These Willoq children from Peru are happy as they play beside a rushing stream. Remember when, as a kid, you played chasings in the backyard or a pool and laughed yourself silly? Or, flapping your arms and roaring with laughter, you ran down a steep, grassy hill almost out of control? Or played hide and seek and tried desperately to stop laughing as a searching friend came close? Or read a funny book and giggled uncontrollably for hours?
Why have we created a world where laughing diminishes rapidly as we age?
8 comments:
The good news is that laughter has no such limitations except those we put on it ourselves.
We can chose to be happy or sad, just by focusing our mind on that which creates the feeling in ourselves. The facial expression is just registering what is in the mind.....
I try very hard to make sure that I have balance in my life. I want to be neither so "happy" that I have no room for compassionate empathy for others ills, but equally I understand that in order to have the strength to endure I must be "happy" about something.
This can take the form of watching "Chaser's War on Everything" even though personally I loved "The Glass House" better.
It is Ok to laugh about things and at ourselves, while we're picking on us, we're leaving others alone.
Sadness ongoing is depressive and no one usually wants to be around really sad people ongoing. Man is not geared to being constantly unhappy, hence the ability to smile in the face of overwhelming odds. I reckon laughter and joy is a form of healing which is to be encouraged. Often when I force myself to stay with a lighthearted subject matter I feel better afterwards in accepting situations that I cannot change.
Sometimes I even walk away from situations that make me feel really bad and that I have some control over how I deal with it!
And Life is really what we make it, because mostly we have control over our thought processes and it is only a thought that produces our response to whatever challenge life dishes out...
"Psychologist" Mary Walsh has left some room for others' pearly words of wisdom!
Mary, as we leave childhood do we laugh 'in spite of the world' or 'because of the world'?
My feeling is that the unjust current world order is responsible for much of the dearth of adult laughter and that, to put more smiles back on our faces, we should change it!
I think the answer is more simple.
It's because the social 'modus operandi' is a program that is rammed down our throats at the age of 5 by an individialism supressing,pro-nazi style institution supported by draconian governments whos only desire is to churn out thousands and thousands of up and comming tax paying, law abiding, too busy to think, play and laugh, young adults.
.... then when they have 'created' you ADD...... pressure to get a promotion, spend time with the kids, not upset the wife, take her on that trip you promised, fix the car, invest in the right shares, not forget to get the garbage out this week,get shoes like ann has,and send your mother a birthday card, what do you get?
Who's laughing then? Thank the system that instilled social standards and suppressed everything else.
XXX
Laughter readily associates with simplicity. In our competitive, materialistic world there's simply little room either for simplicity or for laughter. xxxxxxxxxx
I love this post, Daniel, and I'm glad you're back in the game!!!
I have been doing a lot of laughing lately...and it has been good, but it also means I have not had the wherewithal to deal with the more serious issues of the world. Storing up my reserves, I guess...
You're motivating me to get back in the game, too!
"Problem is that I tend to be an all or nothing person. Dealing with shades of grey is not my strongest suit. If I don't believe that I can change the world or some of its people in even the tiniest way then I can't see the point of struggling against the tide of human nature which seems to be sweeping us towards destruction."
daniel- you can't change anyone. it was the hardest lesson for me to learn. you can change THINGS- though. that is where you must put your energies. changing the way things are done and so on.
as for laughter- adults take themselves way too seriously. i am not sure why. perhaps it comes with responsibility but laughter is good for the soul. without it- you see a world much like we have today.
Bluegrrrrl, thanks for you comment and your encouragement. Blogging is not easy and, if you're continuously dealing with serious issues, it can be very wearing.
Betmo, laughing is good. I'm going to try laughing at the idiots who run our world and help others to join me.
Fantastic comment, Worried. Everyone should read it!
Post a Comment