English: Publicity photo of Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden from I Dream of Jeannie. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One of my favorite childhood books was the Mary Poppins episode where she took Jane and Michael to visit her Uncle who laughed so hard that he floated up to the ceiling and they did with him. I thought that was so cool! Then when the movie “Mary Poppins” came out I was delighted to see that they included that scene with Ed Winn as the laughing uncle. It was one of the best scenes in the movie!
Decades later when I went through my” lovorce” (amicable divorce) and moved halfway across the country, I knew that being alone for the first time in 17 years might be a bit trying. Honestly, though my divorce was amicable. I know from experience that some couples have a hard time keeping things civil – it’s really not easy when things are not going well in a relationship.
Nevertheless, getting a divorce does not always mean things are bad, it may just mean that two people have started drifting onto separate journeys in life. For me, like I said, things were quite friendly; but it was still a long process that I could not have handled myself.
After the divorce, I knew that coping with loneliness was going to be a major issue. So, I enrolled in a video club and bought reruns of past TV shows I knew would make me laugh. I knew that laughter would be the best medicine for sadness and loneliness.
Shows such as Hogan’s Heroes, F Troop, and I Dream of Jeannie, still make me laugh. Going through something like that is not easy and it can take a lot out of you to just get through the day.
Then one day I decided that I didn’t like my laugh. It didn’t have as much “ring” to it as others did. So I listened to lots of people’s laughs until I found one that I liked and started imitating it until I developed my own version that I liked. I changed my laugh so it was more delightful to the ear!
That’s my take on laughter and this week our IAPLC masterclass is being taught by a laughter coach. Never heard of a “laughter coach?” Well, I hadn’t either, but when Mary Rives joined our association, she asked me if I would make a new category called Laughter Coaching—and I did. Now you get to hear from her on what laughter coaching is and some nifty exercises you can do to use it therapeutically.
The masterclass, “Dive Deep with Delight:Therapeutic Laughter for Shifting Energy and Transforming Your Life” will be held Thursday, June 13, at 12-1pm EDT.
Join Mary Rives, in this uplifting class, where you will learn fun ways to shift your energy from funky to fun, overcome blocks and replace them with a lighter relationship to yourself filled with genuine spontaneous love, creativity, connection and laughter!
