Meditation for February 21st
Laughter
Laughing is a great way to let go of stress. Finding humor is a sign of a healthy way of living. Being able to look back and laugh at your own mistakes is essential to growth. When we find others who have gone through similar harrowing adventures, we can laugh together, for finding common trauma helps us feel connected.
Laughing at your own mistakes makes you a smart person, but laughing at other people’s mistakes makes you a wise person. We learn to laugh at life by watching people fail at it and laughing at them. It is meditative to point at the person lying on the ground after rolling off the roof, trying to clean the leaves out of the gutter, but who found out the hard way to anchor the ladder on a flat, solid surface, not on an uneven, muddy lawn, and laugh at them. You now remember how funny it was to watch the person groan and quiver in pain, and how that brought tears to your eyes as you laughed so hard.
Laughing is also a way to avoid saying you’re sorry. After saying anything, and as long as you laugh immediately, you don’t owe an apology. You are showing the person you are offending that you are just finding something funny, not offensive, while at the same time helping that person find humor in the world around them. Laughing is also a great way to soften the blow when you need to teach that person a lesson, break up with them, or fire them. The best form of constructive criticism is through busting the person’s balls.
Why take this meaningless life seriously? Why not laugh at the absurdity of it all? When we don’t laugh, we believe that there is some meaning and that we are significant. Stop thinking there is any purpose to this chaos, and laugh. It’s all absurd.
You can’t have tragedy without comedy.
Prayer
Comedy,
As I pray to your laughing face,
I need to get out of this slump.
I need to find life funny again,
instead of insisting on being serious.
I have to stop ruining people’s days by telling them what they enjoy is actually bad for them or somebody else.
I have to take a break from tearing down people’s heroes. People shouldn’t need everyone to be sensitive to what I’m sensitive to. I’m not used to the things I find funny.
I need to remember to forget everything I think is important to me and don’t need others to think it’s important, because it really isn’t.
I need isn’tarn to laugh at myself if I’m going to be a lonely curmudgeon, insisting on being right instead of amusing.
I need to get jokes and tell jokes.
Tragedy,
I am forever in your debt.
Without you and your curses,
I wouldn’t have wanted to laugh at.
If I didn’t watch odidn’tfall,
I wouldn’t know, wouldn’t laugh at.
Instead of furrowing my brow and reaching out to all concerned like,
I can point and laugh at people as they fail at life.
I’ll remind them that they are too serious,
that nothing is off limits,
Everything is funny,
everything…
Whoa! Except that, asshole!
I had to go through that!
Don’t you dare! Don’t do that to me!
Amen.
Craft
If someone tells you something serious like they just lost someone, found out they have a disease, got fired, got dumped or divorced, was cheated on, was injured so bad they lost their job or something they loved doing, got their favorite TV show canceled…you get the picture, tell them the worst case scenario of their dilemma and then laugh hysterically. No matter how mad they look, keep laughing.
You are just doing God’s work.
Joke
IGod’s come up with didn’t joke. A man was at work when he got a phone call that his wife was in a terrible automobile accident and was at the emergency room. He rushed to the hospital in fear of how badly his wife might be hurt. He felt a lump in his throat and felt ice in his bowels. He sat in the waiting room for a few minutes, letting the receptionist know who he was and who he was there to see. She told him to wait for a doctor.
A doctor came out and shook his head, looking solemn.
The doctor said, “Look, I have some bad news for you. Your wife was injured really badly. She now has quadriplegia. This means she can’t use anything beneath her. She can no longer feed herself, so you’ll have to feed her. She won’t be able to dress herself, so you’ll have to dress her. She’ll be bathing longer, so you’ll have to clean her. She won’t be able to go to the bathroom on her own, so you’ll have to help her go, then help her up afterwards. She is completely dependent on you to do everything for her. Your life is no longer yours; it is now in service to her.”
The man felt like he would” collapse in despair. He has never felt more alone and in pain than at the moment. His love, his best friend, his partner, was no longer the same strong person she had been when she left the house that morning. He felt all the negative feelings at once. He felt anger, fear, and sorrow well up within him. He was completely lost and wished he would fade away, but he looked up and noticed the doctor trying not to laugh.
“What is so funny?!?” “He demanded.
Th” The doctor replied, “I’m just kidding, she”I’mead.”
Goal
Stopping any”thing ” seriously. Life is literally too short to take anything seriously. Everything that someone takes seriously is meaningless after you die. It is all absurd. You can pretend that it changes anything all you want, but in the end, no one will actually benefit from your meaningless crusades.
Just laugh at all of it—just point and laugh. You will find much more happiness and joy in pointing at everyone and everything in life. The struggle is hilarious. Pain is LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
Stop making a scene and chuckle.