You Can Laugh, Or You Can Cry

I know what’s missing. Laughter. The kind that takes you by surprise and rolls over you, first as giggles, then erupts deep from the belly.  The kind that keeps bubbling over as you try to compose yourself, yet often threatens to explode once again. You hold your aching stomach, your cheek muscles sting, and tears stream down your face. You are in the midst of pure, unfettered joy.

It’s hard to summon up this intensity in solitude, but I have my tricks. The body is an amazing thing. We store our emotions here, there and everywhere inside. I have a handful of memories that bring about an instant feeling of joy. Tapping into a memory can take you immediately there. We all know this instinctively. That’s why we might try to avoid unpleasant memories….we can ‘feel’ them as if they happened yesterday.

“To every situation in life”, my mother used to say, “you have a choice: you can laugh or you can cry.”  She was right, wasn’t she? The tension that builds inside us for either emotion feels very much the same in the body…it’s only the mind that determines how it will manifest. 

There are some who avoid tears like the plague, thinking they are protecting themselves. But if you’re not willing to accept the tears…how can you hope for the gift of laughter?