Tiny smidges

“Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul…

Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become…

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
To hear in the depths the laughter of God.”

~ John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

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The relief of laughter.

It is a strange thing, how the bursting forth of laughter can indeed bring relief from a million sorrows, from dark spaces, from ourselves.

Think of little kids who are hurt, sad, or angry. They can get hung up in their misery, and our natural instinct is to make them laugh, to break the spell, to help them to return to the here and now and let go of whatever it is that they’re stuck in. But they fight it. You know what I’m talking about. They set their jaws, refuse to smile, maybe even shoot you a few darts. You will not make me happy, for I am pissed.

Even as adults, we fight the heart-swabbing relief of laughter, refusing to allow that release. We know what laughter brings, deep down inside, and there are times when we feel we aren’t ready or deserving. We need to wallow a little more. We need to be somber. We are angry, we are sad, we are injured; and to laugh, to allow the release of all that is pent up, might be an act of defeat. Our angst still has work to do, we tell ourselves. Our sadness has not yet run its course, we tell ourselves. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I am happy, we tell ourselves.

But to release is to heal, and whether we are ready to return to ourselves or not, tiny smidges of healing are allowed. They don’t erase our hurt or negate our pain, but they can help us to live through them and find the other side.

Do not cling so tightly to your pain that you refuse the divine relief of laughter. Even just the tiny smidges.

May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.

Time to love louder. Even ourselves.