Laughter is a Natural Health Tonic - Drink it Up!

So,  I was having lunch with a good girlfriend the other day when in the middle of our intensely engaging girl-talk an older woman walks by with a cane and walker and starts fussing with something on the floor near my friend's chair, and we both realize at the same time that it is a pair of thong panties!!!  The older woman looks back at me and then at my friend and asks, "is this yours?" as she pokes at it with her cane.   My friend at first disregards this elderly lady for insane and then suddenly realizes that those are, in fact her panties!!!!

We both assess the damage and then immediately bust into laughter.  My friend cautiously picks up the panties and stuffs them in her pocket.  And I subsequently burst into laughter.  We begin to surmise a vast array of opportunistic scenarios in which the panties provided a good laugh for the passersby for the last hour or so.  It was, in my opinion, one of the finest comedic episodes I've experienced in recent years.

What a good laugh does for the soul.  So, I wanted to find a little bit more about laughter and healing. Here's what I found.  

Laughter actually shows reduced cortisol and adrenaline levels (which is an indication of reduced stress) and increased levels of interferon, t and white blood cells, (which help with heart conditions). 

What is soap to the body, laughter is to the soul.  ~ an old Yiddish proverb.

There's a new rage: laughter yoga.  Cool, eh?  And when I've gone to see Amachi, she has asked the audience to laugh and keep laughing because it is key to good health and happiness.  Isn't that what we are all seeking?  Is it that simple?

We laughed for about 20 minutes from this one episode.  It was hilarious to think of the elderly lady's reaction, those seated around us and our general interpretations from what by-passers thought and overall how it must look to have a pair of thong panties sitting next to you in a public place.  

I love laughter as a medicine for good health and well being.  We should all be more apt and willing to laugh at ourselves, as was my gracious, but obviously embarrassed friend.  

If you could have seen how beautiful she was when she threw her head back; you'd all agree that she and the laugh were a beauty of a thing....