(read time: 2 minutes)

Though I had never thought about it, laughing is a really strange behavior that should probably embarrass us given how anti-emotion our society is.  Think about what you’re doing when you laugh – your whole body is convulsing, you make sounds similar to a severe case of the hiccups, and water comes out of your eyes.  The good thing is that it only lasts a for a very short time and – here’s the key – it does so because you aren’t resisting the emotion and fully allowing your mind and body to process it.

Now, let’s look at crying, which no one wants to do, especially in public.  Isn’t it strange that crying – I mean a good cry, more than a little teary eyed – also involves convulsing, making hiccupping sounds, and water coming out of our eyes?  I had to ask my daughter once – are you crying or laughing?  Of course, being a teenager, she said, “Both!”

Our bodies and brains know how to process emotions of all sorts, if only we would let them.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we only had to feel bad for a minute or two?  That would require allowing ourselves to cry as easily as we allow ourselves to laugh.  I dream of a day (that will never come) when a restaurant is full of people laughing, crying, and just enjoying the variety of human experience that is always available to us.

Now go have yourself a good convulsion and feel better, no matter the reason.