The Quiet Power of Laughter
Some of my earliest memories of joy came from funny movies. The kind where characters slipped on banana peels, made silly and absurd jokes or burst out laughing for no apparent reason.
As a child, I was fascinated by how laughter is contagious and could ripple through a room especially when you are watching comedy.
Those memories had quietly taken root and grow into something far more meaningful years later.
That something arrived in the form of a laughter therapy session I conducted sometime in 2022. I hadn’t gone in expecting a lot. The session was with blue collar employees, people who work long hours and have to perform repetitive tasks.
Many of them arrived weary, arms crossed, polite but distant. We began slowly with hesitant chuckles and unsure glances. But laughter, I would learn, doesn’t need much encouragement other than opening up your hearts and minds just a little bit. Enough for you to let down your guard.
There was nothing extravagant about what made them laugh. A simple exercise and a little nudge then with a small giggle and shared glances bloomed into something communal. And that was the revelation, it didn’t take much. The smallest spark could open the door to something deeply restorative.
I stood watching their faces soften and their bodies shift. What I felt then was not amusement but awe. Laughter, in that moment, felt less like a reaction and more human and natural.
Since that day, I’ve seen it happen many times. In different places with different people. And still,each time, I am reminded, laughter is not the opposite of seriousness it’s a way of disarming us. It allows us to remember the lightness we often forget we’re allowed to feel.
On this World Laughter Day, I return in memory to that first room. I recall the echo of that joy, the brightness it left behind. In a world so often preoccupied with urgency and utility perhaps laughter is the pause we need.
