Quintus Heine

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.  Proverbs 17:22

The start of spring gives us the opportunity to look at life positively and cheerfully. The positive and lighter side of life is not only good for your spiritual health, but as the poet teaches us in Proverbs, it gives you new energy as well. The Bible refers to joy and gladness in several places. There’s also a lot of humour in the Bible. The Dutch writer, Okke Jager wrote a book about it. In it, he pointed out that the Bible is full of ironies and humour that makes one smile.

The American magazine, The Week, reported that laughter causes the endothelium (the tissue surrounding the blood vessels), to expand. It increases blood flow in the arteries. If you laugh often, you decrease the risk of heart attack. According to medical researchers, laughter also lower stress levels and promotes all-round better health. Mental stress constricts the blood vessels, while laughing the opposite effect. It’s better for your mental health to laugh regularly!

A head of the neurosurgical department at Groote Schuur Hospital said a few years ago: “The most common form of suffering is not pain, but depression.” Laughter helps us to see the positive in a situation rather than the negative. In turn, this helps us to be positive! It is a psychological fact that most people are as happy as they present themselves to be! There is no tastier and sweeter medicine than the natural laugh.

A healthy lifestyle researcher said that 30 minutes of exercise three times a week and 15 minutes of hearty laughter every day does wonders for good health care. There is also plenty of research that shows that adults would have fewer worries if they were more spontaneous like toddlers are. This is also true in the sense that we should look at life the way children do.

It is a pity that so many people ignore God’s natural medicine of laughter, humour and joy. We cannot improve on God’s plan.  Take time today to laugh. Be happy and you will see the change in your own health and mental energy, as well as in the people around you.

Prayer: Lord, thank you that we can laugh and enjoy life. Amen