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Laughter is the Music of the Soul by Carla Riechman
What happens to you when you go into a room and everyone is laughing and having a good time? Or you are in a room and someone begins giggling loudly? Or you may be watching a movie that is funny, and all of a sudden you find yourself laughing. Many people begin to smile, and eventually the smile becomes bigger and bigger and turns into a laugh. It happens automatically. Have you ever wondered why this happens?
It happens because deep inside of you is a desire to laugh and let go of the everyday
concerns which plague your mind. Laughing is something that takes one from mundane thoughts and
concerns of everyday life to the depths of your soul when you allow the laugh to happen.
Someone once said that "Laughter is the music of the soul," and this is such a true statement.
A laugh can happen for no reason at all, although we tend to attach a laugh to a
situation or an event. We carry within us a fountain of joy just waiting to spring up with a
laugh. It gets lost because we get "stuck" in our minds and our desires of what needs to get
finished in order to go to our next task. But we don't take the time to give our mind a rest
and a chance to catch up with itself.
One way to give a rest to the mind is to use humor and laughter. I often use
laughter as a way to relax the children I teach especially when they became upset. I would
tell them to take a moment and think about something that makes them happy. We would talk
about these times, and a tense moment would turn into a moment of joy. We need to gain a
skill to allow us not to take life so seriously and find each moment a chance to grow. As that
happens, one finds that laughter is a wonderful gift given to us to release stress.
During a Laughter International Workshop, one laughs literally from the depths
of one's soul for no reason at all, but for the pure desire to laugh. After we laugh,
we sit in silence, and people say that they feel a deep sense of inner peace and calmness.
People have felt they have experienced their "true self." They feel totally relaxed even
after a small session. Laughter is one of the most important things one can do for oneself,
because it gives a sense of inner joy.
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