Laugh

Laughing. Giggling. Squeaking. Chortling. Squealing. Snorting. Chuckling.

All of these are words to describe what happens when your joy, happiness, or exuberance can no longer be contained within your being and spill out through your mouth and/or nose.

I love to laugh. It makes my whole body smile on the inside and my brain feels like it's floating on Cloud 9. I've been told that I laugh often, sometimes at anything, even if there is no reason to find that thing funny. My laugh is also . . . well, unique. Once, in high school, I was told by some friends in the classroom next to mine that they knew whether or not I was in class that day because they could distinguish my laugh from anyone else's they heard - even through a thick cement wall. But I don't care if my laugh sounds strange - when happiness bubbles up inside my chest, I just have to let it out.

At the beginning of July, we got a new Level 1 Korean English teacher at our institute. The first couple of days he didn't talk much to me but then we hit it off well. Every morning, when our classes finish at 8, he strolls by or into my room and we chat about one thing or another for a few minutes, always making jokes and always finding some reason to laugh or smile. The other day he walked into my room. For some reason, we started fake laughing. First he made this slow, drawn-out, creepy laugh. Then I said, "Psshhh, I can do better than that," and I gave it my best shot (which sound pretty good, by the way). We went back and forth several times, trying to up the other in this game of voice masquerading. Finally, we walked out of my classroom, continuing with our laughs. As we neared the stairwell, our laughter became genuine - we couldn't hold it in any longer. We knew how ridiculous we sounded and we couldn't keep up our charade.

As we entered the stairwell, laughing, another teacher was waiting for the elevator. He said, "Why are you laughing? What is there to be happy about?" That stopped me and I said, "There is a lot to be happy about!"
He replied, "Well, I don't think there's usually a lot to be laughing about."

I was stunned by his reaction to our laughter. First of all, his mood downed my mood ever so slightly. Second of all, I felt a bit sorry for him. There's always something during the day to cause happiness and laughter, whether it is just a few chuckles or a full-blown laugh attack. Anything could strike you as humorous, if you just let it.

As you go through your day, find the chuckles, the giggles, the smiles, the laughs, and even the occasional snort. Without laughter, the soundtrack of life would sound flat. And nobody likes listening to continuous flat notes.

Don't let your life go flat. Laugh.