Life Is Just Better when You Can Laugh

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It was a rainy day and I was trying to ward off a slight blue feeling. It seemed that the world and me were not laughing as much as we used to.

In the book: Seeds of Greatness by Dennis Waitley, he claimed that laughing increases endorphins and other good hormones that make a person feel good. I think he’s right. That rain day I was thinking about some amusing things that have happened down through the years, things that remain as funny memories and I got good feelings as I chuckled.

I thought about a time long ago when my husband and I decided that a little dog would be good for our six year old son, Maxie. The three of us went down to the dog pound and searched out the cutest dog there.

He was fluffy and just the right size. We brought the dog home and named it Boots. Sadly, Boots wasn’t working out. He was extremely hyper and untrainable. Maybe Caesar Millan could have trained him, but this pooch was too much for us. We couldn’t get him to do anything but eat and snap at us. Before taking the dog back, we had a serious talk with Maxie, to make sure he understood the reason the animal had to be returned.

About 3 weeks later I was doing some gardening near the front of our house, while Maxie was playing on the sidewalk with a friend. I heard a slow-moving truck coming down the street. Lo and behold it was the dog catcher traveling slow and looking for abandoned dogs. As the truck passed our house, Maxie took off running after it. I called to him but he kept running, so I dropped my garden hoe and ran to stop him. A neighbor joined me.

“Why are you running after the dog catcher?” I asked Maxie, grabbing his arm to stop him. He put the most serious pout on his face, and said, “I wanted to ask him if he could bring back my Boots.” I didn’t dare laugh because this was a serious thing to my young six-year-old. But later telling my husband about this, we both had a good laugh, although realizing that Maxie needed another dog. The scene was never forgotten, and several years later our entire family – including grown-up Maxie – had lots of laughs recalling this scene, and embellishing it every time it was remembered.

I felt better that rainy day as I laughed and thought of this. My spirit lifted and I began to feel the blues fade away. Truly, life is just plain better when you can laugh.

I hope you find many things in your life to laugh about. Share on one in the “Comment” box.

Laughter is good medicine.