I wrote a while ago about how kindness is good for us, and how it is showing its face more and more as this crisis goes on. The other aspect of our characters that is really useful at this time is our sense of humour.
They say laughter is the best medicine, and science backs this up – laughing releases health-giving chemicals into our bodies, and also helps us to let go of stress.
And there are streams of funny memes, tweets and video clips doing the rounds, to bring a smile to our faces. The TV channels have picked out some old sitcoms to replay in the space created by programmes that can’t now happen – they will certainly make some people laugh at them again. All of this will help keep us sane and in perspective, when everything else seems so serious and worrying.
And we can all play our part. We can actively choose to watch or listen to things that make us laugh. And we can tell others of the funny or absurd or silly things we’ve done or experienced while staying at home – I’ve done some, haven’t you?
I covered myself in dark green paint when I dropped the can and tried to catch it before it spilt, while painting the fence. It took ages to get it off my skin and there is still some on the clothes I was wearing. And I was glad there was no-one there to see me and I didn’t have to go out in public!
At the very least, we can smile at each other and say hello, even from two metres away! We don’t have to avoid emotional contact, only physical, so let’s spread more smiles, which are the beginning of laughter, when we are out for exercise or shopping.
We are living in absurd times – lets recognise the absurdity as well as the less positive aspects of it.
Find a reason to laugh today.
Thanks for the reminder Di. Luckily I have been blessed with a sense of the absurd and a slightly odd sense of humour so I mange to find things to smile at in the oddest of situations. I always smile and say hello to people on my daily peregrinations. I’ve found it helps to borrow my friends dog when I go for walks as people are so much more likely to respond.
I’ve been taking great delight in my eldest son’s exploits while in lockdown in his pub near Bath – he bought an inflatable kayak to go shopping down river, borrowed a grate from the pub fireplace to use as a bbq and then he exploded his kayak! Luckily he wasn’t on the water at the time. Last night he decided to dye his hair blonde and I laughed for ages at the result (oops). My younger son makes me laugh with photos of his puppy, Beans, who has yet to realise that he is Shi Tzu sized and still insists on picking up Rottweiler sized sticks to bring home, and whose fur is weeks past needing a trim so he’s starting to look like a black and white version of Dougal from the Magic Roundabout. Who said these are grim times. Fun and happiness are there if only you look for them.