Laughter has the power to heal.  After researching this phenomenon, I found that an amazing amount of significant research has been done on this topic.  There is abundant evidence of the powerful effects of laughing with regard to our health.  In fact, so much has been written about the therapeutic benefits that I can only scratch the surface of this subject.  

While I was reading various articles, I kept running into the name Norman Cousins, who wrote a book entitled, Anatomy of an Illness.  Laughter was a tool he used to help him heal from a debilitating autoimmune disease that caused pain and destruction of his joints.  He discovered that after ten minutes of laughter he could get 2 hours of pain free sleep.  It also helped to fight his heart disease (in conjunction with mega doses of Vitamin C).  He was able to cure himself with the aid of humor.

 Dr. Hunter Campbell, the inspiration for the 1998 movie, “Patch Adams” took laugh therapy to another level by opening a free, home-based, health care facility. Thousands of patients, in the space of 12 years, received care in which humor was a significant factor in their treatment.

Laughter is a potent antidote to the negative influences of modern life!  I have always believed this to be true.  Now, I have found some documented proof.  

In addition to reduction of pain, the benefits of laughter include: improvement of metabolism, lessening of anxiety, positive immune and cardiovascular system effects, lowering of blood sugar levels among people with type II diabetes, increase of endorphins, increase in the levels of circulating antibodies, enhancement of oxygen intake, balance of blood pressure, easing of digestion and improvement of mental functions (ie. alertness, memory, creativity).

The other things I learned during my research involved examples and methods for bringing levity into your life.  Some suggestions were watching funny movies, (we all have our favorites), playing with children, watching videos of babies laughing, having slumber parties, (even as adults), reading joke books and sharing funny stories.  David Simon, M.D., co-founder of the Chopra Center for Well-Being after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, asked people to post their favorite jokes and funny stories. The collection was posted online.  

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Dr. Katherine Puckett, Chief of the Division of Mind-Body Medicine at CTCA, upon the request of a patient, introduced laughter therapy, also known as Laughter Clubs.  The focus is on laughter as physical exercise, including fake laughter and laughter greetings.  Similarly, the American Cancer Society lists humor or laughter therapy on their website.

Madan and Madhuri Kataria started a small laughter club in Mumbai, India.  It has become a worldwide movement, Laughter Yoga International, which includes laughter clubs and the Laughter Yoga Technique which also has team-building workshops.  Yoga studios are even starting to offer “laughter yoga” classes.

Surely, this is good news for all of us.  Whether or not one believes in the healing power of laughter, the evidence is pretty well documented.  In my limited research, I have only begun to find all the positive evidence of this wonderful therapy.  There is nothing to lose, by doing this. It’s free, fun, and has no adverse side effects.  One could even say that this is no joking matter. Ha, ha, ha!

Ever since I acquired my cell phone, I have noticed how much it consumes the attention of everyone who has one.  I didn’t want a phone.  But as time went on, I felt the need to be more easily available to my family, especially my grandchildren and mother.  I would forget it at home regularly, and that would be a source of frustration to me.  I wasn’t attached to it at all in those days.  

More and more, I felt the need to have it so that other people could get ahold of me as well.  So now, I only occasionally leave it at home when I am out.  But I find that I do become more distracted when it is with me.

Working in a public high school, I witnessed cell phone addiction.  Young people who have always been around cell phones, think that they are a life necessity.  Therein lies the problem. There is now more than one generation of people who are addicted to distractions. The cell phone is just one example.  Everywhere one goes, people are engrossed in “things.”  I admit it, that when I get on my computer, I lose track of time because the distraction has an almost mesmerizing effect.  Distractions are attractive and powerful.

When we become distracted by things for excessive amounts of time, our ability to connect with each other suffers.  Cell phones are the most ubiquitous example, but there are many others. In restaurants, huge television sets with sports and news and music fill the air with multifaceted noise, making it difficult to have simple conversation.  You can forget about having a deep discussion in these places.

However, there is still a need in human beings to connect with one another.  Distractions are just obstacles to this.  They can be controlled.  Unfortunately, the desire to do so is suppressed by these tempting, time-consumers.  Of most concern to me, is the moments that we are missing, simply by being cut off from what is going on around us.  In these blocks of time, where we are not fully present, might something happen just around the corner or out of earshot that was more important than the distraction in which we were immersed?  I fear that this happens all too often.  How would we know?

These are just random thoughts about something I have observed and thought about a lot.  If people who are concerned about these issues put their heads together, who knows what creative ideas could come about?  Want to talk about it?

Listening is a gift that humans can give to one another as a selfless act of love.  I know a lot about this because I have had this gift generously given to me all of my life since birth.  My mother is not just good at it, she is truly gifted.  I have been the receiver of this gift so many times, that it would be impossible to count them all.

Listening is not just hearing, though it can be a part of it.  “Hearing” can be a function of the ear and never be used as a listening tool.  Listening requires total attention to the one who is speaking or otherwise communicating.  People who do not communicate vocally may be deaf signers or people with limits to their ability to make sounds.  I would like to refer to all communication as being equal for the purposes of this commentary.

If one does truly listen, it must be purposeful and attentive.  That’s why “listening” to signing individuals can be included in this.  The only difference is that the “listening” then, is done with the eyes.  In this way, listening is the same, as the most dramatic element of this art is done through these “windows to the soul.”

Another important aspect is the ability to stay still and silent, leave the quiet spaces alone, and not try to fill in the gaps that will naturally occur.  This is difficult, because we want to react and put ourselves into the conversation.  That is the problem.  Listening is not conversation.  It is the lack of conversation that allows the speaker to be heard unconditionally, in order to be  understood.  Conversation is not an act of love.  Listening is.

If one is fortunate enough to have such a listener in his or her life, they are blessed indeed.  And if one has been listened to in this manner, one can learn to be one.  But the most important thing one needs to have is the desire to be there for another person.  In fact, it occurs to me, that if one wants to even consider the possibility of world peace, one must be willing to learn this art.  What a wonder it would be to use our senses in this quest for harmony.  Is anyone listening?

Being accountable.  What does that mean today?  Does it just mean showing up for your job on time and doing what you are paid to do?  Is it paying your bills by the due date?  Does it mean accepting the consequences of one’s actions?  What about moral accountability?  Do we even know what that entails?

It seems to me, in my limited life experiences, that today, people don’t consider the moral consequences of things as they did when I was growing up.  Then, if a person did wrong, that person was expected to say “I’m sorry.”  and then pay the appropriate consequence.  That could be anything from fixing something that was broken, to paying for something, or even making amends by first asking for forgiveness. The atonement could range from something very simple to something that carried deep regret.  However, there was one thing that was certain.  People were expected to account for their actions.  A person couldn’t just decide whether to be accountable or not.  And people seemed to agree on this.  The fact that accountability was non-negotiable was essential to the natural order of things.

Today, there is a serious lack of moral consideration in our culture.  Grown out of materialism or too much exposure to violence, to acceptance of many types of prejudices, and any number of other factors, culturally, we have become a society that values ownership of things and money and power more than it does kindness and compassion.  Collectively, this has altered our moral compass.  There is even a sense that it is perfectly fine to do whatever a person wants, just because that person may own more than someone else.  It asserts the term, “buying power” into the realm of social justice as something that can be “paid for” if one has enough money.

So what is moral accountability, anyway?  After researching the meaning of this term, I have found that honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness and compassion were named as major aspects of this definition.   This jives with my interpretation.  And these are the values that need to be reintroduced into American culture.  Accountability is collectively decided by the citizens of a society.  Maybe we should be thinking of ways to be accountable to each other as caring people, concerned with the well-being of all of our citizens.  My challenge, to myself, is to daily think about the ways in which I can contribute to this end.  If we can decide together, that money and power are not more important than people, then we will come to a place of accountability in this life that will serve us well in the next.