The Principle of Laughter

The paragraph from the Thursday’s meeting (See the post “Widen the Hoop”) is so rich in principles that I can apply to my life today as a sober guy in recovery. The first sentence includes the amazing principle of laughter. Upon reading it, I would never guess that to be a principle, but that is why I need others to help me to see things that are right in front of me.

The sentence reads “At this point the sponsor probably laughs” and the reference is to the struggle I or anyone goes through in letting go of all I know to be willing to come to believe in a Power greater than me. But if the sponsor, who has a different perspective on all of this through his/her own experience, gets to laugh, don’t I? After all, aren’t I looking for a new perspective too?

I had to be taught to look beyond the obvious meaning of the words, sentences and paragraphs in the AA literature. I was shown that a principle was a truth and that no matter who applied (practiced) this truth, the same results would follow for each and everyone of us. It was pointed out to me that 1 + 1 = 2 was a mathematic principle and that no matter who added 1 + 1 together the answer was always 2. So if laughter works for my sponsor, then it must work for me too.

So how do I apply laughter? Simple, I laugh. When I laugh or even smile, I feel a sense of relief. How can I be angry or disturbed while I am laughing? I can’t. The laughter helps me to “take it easy” and to “widen the hoop”. I have had many conversations with my sponsor over the years where I started out talking about something that I was angry or upset about. We talked through the issue and by the end of the conversation we were laughing sometimes to the point of tears. This was true for everything from a minor struggle at work to my thoughts of suicide after a devastating relationship breakup.

Last night, I watched “National Treasure 2″  with Michelle and my kids and we laughed a lot. It wasn’t a comedy. We were just having fun together and finding lots of things to laugh about. My kids remind me how to laugh all the time. As the movie ended, I switched back to the DVD menu to see if there were any special features. One of the menu items was “Director Commentary”. Nine year-old Hanna asked what that meant.

“It allows you to watch the movie and listen to the director tell you about how the scenes were shot at the same time,” said Michelle. Another feature read “Sneak Peak”.

“What’s ‘Sneak Peak’ mean?” Hanna asked.

“It’s where you get to see the director going to the bathroom,” replied Michelle.

We all burst out in hysterical laughter.