
and we laughed in menopausal camaraderie.
Sleeping with another person can do that too. It’s like your
sleeping minds dance around intimately with each other even though you
don’t necessarily engage in sex or snuggling. You don’t know what
happened when you awaken but something is different. Somehow you are on a
different footing.
Another thing that can create a bond between two people is cooking together. I think that would be a fun thing to do.
I suppose it helps to get older too. An older person, I
think, begins to look more at the quality of life and not the quantity
of life. Face it, older people don’t have as long to live as somebody in
their twenties if all you’re looking at is longevity. Maybe people get
more psychic as they age. That would make sense to me. The wisdom of
age. Maybe keeping up with the Joneses is just not important anymore.
I feel laughter is important for us even if we don’t
understand why. It’s like the icing on the cake. It’s just better.
Sprinkles help too.
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