Laughter
Believe me when I tell you I've watched lots of people my age -- not that old -- who've lost joy in their faces. And I'm not even thinking about traumas and wounds that I normally see in my sessions. Just life's daily grind, the heavy responsibilities wearing you down, making you frown, robbing you of laughter and cheers.
In the work I do and in my personal life, I have a lot to laugh about. I've laughed my way through all my ups and downs in my choices. I made mistakes, even big time. I had moments when I felt bad. But I've developed a capacity to wash it away in rivers of laughter. I need to laugh at myself sometimes. Especially when I do something stupid or jerky. Often, that's an only way I can get a laugh during a day!
Of course, during sessions, I do as best as I can to laugh with whoever I'm with. Many times, I laugh away at my sessions! It's part of therapy. Primarily, for others. But my therapy too! I feel I had missed the fun I had experienced when I was in my teens and twenties. So I figure I need to make up with an attitude adjustment. Not dead serious. When I sit down, I ask in my thoughts what I did when I was much younger that made me happy. What made me laugh? And so there ... the laughter that comes out feeds my mind and soul.
I don't believe psychotherapy should stay dire and detached. Laughter is okay. It heals. Medicine to the troubled mind and heart. Try it.
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