Creating Recovery

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.

~Victor Hugo

Let the sun shine in.

Recovering a whole person is serious business. This makes it doubly important to maintain a sense of humour and to laugh frequently. Relationships depend on it. Lives depend on it.

Laughing gives your muscles a workout, moves oxygen throughout the body, lowers blood pressure and boosts the immune system. It also releases mood-elevating endorphins, which can alleviate pain, anxiety and depression.

Watching comedies, sharing jokes or just plain clowning around—there are countless ways to open up a window of light-hearted humour. You might even try laughing without prompts, as John Graham-Pole suggests in the book, Illness and the Art of Creative Self-Expression. Simply laugh. Now. Begin with a “teehee” and work yourself into a good belly laugh. Don’t worry if it feels phony. You’re practicing. Just fake it until you make it, even if it makes you feel a little embarrassed. Dr. Graham-Pole says, “If you’re like everyone else I know, you’ve been hanging onto a lot of embarrassment for far too long.  It’s high time to have a hearty laugh and be rid of it.”

So, peel back the shades, and lighten up.

I’m too funny for my blinds.

Eee-hee, eee-hee-hee. Ho, ho, ho! Ha-ha-ha… ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Ahhhhhh-ha-ha-ha-ha!