Guest guest Posted October 23, 1998 Report Share Posted October 23, 1998 >Date: Thursday, October 22, 1998 9:21 AM >Subject: Laughter > > >> Laugh! >> >> Many years ago, Norman Cousins was diagnosed as >> " terminally ill. " He was given six months to live. His >> chance for recovery was one in 500. >> He could see the worry, depression and anger in his >> life contributed to, and perhaps helped cause, his disease. >> He wondered, " If illness can be caused by negativity, can >> wellness be created by positivity? " >> He decided to make an experiment of himself. Laughter >> was one of the most positive activities he knew. He rented >> all the funny movies he could find - Keaton, Chaplin, >> Fields, the Marx Brothers. (This was before VCRs, so he had >> to rent the actual films.) He read funny stories. He asked >> his friends to call him whenever they said, heard or did >> something funny. >> His pain was so great he could not sleep. Laughing for >> 10 solid minutes, he found, relieved the pain for several >> hours so he could sleep. >> He fully recovered from his illness and lived another >> 20 happy, healthy and productive years. (His journey is >> detailed in his book, Anatomy of an Illness.) He credits >> visualization, the love of his family and friends, and >> laughter for his recovery. >> Some people think laughter is a waste of time. It is a >> luxury, they say, a frivolity, something to indulge in only >> every so often. >> Nothing could be further from the truth. Laughter is >> essential to our equilibrium, to our well-being, to our >> aliveness. If we're not well, laughter helps us get well; if >> we are well, laughter helps us stay that way. >> Since Cousins' ground-breaking subjective work, >> scientific studies have shown that laughter has a curative >> effect on the body, the mind and the emotions. >> So, if you like laughter, consider it sound medical >> advice to indulge in it as often as you can. If you don't >> like laughter, then take your medicine - laugh anyway. >> Use whatever makes you laugh - movies, sitcoms, Monty >> Python, records, books, New Yorker cartoons, jokes, friends. >> Give yourself permission to laugh - long and loud and >> out loud - whenever anything strikes you as funny. The >> people around you may think you're strange, but sooner or >> later they'll join in even if they don't know what you're >> laughing about. >> Some diseases may be contagious, but none is as >> contagious as the cure. . . laughter. >> >> > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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