Some laughter with my hug, please!

Valentine’s Day is history, and I am assuming the ripples of it have subsided. On Feb. 14th, I created a special ritual and ‘space’ in which to celebrate ‘love’ and it was very satisfying. I’ll say a bit more about it in a later posting. I have a fondness for ritual.

Well, that Saturday went the way it did, things happened the way they did. Whether it was a breakthrough day and experience or otherwise is not my focus here, (And I hope you were drenched in every concept of love you hold precious!). I just wanted to briefly chat about the little blurb on some cards I have seen…..”Here’s a Valentine hug.”

I have mentioned hugging, a few posts back, and I have observed something else about it…..there is something special about a hug when it happens in the vicinity of laughter. There is a permission that seems to be added that isn’t available otherwise.

I’ve been involved in hugs where I’ve not been too sure whether I was being hugged or pushed away. ‘A-frame’ hugs are quite common as well. Can you relate?

But, add a pinch of laughter, or when we are generally in a humorous mood and the hesitancy about giving or receiving a hug dissipates. Laughter appears to be a missing ingredient, necessary to expand the experience of the hug.

A year or so ago, I participated in a Western Canadian, First Nations sweat lodge ceremony. It was an incredible experience, and the recollection will come up in relation to other topics, at a later time, I am certain.

I chatted with the Elder who led the sweat. He was a very jovial, wise-cracking gentleman who had a way of speaking that was ‘philosophy put to laughter‘.

He wanted to share his experience of the time he had gone on a vision quest……
In his preparation, leaving it open without any definite expectations,  he had sort of hoped to acquire great wisdom, a smattering of bravery and maybe the gift of elocution….thereby assuring he would be recognized as a contributor to his community.

He had a very powerful quest and what he said he got as his gift from Great Spirit was…laughter.

Life has suddenly become a huge un-serious adventure for him. He sees humor everywhere. He doesn’t ‘laugh off’ life but has it more handled than ever before.
His face beamed as he explained to me that this gift has resulted in him being sought after for counseling, much more than he could have imagined.
He rather preferred it to the sophisticated, learned, advisory warrior he had thought he would become.
He could speak straight to the heart of any matter because he wasn’t so darned serious about it all.

Makes me think that it might be a great idea to observe some kind of National Laughter Day…..or maybe a National Laugh-at-Yourself Day.
We get so flustered when we try to ‘get serious about love’.
Why do we become so much more ‘in relationship’ when there is laughter present?
That being the case, why do we get mixed up between what we should be serious about and what we should laugh at?
We have Laughter Yoga, Laughing Qigong, Laughing Meditation, and other methods and seminars, all focusing on adding more laughter. Well, the more, the better, I say!

Laughter heals, calms, opens lines of communication, and allows my ex to just be the way she is! I didn’t measure up? Hilarious!

My god is filled with laughter! Those gods and goddesses who laugh the most, likely have no self-esteem issues. They probably aren’t trying to get us to harm each other in any way so as to appease their low self-esteem problem. Get it?
It’s hilarious to think a god could be other than a god of laughter!

Someone once said that to hold our belly as we laugh, we must first put down the sword.
I know I am in good company when I am among folks who laugh, even at the whole mess of politically incorrect stuff that has been banned from our laugh track.

So it seems that when we hug, it’s just a hug….albeit a nice hug….when there is laughter present, the hug goes to the deeper part of the soul, encircling the heart, engaging our vitality, speaking ‘who we are’ and that’s what really matters.

Rich