Laugh your way to good health

You would notice that people who laugh a lot are invariably happy at most times. How can you stop a laughing person from being unhappy. It's a difficult task.

I am lucky to have a whole bunch of crazy, mad hatters while I was growing up. In fact, even now in my adult years, I have the good fortune of being in the company of people who crack jokes all the time.

Nothing like a happy prankster to chase those office blues away. It was only in the last three decades or so that medical practitioners found out that laughter was indeed the best medicine.

Actually, this is old news. I believe the Bible did pronounce two millennia ago that merriment doth erase those ills that besieged the human form.

If you are born with a crappy face and is not prone to easy laughter, then you should cultivate the art of laughter.

Try to find the funny side of every situation. Imagine you hanging by a thread on a steep slope and the person next to you, also in the same predicament cracks a joke about dropping onto a cushion of air that was deliberately put there to surprise you and your partner.

I know that's a ridiculous proposition but I really don't have a really good joke with me right now. But at least if the ultimate happens, you will enter the next world with a smile on your face.

My mum passed away on her hospital bed with a smile on her face. For that I shall forever be grateful to the Lord. I believe part of the reason why her face was so peaceful was because the priest who gave her the last sacred rites was a family friend, and she half-consciously knew that she was on her way to heaven.

What a way to go. Now on thinking back, I guess the pain and sorrow have gone, and what has replaced that is a feel-good sense of joy, accompanied by some easy laughter of the celestial kind.

Life is so boring when you have a bunch of sour-pusses surrounding you. I always try to get out of such company. I feel I really don't need such people around me because I have had my share of sad people when I was an altar boy serving requiem masses.

Yes, there's a time for sadness and reflection but life in general should be one that rings with laughter all the time.

I recall there was a movie made about Jesus, and it was the kind of Jesus that most of us are unfamiliar with. The story was about a Jesus who was also a bit of a joker. I could identify with that kind of a messiah.

Imagine, Jesus cracking a joke and pulling your leg at the same time. Now, wouldn't that be wonderful. I am sure during his preaching trips around Samaria and near the sea of Galilee and Jerusalem, Jesus must have listened to and cracked a number of jokes himself.

I really can't imagine a Jesus with a serious face all the time. Who would want to listen to a rabbi with that kind of disposition.

Look, if laughter is okay with Jesus, I think you can accept that as well. Just think of it, your shelf life on earth has expired and you meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates, and the first thing he says to you is: "Hey, how was life?" OK, forget that, just come in and join the banquet. We have all your favourite food on the table. The great thing here in heaven is you will NEVER GET FAT!"

So my advice to everybody who bothers to listen to me at this point in time is LAUGH ALL YOU LIKE. Because even if you don't, you will die eventually anyway. A happy face on a corpse is much more acceptable than one who seems to be reluctant to let go of earth.