The Best Medicine

The police recently arrested a man for selling “secret formula” tablets he claimed gave eternal youth. While reviewing the files the booking officer shook his head and commented: “When will this guy ever learn?” Turns out that he had been arrested on the very same charges in 1794, 1856, 1928, and 1983! 

In one of his recent talks, Rabbi Zev Golumbeck said that the Chazon Ish cited humor as a basic human need. Hashem wants us to laugh and make jokes. In the Gemara we learn how our Sages told jokes before starting a lesson to relax people and put them in a good mood. When I’ve attended talks by Rabbi Shalom Arush I observed that he often begins with a funny story.

 
Rabbi Golombeck says most people think that someone who makes jokes and laughs is not taking life seriously. However, if we want to take life seriously, we need to be happy to keep ourselves healthy. Acting happy and making humorous remarks promotes emotional, mental, and physical health and helps us to cope with the inevitable frustrations and problems of everyday life. 

In the book Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul Peter McWilliams summarized an amazing account of the life of Norman Cousins. He had been diagnosed as terminally ill and the doctors said he had just a few months to live. 

He began to realize that worry, depression, and anger had contributed to, and helped cause his disease. He wondered – if illness can be caused by negativity, perhaps it can be cured by positivity! 

He had nothing to lose so he decided to do an experiment. Laughter was one of the most positive activities he knew so he rented every funny movie he could get his hands on. He read funny stories. He asked his friends to call him whenever they said, heard something, or did something funny 

Prior to this, his pain had been so intense that he couldn’t sleep at night. He found that if he could work himself into a state of laughter for ten consecutive minutes the pain would subside for several hours so he could catch some sleep. 

He fully recovered from this illness and lived another 20 years that were happy, healthy, and productive. He recounted his experiences in a book entitled Anatomy of an Illness. He credits visualization, the love of his family and friends, and laughter for his recovery. 

Since Cousin’s groundbreaking work, scientific studies have shown that laughter has a curative effect on the body, the mind, and the emotions. 

I read an article entitled 10 Big Benefits of Smiling by Dr. Mark Stibich. He says that the physical act of smiling activates pathways in your brain that influence your emotional state—meaning that by adopting a happy facial expression, you can “trick” your mind into entering a state of happiness. This act works even if your smile is forced. 

 
A simple smile can trigger the release of neuropeptides that improve your neural communication. It also causes the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, which can boost your mood. Think of smiling as a natural antidepressant. 
 

The Ramchal teaches that the outer awakens the inner. When you speak and act happy, you’ll begin to feel upbeat and happy.  

Rabbi Golombeck notes that Hashem created us to be b’simcha (happy). However, we know that it’s human nature to have mood swings. What are we supposed to do when we feel down? 

 
Hashem wants us to do exercises so that we can feel good and remain upbeat. What are the exercises? One of them is to make a smile on your face, even if it’s a fake smile. Try it and you’ll see. Just look up at Heaven and smile and see how much better you begin to feel! 

 
Remember that Hashem built into our bodies ways to make ourselves happy and cheerful. Yes, the evil inclination will try to prevent you from smiling and that makes it challenging. However, once you realize that it’s built into our nature that you can become happy and that’s what Hashem is asking from us, you’ll make the effort. 

Our patriarch Isaac had the Hebrew name Yitzhak which means laughter. Rabbi Yehudah Mandel commented that the message is we need to have laughter and simcha to be healthy and optimize our overall service to Hashem.  

 
If laughter can help a person overcome a potentially terminal illness, how much more so can it help us cope with everyday problems. So, get up and smile, have a good laugh and you’ll start feeling like a brand new person. You’ll give Hashem tremendous joy, and you’ll uplift yourself and others by showing that you appreciate living in this wonderful world.