Four Therapeutic Effects of Increased Smileage

Go ahead: Laugh. Even the New York Times ("all the bad news that's fit to print") is recommending it. WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY PETER MOORE

ON MY FLIGHT BACK FROM BOSTON yesterday, I caught a glimpse of my wife ripping an article out of the New York Times. Another prosecution of America’s Most Wanted, D. Trump? Another wildfire/hurricane/glacier-melt premonition of doom? A recipe (God no!) for oyster stuffing?

None of the above: She was saving an article called “Hey, Lighten Up! It Can Be Good for Your Health.”

The author, Carolyn Todd, made these points:

• According to a lecturer at Stanford Business School: “Levity is a mindset. It’s looking for reasons to be delighted rather than disappointed in the world around you.”

  

• A positivity researcher (now there’s a job description) from the University of Zurich tells us to “travel more lightly" because it “saves the organism and the soul from too much of a bumpy road.”