René Descartes - true or false?

My thinking pose - ha!

'I think therefore I am' most famously stated by René Descartes - based on a series of dreams in which he found his grounds for pursuing true wisdom through his pursuit of science.

'Thinking', was the very basic truth he found based on these visions.

This is, of course, a very brief account of his very profound discoveries and ways in which to look at logic and science...

Many great philosopers have come and gone and some have even had a word or two to say about laughter - and a lot about the philosophy of humour!

The definition of humour is that it is a person's ability to perceive something or someone in a more funny way. It is brainy work and thinking, the work of our intellect, that is required in order to find humour funny and in order to laugh at comedy.

So, in order to bring more laughter into life we have to think a lot to find comedy funny but to stop thinking too much about why we laugh in order to find more things funny as in comedy and humour... Woah! that's a bit of a mind-boggler...

Over the past week I have watched a great deal of comedy, incl. Eddie Izzard, Peter Kay, Michael Mcintyre, Friends, Red Dwarf, Robin Hood - men in tights, Blazing Saddles, Bruce Almighty, Friends - you'd think I watch TV all the time but I don't.

All of what I have watched is very different in the sense of its humour and comedy, some is subtle, clever, daft, inappropriate, potically incorrect etc. All of it made me laugh out loud!

So what makes comedy funny?

I have not always laughed at comedy because 'I was too clever for it' - you probably know what I mean by saying that...

Sometimes we think too much about it instead of just being with the laughter, and with less judgement in thought more laughter may indeed arrive. Imagination and creativity is being nurtured when we laugh, and we find more things funny in real life. We don't take ourselves too seriously and we don't get angry at people when we THINK they laugh at our expense.

H. C. Andersen - not The Thinker but puts thought and imagination into fairytales for children and grown-ups.

Often people come to laughter clubs or laughter sessions with the very same issue, they don't laugh anymore, they don't have a sense of humour. Sometimes they even say 'Make me laugh!' - but guess what? In Laughter Yoga we don't make people laugh. We help people find their own laughter, their own joy, inside.

It is easy to laugh when we have comedy and people around who can make us laugh but let's face it, the news is full of bad, sad, horrible news and rarely things that are funny and encouraging to read.

When our laughter dwindles away, when it becomes less and less active we find less fun in life in general and laughter dwindles even more.

However, when we laugh we nurture our inner spirit of laughter and joy, and we play with fun and lightheartedness, we cultivate our laughter in a way where we can enjoy life with all its magic and miracles.

A key reason to learn Laughter Yoga and practice Laughter Yoga is to find that inner spirit and allow for it to surface and have fun - in all parts of life! There is so much bounty in Laughter Yoga - ask me why and what and how.

Don't wait for others to change you, don't wait for others to make you laugh or make you do anything - laugh and stop thinking too much about why you laugh.

'Be the change you want to see in the world' a great leader once said.


And on a final note, wishing you health, wealth and happiness plus unconditional laughter:

'I laugh - therefore I am, more than when I think.' thought by a 20th century pocket-philosopher, me!