What are YOU laughing at?

Here is a powerful tool in our consciousness handbag that helps to serve us in the zest of times and cursed of times, as well as everywhere in between: it’s our sense of humor, and the belly laughs that resound up from our very souls.

When is the last time you had a good laugh? When is the last time that you laughed so hard your face/sides hurt?

If you have trouble answering these questions immediately, perhaps the following read is just for you.

“If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.”

Originally quoted by Robert Frost and popularized by song in Jimmy Buffett’s “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” this concept rings true across the ages. Although I’ve dabbled in insanity a bit, a healthy sense of humor is really where it’s at.

It sustains an open perspective on life.

Our sense of humor allows the doors of opportunity, vibrancy, and alternative, creative outlooks from day-to-day life to the grand scheme of things to really open us up and make ourselves available to the present moment.

Have you ever had a moment in which you were feeling sad, frustrated, or resistant in some way, and then along comes a loved one who gets you to laugh despite your current mood? You might even be mad that you found yourself laughing when your mood feels so real for you, caught in rumination. We don’t need no stinking laughter, how dare they!

“Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” is a great title to encompass that original quote. Consider each emotion we experience to possess a certain energetic frequency that affects our sense of reality and how we function within it.

‘Negative’ attitudes, pessimistic and cynical perspectives, abrasive and reclusive emotions all operate on lower frequencies, diminishing our potential for desirable experiences. They say “No, that will never happen” or “I doubt it,” belittling life’s great wonder and closing the doors on the possibility of positive change to influence our lives.

We become more serious, perhaps a bit too much, stiffening our nature which leaves us to deal with stress more often. Our sight falls short of being flexible and letting some things go; letting out a laugh over things that don’t go as expected or things we simply can’t control.

‘Positive’ attitudes, optimism, an unassuming curiosity toward life, the willingness to try new things and see something we don’t understand from a different perspective are all catalysts for the thrilling sense of creating wonder in our lives.

Once those doors open, the power of instant manifestation comes to rest in our hands so that we may do with it what we will, creating our own reality. Let’s stay open to those changes in attitudes and feel ourselves raise in vibration; feeling good in the body; keeping a sharp mind on whatever we so choose to focus; feel the pulse of vitality radiating from the solar plexus, touching our very lives and rippling into others’ – just by being ourselves.

Are you ready to have some fun and feel yourself float three inches off the ground whenever you want?

It’s the power of laughter, my friends.

And who so deserves to laugh more, than one who creates that inspired source of laughing stock ready on hand?

This is where we all take both our thumbs, point ‘em up with a smile and direct ‘em chest-ward.

Want to create fun in your life?

Why not make fun of ourselves?

Yeah, that’s right! It may sound foolish my friends, and that’s the beauty of irony. We can see reflections of it from the ancient world on through to the modern day. Crazies, fools, and Jimmy Buffett’s fruitcakes, oh yes, cosmic bakers. It’s time to get your ‘weird’ on, for the sake of Santa’s belly! Because when he laughed, it shook like a bowl full of jelly…

In Tarot, a practice that has stood the test of time, “The Fool” card, not known for folly, represents new beginnings, a new outlook and a new journey in life. The world is full of opportunity, and this fool has found her or himself on the path of discovery, knowing it will shape him or her however she or he makes light of it.

In the book Black Elk Speaks, John G. Neihardt, a.k.a. Flaming Rainbow puts together personal narrations of Black Elk as he recounts his life and the original peoples’ of the Midwest during the Westward Expansion in America. The army made it difficult for them to continue living life in their own way, occupying and pushing them off their common territories among many other deplorable trespasses.

From being uprooted, huge communities traveled great distances. Illness, hunger and fatigue became an additional weight within their hearts. Even so, certain members of the community fulfilled roles as jesters - characters of foolishness and comic relief for their jaded kin.

When everyone came to set camp and rest from the road, the ‘jesters” slapstick antics of tripping over themselves, pretending to drown in shallow puddles of water and other light-hearted nonsense sparked laughter among the weary. Even in such difficult times the people kept their sense of humor, adding to their resiliency and light-heartedness; the power of laughter.

Moving on through “The Magical Mystery Tour,” this 1967 Beatles album released a fresh song with a lot of wisdom called “The Fool on the Hill.” I suggest you take a few minutes to listen to it and particularly pay attention to the lyrics, playing in the imagery they create. It all spells out an openness to possibility and taking the wreckage of fallen-through expectations with, hey, a barrel full of laughs.

We all make mistakes. Things don’t always go our way or as we intend them. Before getting too serious or upset about a situation, we should laugh about it. When we learn to let a situation or belief go, the question arises: what the heck is so important that it’s got us tripping over ourselves anyways?

Ever lose your footing while walking on a flat surface?

Set back from some attempt you’ve made?

Had an airhead moment or been completely misunderstood?

Allow yourself the feelings that those circumstances bring, then have a laugh with yourself. You’ve earned it!

Once we grasp the ability to laugh at ourselves in love, we become untouchable to criticism as well as disappointment.

Self-confidence boosts throughout our awareness because we accept ourselves for who we are. We accept what we can’t control in our external environment. Serotonin (the ‘happy hormone’) levels rise, cortisol (the ‘stress hormone’) levels decrease.

We develop a flow with what life brings us, allowing us to float from one moment to the next without struggle.

Being this open and at ease, light-hearted and humor-filled, we gain the clarity to see more possibilities of success (whatever that means to YOU) and how to make them happen in our daily lives. We learn more. We see with eyes of wonder.

From the amazing book, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, the reader is gently carried through four basic yet life-changing principles, aligning us with the core of our being from the spiritual to the physical. Those agreements are: “Be impeccable with your word” (layer of Spirit), “Don’t take things personally” (Emotional layer of Self), “Don’t make assumptions” (Mental layer), and “Always do your best” (Physical layer).

The first agreement speaks of integrity – being true to Self – which helps tap into a healthy sense of humor when we’re honest with ourselves. That leads into the second one, my favorite, providing the most effectual positive changes in life experiences – don’t take things personally. When we get this one down it’s impossible to be offended. What gleans through is the free-release of chuckles in the marvel at how we all really are in our own worlds.

The opinions of others are just that. They don’t have to determine our own reality.

Being human and having these sometimes tricky, complicated emotions can convince us otherwise. That’s why if you haven’t read up on Sheila Applegate’s limited release of her book “Enchanted One”, I highly recommend doing so.

“Enchanted One” helps make simple sense of these emotions we all experience. It serves as a navigational tool that allows us to experience the full spectrum of emotions from a calm, easy-going and centered sense of Self. In fact, it promotes staying open to all of our emotions and remaining vulnerable. Yes, vulnerability correlates with that openness that allows what’s possible to actually happen; it helps us keep our hearts open to embrace life to the fullest.

So, as a testament to everything related above and revealing a bit of my maize plantation here, I’d like to finish line this walkabout marathon post with a delayed post-Easter joke:

What did the tortoise say to the hare?

“What are YOU so hoppy about?”

Awful, isn’t it? Well, it just spreads a grin on my face.