FRESH THYME
What Makes You Laugh?
by Marcy Lytle
We recently sat behind a young woman on an airplane for a two hour flight and she talked…and laughed…loudly. Honestly, it was annoying. We were not able to sleep at all, and we were tired! However, at least she was laughing! So many times, adults don’t laugh much, especially compared to children. I recently published one of the family devos on laughter, where families had the opportunity to chuckle together. But in this season of busyness and sometimes great sadness, we all need a bit of laughter to heal our souls.
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What makes you laugh? Apparently, I’m not easily amused, or maybe I should say that I don’t find funny many things that others laugh about. But I thought it would be fun to share what does make me laugh, and encourage you to do the same. Make a list. And then incorporate scenes and experiences of laughter into your holiday season.
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Children – Maybe this is an obvious answer. But my kids and their kids make me laugh, not just smile. I recently shopped with 11 year old Ayla and she told me it’s just not right to not have at least five pairs of boots for the fall. And 2 year old Camp blames Mister (my husband – his grandfather) for all sorts of things, and it’s funny! We watch Camp videos over and over again..
So, find the children in your circle of friends and hang with them. Laugh at their funny antics and sayings.
King of Queens – I’m admitting it here, we sometimes watch reruns of this show at night before we fall asleep. And honestly, I watch them (some are not good, but others are hilarious) because I want to laugh as the last activity before I nod off. The one episode where the couple on the show wants their friends to know they attended the wedding, and the main guy jumps through the camera shot of the family – that makes us laugh every time.
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So, find a show you enjoy that makes you laugh, and make sure to include it at least weekly, for some fun.
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Mishaps – Now, I don’t mean bad ones, just the funny ones. Unfortunately, my granddaughter has the same funny bone. If someone stumbles or just hits their elbow, she bursts into laughter. And the other day my husband hit his toe on the closet door and it wasn’t bad, it was funny…to me. I’m not sure this is a good thing to laugh at, but it’s just local at home – little mishaps make for funny times. I know, maybe that’s weird.
So, laugh at each other and your funny little drops and bumps – as long as no one is hurt.
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Videos – I’m not a fan of scrolling for hours on the phone, but sometimes we both do – together – at night. (Why do things seem so much funnier at night?) We watch videos of little kids saying funny things, or there’s this Pretend Cooking Show by Jennifer Garner that she posts, which is hilarious! There’s another cook Bri McCoy and she’s silly funny. And then there’s just the absurd. It might not make us laugh tomorrow, but it did today.
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So, find something today that makes you laugh and laugh over and over again, until your belly aches.
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Dancing – My husband and I (often in the winter months, when it’s cold outside) will sometimes try to learn a dance by watching YouTube in our living room, in front of the sofa, on the rug. We try, we really do. We’ve tried the Fox Trot but we get lost in the instructions and bumble our feet. And sometimes, we just end up falling on the sofa in hilarious laughter, especially if we video ourselves and watch it back. We should have learned to dance at much younger age!
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So, find an activity or learn something new that you’re really not that adept at, and laugh away!
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What makes you laugh?