LAUGHTER

“Laugh and the world laughs with you,
Cry and you cry alone”

There is no better tonic than laughter, which is why the comics and clowns have always held pride of place in our hearts. Think of those childhood days at the circus and how you laughed and laughed at the antics of the clowns. The great clowns, Joey Grimaldi, Coco, Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, Stan Stennet, The Crazy Gang, The Four Stooges were household names and Chaplin is as popular now as when he was alive. And how the laughter they brought cheered us didn’t it? Even in the darkest days of the bombing in London in the 1940’s, the comics at The Windmill Theatre managed to keep people’s spirits afloat. A good laugh will make you feel better, no matter what you are going through.

I remember well the seventies and the eighties in Britain when on television we were treated to the humour of some of the most talented comedians Britain ever produced. Tony Hancock was a bit earlier than that and Tommy Handley earlier still but in the period I referred to we had, The Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd and Frankie Howerd to say nothing of Rowan Atkinson. In the USA it is a similar story with people like Walter Matthau, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Laurel and Hardy and Abbot and Costello. All enabled us to forget what was troubling us in the gales of laughter they created.

The very act of laughing makes us breathe more deeply, forces our faces into smiles and creates an enzyme that makes us feel on top of the world. It generates happy thoughts in our minds and leaves no room for sad ones. The great comics and clowns have the gift of being able to make us laugh at ourselves. Once we are able to do that, we stop taking ourselves too seriously, for a time at least! A surprising number of ‘worries’ that beset us are connected with self-image. Because of this tendency to take ourselves too seriously at times, we are easily upset when that image is slighted in some way. In the comic situations described by comedians and demonstrated by clowns we easily identify those we know, especially Politicians, those who we dislike for some reason, or those who are our superiors at work. Sometimes, though perhaps a little begrudgingly, we also recognise ourselves.

The laughter makers are a boon to us all. They force us to relax, for one cannot be tense and laugh at the same time; they force us to recognise the ridiculous in everyone and every situation; they gently ridicule the Establishment and the Church, two things that we tend to hold in too much awe and towards which we show exaggerated respect. Look around at your friends and family. In whose company do you prefer to be on most occasions? Those who have a lighter outlook on life; have a ready quip or funny anecdote to relate; or those who are serious and self-important; those who seem afraid to let their hair down and have a good belly laugh?

One cannot laugh all the time of course and there are occasions when levity is inappropriate and we feel the need to be serious and respectful. However, we should never become so serious or believe ourselves to be so important that we feel we must constantly wear a straight face and be unable to smile readily. Even in sad circumstances, a tragedy or where a friend or relative has lost a person dear and close to them, there is still room for smiles. A smile, like the comic or the clown, has a tonic effect, not just on the one smiling but on all those on whom it is bestowed. I defy anyone to continue to scowl and be unhappy when faced with a warm and generous smile.

From sitting in many different Circles over the years to be in touch with those dwelling in the Spiritual World, I know there is no shortage of humour amongst those who communicate. Most of the leading trance or physical mediums have one guide in particular whose sense of humour is infectious; those who sitters most look forward to hearing from once they have had communication from a really close loved one. Gordon Higginson had Paddy, Leslie Flint Mickey and even I have Bill, a Cockney who voices some very profound thoughts while at the same time making sitters laugh with his turns of phrase and warm personality.

Keep a smile in your heart and everything will seem better.