Laughter is healing

I just got off the phone with my dear sister. Many times, we are quite serious and talk about a wide range of topics from our childhood to our kids and grandkids to national and global events and so much more. But we also are both pretty zany and have a well-developed sense of humor. So we started doing plays on words (one of our favorite things to do since we're both wordsmiths!) and ended up laughing hilariously.

By the time we said "Goodbye," we were both laughing so hard that we barely squeezed out our goodbyes.

I love when that happens. Of all the things I suspect I may lose as I age, I really hope my sense of humor isn't one of them! I really want to hang onto it as long as I can—preferably until I take my last breath.

There are plenty of things to disturb and depress us, a plethora of things to bring sadness into our lives. So it's really crucial that we not lose the ability to laugh—to find the humor in everyday situations and even to laugh at ourselves. If there's nothing in your life about which to laugh, YouTube videos abound with comedy sketches. Even dog and cat videos online will get you laughing, guaranteed.

Are you still exercising your funny bone? Don't forget to add laughter to each day if you can. You'll feel so much better! It truly has healing properties.

About what do you wish to be more intentional?

In the same issue of Magnolia Journal that I referenced on Wednesday, several people answered the question, "What is one thing you want to be more intentional about?"

I am really taken with some of their responses—and am giving some thought myself to the question as well as to the desires they expressed. There's nothing wrong with appropriating someone else's intention!

One woman answered, "My words. ... I want to pause, think, and take the time to use the right ones." I definitely could benefit from this as would all those around me!

Another woman said she wants to "really see" people with whom she's interacting—"whether it is the waitress who is serving me, the cashier at the checkout, or the salesperson assisting me." How many times have we completely looked past the person serving us? I know I'm guilty of that at times. What a loss for me—and for the other person.

Yet another woman responded, "...I hope to laugh more and find more humor in life and in daily circumstances." Definitely. Humor is an important essential to getting through life, in my humble estimation.

Does anything here catch your eye? How would you answer the question?

Where's that laughter?

Last week friends and I treated ourselves to tickets to the Carol Burnett show in downtown Chicago. At age 83, she is still warm and funny and quite a remarkable woman—a reminder that our age really says very little about us anyway. A few selected replays of some of the funnier moments on her TV shows had us all in stitches. We laughed till we nearly split our sides!

What struck me was how different TV shows are today than back in the 1960s and 1970s when we watched her variety shows. We had variety shows that included lots of laughter and light humor in those days. Today we're more serious and cynical. Humor today seems to have a bite to it. Actually, in Burnett's Q and A with the audience last night (just as she used to do in her TV shows), that topic came up.

We could probably fill pages trying to determine the veracity of this and also delving into the reasons for it. But that's not my point here. What this does for me is to remind me to lighten up a bit and touch back into that sense of humor that includes splitting-your-sides laughter. Yes, life is serious and it's not for sissies. But perhaps we could use a bit more humor, wonder and joy in our lives. And a little less cynicism and anger. What do you think?

Remember to laugh

A sense of humor. It's one of the qualities in life I definitely want to keep. How about you?

I've seen the saving grace of a sense of humor in so many others. My father is one example. He lived with cancer for 11 years, enduring radiation, chemotherapy and surgery multiple times as it moved around his body until it finally landed in his brain. That's what finally got him—although my sister and I think it really was the radiation focused on his brain that finished him. In any case, he kept his sense of humor right up to the very end. We saw it come through time and again in those final days we spent with him in a hospice facility saying our goodbyes.

I saw it again the other day in the Facebook posts of a friend who's been dealing with multiple medical issues for months and months. She exhibits that humor along with her faith regularly, so somehow I know she'll be OK, no matter what. Faith. Hope. A sense of humor. They are some of the things that will get us through.

What would you add to that list?

Healthy bones

Now that I learned I have osteopenia (a possible precursor to osteoporosis), I pick up on any mention of bone health and bone care. I'm looking at what type of exercises are best for bones, what kind of foods, etc.

So when I read about the four essential symbolic bones in our body in Angeles Arrien's book The Second Half of Life, I was intrigued. She is talking about something very different from the bones on my skeleton. But still I was drawn into her descriptions and am thinking a lot about the importance of each of these four bones and what needs strengthening or realignment in my life:

• Backbone: Arrien calls this "the quality of courage," saying it means "to stand by one's heart or core."
• Wishbone: "the quality of hope, to stay open to dreams, blessings, and possibilities."
• Funny bone: "the quality of humor, to foster joy and maintain flexibility."
• Hollow bone: "the quality of trust, to maintain openness, curiosity, and faith."

Isn't that fascinating to think about? I agree that those four bones have important roles to play in a healthy life. So as I think about the bones on my skeleton and how to keep them healthy, I'm also going to reflect on strengthening those four symbolic bones.