How many of you remember the Reader’s Digest magazines? I loved those books and remember my parents had a subscription when I was a kid. My favorite section of the book was “laughter is the best medicine”.

In The Upside of Stress, a book I read a while back, one of the challenges was to write 3 values that I think define me as a person. My 3: sense of humor, compassion, courage. I wrote these 3 values on a sticky note along with the quote “a stressful life is a meaningful life” and stuck it to my computer screen at work. This was months ago and I found myself looking at it just yesterday and letting it really sink in again.

I’ve been writing daily posts of mindfulness practice in a sober community we’ve built from past team members in the PATH. I generally follow cue from my morning meditation practice from the Calm app and I am presently doing a multi-day series on emotions. It is really a great series but it’s dealing with negative emotions, like, envy, grief, repression. So pretty heavy stuff.

Just this morning I was checking this FB group and a member posted a YouTube video about an alien interviewing a human about drinking alcohol. Our teammate shared it saying “I hope this is okay to post here”. This video is a hilarious interview between an alien and a human about why we drink alcohol. After watching it, I wanted to reach out to this team member and say “hell YESSS you can post this kind of thing here…this is exactly what we need!”

I think I come from a long line of very funny people. I have a huge extended family, on both sides, and we all have a great sense of humor. I learned a long time ago that the best place to be is in a state of laughter. How many times my mom would say “we’re not laughing AT you, but WITH you!!” But, honestly, more than half the time I think they were laughing at me (and me them)!! 🤣

Thanks to the video my teammate posted this morning, I was taken back to my core value of my ‘sense of humor’. Daily postings of negative emotions is weighing on me a bit and I needed to express how important it is to remember and relish in the light hearted moments in life. Little things that brings a smile to our faces. Or more outrageous things that make us laugh until we cry and our stomachs hurt. Without being able to laugh at myself, including the ridiculous things I did when I was drinking, I don’t think I’d be here today.

Here’s to all the funny people in my life and in the world!! Let’s keep laughing…☺️