[REVISITING] 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 & ILLUSTRATED by PETER MOORE

ON A RECENT PLANE FLIGHT, I caught a glimpse of my wife ripping an article out of the New York Times. Right: She still reads it on paper. Somebody has to!

She was clipping 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.”

  

• According to the science director of the Greater Good Science Center (a place I want to work): “Levity is our primary vehicle for restoring a relaxed state.”

and

• "A good chuckle has potent effects. There are studies linking laughter to positive changes in heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension.”

Suddenly, I understood another reason I write and illustrate this substack: I’m doing it for your health, and mine!

Which brings me to my favorite religious joke of all time:

Q: What did Adam say to Eve the first time he saw her?

A: “Stand back. I don’t know how big this thing gets.”

You’re feeling better already, right?

“Laughter is carbonated holiness.” – Anne Lamott