The Importance of Laughter, Humor, and Showing Joy … by Delsora Lowe

Between winter isolation and the way of the world, it seems there hasn’t been a lot of laughter in our lives. But, if you look closely, you can find joy and humor around every corner. And…we know where that leads. LAUGHTER! Or at the very least some big smiles.

April starts out with a cherished “holiday” in my family. April Fool’s Day was my dad’s favorite. He always played a joke on the family. Not one of those elaborate, heart-stopping, jump out of the closet types of jokes, but a crazy pun or an exaggerated declaration that would always catch us off guard. And have us believing him. He loved his puns and play on words. The joke never lasted long, because he was famous for laughing at his own jokes, before we ever realized his declaration was a joke. Maybe he loved April Fool’s Day, since he was an April baby. So, thinking of laughter and jokes, as I write this, makes me sad that he passed away eleven years ago, right before his ninety-second birthday. Although, now I envision him up in Heaven playing jokes on his twin and two other brothers, and my sister, and my favorite aunt, and my grandparents. And then they’ll all laugh and toast with a shot of Scotch.

But back to earth… In my neck of the woods, April can be the beginning of an early spring, with flowers pushing up through the decomposed leaves I haven’t yet had time to rake off the beds. Or we can have a nor’ easter roar up the coast and dump a foot of snow. At this time of year, snow melts fast, so spring storms are definitely blips on the radar screen. One more thing to laugh at or to feel joy about is that the melting snow, like April showers, brings May flowers.

Springtime is a time of renewal. For the writer in me, it WAS (scratch that) IS (trying to be optimistic) 😊 also a time to look forward to writing conferences where I can renew the well of inspiration. There is nothing like gathering in person to hug your writer friends who you haven’t seen in a year, or learn new writing and marketing skills in a workshop, or dine together with old and new friends, chatting it up about both personal and professional lives.

Alas, that in-person comradery is long overdue, after all the cancelations of the past few years, and more for this spring and summer. But I can remember the joy and laughter and banter from in-person meetings. And with hope on the horizon, I know those, too, will return. This Fall?!?!?

In the meantime, there has been no lack of “gatherings” with ZOOM and Skype and Go-to-Meeting and all the other venues for “in-person” communication. These vehicles might not be the same as in person, but we still have the joy and laughter and learning experiences. Now to look forward to the hugs and dinning together that are missing from the on-line communication.

Remember…LAUGHTER is important, anyway you can get it.

~ Laughter is and always will be the best form of therapy ~ Audrey Hepburn
~ A day without laughter is a day wasted ~ Charlie Chaplin
~ When they say laughter is healing, it absolutely is the truth ~ Katy Sagal
~ Laughter is an instant vacation ~ Milton Berle
~ The person who can bring the benefit of laughter into the room is indeed blessed ~ Bennett Cerf
~ Hearty laughter is a way to jog internally without having to go outdoors ~ Norman Cousins
~ Laughter is a sunbeam of the soul ~ Tomas Mann

Do you have a favorite LAUGHTER quote? Or story?


THE PRINCE'S SON My Favorite Romances of 2020 - Zara West Romance (zarawestsuspense.com)

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~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Her newest novella is The Love Left Behind.

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CLIPART:

Laughing Friends:
ladies laughing clipart - Clip Art Library (clipart-library.com)
Ha-Ha Meme
laughing free clip art - Google Search
April Showers:
April Showers Spring showers free clip art - Google Search
Virtual Meeting Meme:
Zoom meeting free clip art - Google Search
Shot Glass - Shot Glass Cartoon Stock Illustrations – 2,094 Shot Glass Cartoon Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart - Dreamstime

Humor isn't always funny

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction that honors pagan spiritual practices. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you do overcome obstacles and find your happily-ever-after.

Romancing The Genres’s January 2020 topic is about humor. We’ve challenged ourselves to tell a funny story about family, friends or perhaps a funny scene in a book we’ve written or read. And, as you follow the Genre-istas through this month as well as check in on our Romantic Comedy Author guests each weekend, I’m sure you’ll be entertained to the point of at least chuckles if not outright laughter.

I was raised in a family with an excellent sense of humor. Memories of people laughing so hard tears coursed down their cheeks are many. So I start this post from the position of laughter being a good thing, agreeing with the saying “Laughter is the best medicine.”

Imagine my surprise when I scoured those memories I just mentioned for The Story to tell in this post and nothing showed up. Somehow trying to write about the time my mom and I got the giggles or, according to my dad, hysterically laughed, in church and “the look” he gave us did not translate to the page.

A warning: while I do believe laughter heals, I also know some people weaponized humor and laughter. Talking about writing this post with my best friend who visited a couple of weeks ago firmed my decision to take this tact with this post. Over the course of her several day visit, we talked about the political climate in the United States and other parts of the world. As we shared our perspectives, we both said pretty much the same thing. Humor can be deadly, laughter can harm.

In a scene in Book 1 in The Sacred Women’s Circle series, Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl, my heroine Lily Hughes is explaining to the hero, Jackson Montgomery, that her first husband would say something cruel and then add “I’m just joking.” Underneath his denials, she knew he did mean what he’d said. If she or someone else challenged him, his pat response said looking and sounding wounded was “You can’t believe I meant that.”

Like Lily, I’ve been in situations where someone has said something untoward and couched it as “teasing” or “joking.” Then when I said something about what they said was hurtful, the comeback was “What was wrong with you?” And that was often followed by a remark designed to embarrass or humiliate.

Unless we’ve buried our inner knowing so deep, we’ve lost contact with it, we do “know” when someone’s joke is an actual attack. And when that inner knowing tells us the other person is serious what can we do?

How do we defend ourselves?

How do we take exception when someone weaponizes humor?

Can that be done without becoming the target ourselves?

In this political climate having strategies to protect oneself from “teasing” or “just joking around” or “you can’t believe I was serious” statements is important.

My best friend was in line when she heard two people “joking” about shooting someone living in a car. She turned and said “That’s not okay.” And, that’s all she said before facing forward again.

It behooves us all to know where that line is; that line where we will stand firm; where we will state out loud “That’s not okay” where we will challenge the ‘teaser’ and call him/her on their word choices.

Words do matter. And while I may believe most of the time that “words can never hurt me” unless I allow them to, that belief is not held by everyone.

Let’s help each other create a rich and varied arsenal of responses to those who weaponize one of our best “medicines” that gets us through the tough times.

A word of caution: do be aware of your environment. Can you stand firm and be safe yourself. This is not about putting ourselves in danger but, instead, letting people know that the joke isn’t funny.

I’m adopting “That’s not okay” but also adding “Are you serious? You’d really in this case kill someone who is living in a car?”

How would you or do you deal with people and in situations where humor is weaponized? By sharing, you make all of us stronger in an effort to keep humor as one of our best medicines.

You can find all of my books at your favorite e-book vendor. Be sure to ask your local library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

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© 2020 Judith Ashley