Happy Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving I have a lot to be thankful for… My mother turns 84 this month and I believe laughter has played a vital role in her longevity. At 84 she is still very active despite having been diagnosed with Lung cancer and having a lobectomy (my mother said be sure and spell lobectomy correctly, “I don’t want them to think I had a lobotomy.”) earlier this year. She has made a full recovery and is in good health and spirits. Mom walks a mile every day and has a full social life. Laughter and humor has kept her young and helped in her recovery.
Throughout her life she has been surrounded with laughter and has a great sense of humor. Not only has she made audiences laugh for more than 60 years, but she has been able to find the humor in her daily life. Even though laughter can help prevent many illnesses, we occasionally undergo health challenges in our lives. Laughter and humor can help us cope with these challenges. When she was diagnosed with the cancer we didn’t panic and start a pity party. We instead immediately began laughter therapy. We still have to rely on medical science, but attitude plays an important role in the treatment and recovery of a patient. Fortunately, we didn’t have to find the humor in this alone, her surgeon was very optimistic and in his own way humorous. Had he been emotionless and strictly clinical like some physicians I believe her recovery would have been much more difficult.
When going through a challenge in your life (physical or emotional) it is important to find something to laugh about. It is also important to surround yourself with those that keep a positive attitude and make us laugh. My advice to you is to find good-natured humor to laugh at and laugh often. We all have our own sense of humor to fall back on, whether we use it or not is our own responsibility.