Spirituality and Laughter

On today's episode we're talking about laughter. Is it really the best medicine? Will it make you live longer? Today we take even the most ridiculous of questions seriously.

Transcript

Welcome to Life,

Lessons and Laughter with your host Glenn Ambrose.

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Life,

Lessons and Laughter with Glenn Ambrose.

Today we are talking about one part of our podcast,

Laughter.

Finally doing it.

Finally doing it.

It's laughter time,

So buckle up,

I'm feeling serious.

The most straightforward serious opening that you've ever done for the episode.

And it was on laughter.

And it's laughter.

I think it's appropriate.

This is like when we did addiction and we couldn't stop giggling.

Right.

But the opposite.

Now we're talking about laughter.

What are we going to talk about today?

We're flying right into this one with no preparation,

Even less than usual if that's possible.

This is our pre-production meeting.

Yes.

Welcome to our pre-production meeting.

No,

Laughter,

You know,

I remember back when I was a kid I used to read in Reader's Digest a little section that said,

Laughter is the best medicine.

And that was the only part I'd read because it was the only part I was interested in as a kid.

It was Reader's Digest.

Yes,

Reader's Digest.

Yeah.

But that phrase stuck with me,

So whenever I hear it I think of that.

And it's,

You know,

Laughter is used in self-growth and spiritual growth.

It can be a release.

A lot of times when we really get to the core or get clarity on what the way we're living and the things that we think are important and when we really get down to it,

We can actually just break out in laughter because it's so absurd.

The things that we think are so serious and we spend so much energy working towards and it's kind of a joke.

Explain that a little bit more.

No.

No,

I'm standing on what I said.

So you're saying that when things bother us.

When things bother us.

If we like follow it or?

Well,

I think we see it usually in hindsight.

If we look back on things that we were worried about in the past,

We can laugh about it today.

I think an extreme example,

Well,

Extreme examples usually come in extreme situations.

So like Eckhart Tolle says that when something serious happens in your life,

Really life-threatening or something to that effect,

A lot of the things that we worry about on a day-to-day basis pop like soap bubbles.

So it's like you take somebody who's going to die in three months and be like,

You know what,

Your cable bill is two days past due.

You're like,

Really?

No offense,

I don't care.

It's really,

I mean,

It would be absurd to get all worked up about that.

So that's the type of laughter that I'm talking about.

When we step back and really look at things realistically about what's important and what's not,

A lot of the unconscious ways in which we live are literally laughable.

So that's what I mean.

Have you ever heard that laughing makes you live longer?

Yes.

The wives tale or whatever it is.

Yeah.

Every time you laugh is like,

I don't know,

I remember as a child hearing ridiculous,

Every time you have a big belly laugh,

It's like an extra 15 minutes of life tacked on.

Like some ridiculous thing like that.

Yeah,

And I don't think they can actually gauge it.

No,

As an adult I'm aware that they can't gauge that.

Right,

But I do believe it's true.

I mean,

When you're laughing,

When you're happy,

Your blood pressure and your stress levels lower.

So,

I think we've done 6 billion studies that show different ways that stress hinders our health.

It cracks me up when I see a new study come out.

They'll say like,

People in unhappy marriages are more unhealthy.

People who lose their jobs are more unhealthy.

People on unemployment are more unhealthy.

They'll do a new study on anything in life that causes stress and they'll say,

Oh,

That makes people more unhappy.

No kidding.

And it makes them more unhealthy.

Yeah.

And if people are stressed out,

They're not really healthy and if they're laughing more,

Then they are healthier because it releases good endorphins instead of negative endorphins.

So,

Absolutely.

I mean,

Laughter can get you through a lot.

It's gotten me through a lot.

Yeah.

It's a lot of times like if you're either too stressed or too… Anytime that you feel overwhelmed by a negative emotion,

Like there's a tendency to just burst out laughing.

Yeah,

That overwhelmed feeling.

Because that's,

You know,

You're so angry that you're laughing.

Yeah.

You're so grief-stricken that you find the most ridiculous thing funny.

Yes.

And that's the release.

That's a great example of the release that comes when it builds up and then all of a sudden you come to the brink and you release that laughter.

That's a lot of stresses going out.

It's very,

Very healthy for your emotional and spiritual state is that laughter when things get to that point.

It's really a release of a lot of that pent-up energy that we just don't know what else to do with but laugh at it.

And that's really… it really is a healthy sign because other people climb in it and wallow in it and guess what that brings?

Just more depression and it sure as heck doesn't show them the way out.

But if you're laughing at it,

If you can laugh at yourself,

It's really a healthy outlet and a way to look at it and just be like,

Wow,

Why am I holding on so tight?

This is ridiculous.

I was thinking about this the other day because the Daily Show with Jon Stewart is coming to an end this week.

Yes.

And the… obviously someone else is taking it over and I'm sure it'll be fine and stuff but you don't know that it will be.

And I was worried about that because it's such a… for a lot of people,

It's the only way that they get the news.

Yes.

It's the only… it's a comedy show but it uses laughter as a way to teach people about certain things that are going on.

And it made me realize how important of a tool laughter is in learning.

Yes.

And it can put a great slant on things,

How absurd it is.

I've watched the Daily Show,

Not lately.

I think Jon Stewart is great.

I don't even mean the Daily Show specifically.

I just mean like,

You know,

If a teacher in school was funny,

You probably paid attention more.

Right.

You know?

There's a TV show that I watched about what happens backstage at like a late night comedy show.

And this one girl in the first episode,

I think,

Is leadingly cast in a prayer.

And one of the lines that she says that stuck with me is,

And thank you for your son Jesus Christ who must have been funny to get so many people to listen to him.

Yeah,

Really.

And I mean,

Obviously whatever you think about that line is whatever.

But I think that,

You know,

Comedy… if you can make people laugh,

You can teach them,

You can help them,

You can break down a wall.

Absolutely.

And I think that,

You know,

If we open up and let that joy out,

That's one of the reasons why I wanted to do a podcast that had so much laughter as an aspect of it.

Because there's tons of wonderful teachers out there,

You know,

Spiritual teachers,

And just all types of teachers that can make our lives better in a lot of different ways.

And I'm very,

Very,

Very,

Very,

Very grateful for them.

Because,

You know,

They've helped me to get to where I am.

But there's not that many in the public eye yet that are really using the laughter,

And that are,

You know,

That are just having fun with it.

And I think that that's so important because otherwise,

Why are we doing the work?

You know,

I don't want to… like,

I got class clown all the way through school.

I got it like in elementary school,

Junior high,

High school.

It's part of my personality,

So I like goofing around.

And I take my spiritual growth very seriously,

But I take it seriously so I don't have to be serious.

You know,

Like,

I take it seriously so I can get to the point where I can bring more joy into my life and to other people's lives.

And if they're not seeing that joy,

If they're not hearing me laugh,

If they're not seeing me have fun,

Then why should they listen to what I have to say,

You know?

I mean,

Some people will because they want that inner peace,

Which is very important.

But it's… I think when we're laughing and we're running around more joyous,

It's more obvious.

Like,

If somebody's at peace and you look over at them,

They might be napping,

You know?

We don't know.

If somebody's meditating and just sitting there all… excuse me,

All Zen-like,

We don't know what's going on inside of them.

You know,

They might be peaceful,

You know,

Or they might be sleeping.

But if you're laughing and you're fooling around and you're having a good time,

That person's enjoying their life and it's obvious.

Were you really,

Like,

The legit superlative class clown?

Like,

In your yearbooks it said class clown.

Oh yeah,

I got the awards,

Literally.

That Ambrose?

Yeah.

That's hilarious.

I mean,

I think what was even funnier to me was in elementary school I got best actor,

Along with class clown.

I got two.

Oh wow.

And I was one of… Did you do anything?

They had a class… it was sixth grade.

They had a class play and I was one of probably,

Like,

I don't know,

Six kids,

Ten kids,

Something like that,

That were not in the play.

Everybody had to be in the play and several of us weren't.

We're a stage crew.

So I was,

Like,

One of the few people that did zero acting in the entire class and I got best actor.

But it was because I was running around being a class clown all the time.

So sometimes I would act different parts.

I would walk around talking in an Irish accent one day or pretend I was a teacher one day.

Like,

Who knows?

I was just always goofing around acting.

And the kids ended up voting me best actor,

Even though I wasn't in the school play.

I've known you for three years.

I've known you for three years.

I run a theater company and you've never told me you got best actor in school?

Maybe.

Well,

That's the only acting I've done in sixth grade hallways.

That's cool that you got class clown,

Though.

Yeah,

All the way through school.

There's a,

Um,

I can't remember,

Dave might know better than me because he's the one that told me about it,

But there's a guy that said that he wasn't the class clown.

There was a class clown and that wasn't him.

That he considered himself,

Like,

The class comedian.

The class clown is the guy that puts a bucket on his head and everybody laughs.

The class comedian is the guy that tells him to do it.

Yeah.

I was always more like that.

I wasn't running around doing the,

You know,

Well,

I mean,

In high school when I got into theater,

I was being every part and annoying people.

I think I graduated from one to the other.

I think,

Like,

I was class clown when I was younger.

And then I remember specifically in junior high,

I mean,

I was constantly in trouble,

And I remember specifically in junior high that some schools merged and this one kid came from another school and I saw him getting other people in trouble.

Yeah.

And,

You know,

We're sitting there laughing at it and stuff.

So I was like,

Hey,

I can get entertained this way and not get in as much trouble as if I do it myself.

So I took that on it.

So I started doing it too,

You know.

It was like,

So I started instigating others to do.

And then,

But I was too class clown.

I couldn't stay out of it myself.

So I did both,

I think,

For the rest of my years.

I instigated others and I did the bucket on my head myself too.

Have you ever?

I was an extremist.

You still are.

You're still the goofiest person I know.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

There's a formula that people say comedy equals tragedy plus time.

Yeah,

Sometimes it can.

And also that funny people are miserable.

Yeah,

I,

You know.

And that pain causes comedy.

I just watched.

What do you think about that?

I just watched that show.

I can't think of the name of it.

It's like adventures with Bear Grylls or something like that.

And they have these celebrities and they go that these celebrities go for like a day and a half with this guy out into the middle of the mountains and stuff.

And they live.

And they had Ed Helms,

I believe was his name on.

I love Ed Helms.

He was he was talking about that.

He said he said that there's there's a theory that there's two types of comedians and one is like the the the brooding suffering person acting,

You know,

In humor to cover it.

And and,

You know,

Of course,

I can't think of the second kind,

But you just reminded me of what he said.

And he said that,

Like he feels that there was truth to that because he had like open heart surgery when he was 14 years old.

So he.

Yeah.

So,

You know,

What he went through at a young age was some real stuff.

And I guess he had some sadness and some struggles inside of him that probably played to his being a comedian.

But he said as he grew in life,

He spent he's put a lot of time and effort into letting go of that and finding the happiness and the joy in life.

And that he said once he started doing that,

He was amazed at how much good came into his life and how many opportunities and and things came into his life because he opened up to the joy and the happiness that was actually in life instead of diving deeper into the depression and the negativity aspect of forcing that comedy to come out.

You know,

That's awesome.

I wonder what the now I'm really curious what the second type of comedian is.

I know.

Yeah.

I almost would just be somebody that's happy all the time.

I don't remember.

And I almost I almost didn't bring it up because I was like,

Oh,

My God,

This is going to suck that I don't have to say you know,

Second part.

And I was like,

You know what,

I don't care.

I'm doing it anyway.

So I know what we can do.

We can have the listeners watch the episode on YouTube or something and write in and tell me what that is.

Adventures with Bear Girls.

Bear Girls got a second show.

Yeah.

After Man vs.

Wild.

Yeah.

Was that that was the name of the show.

I think so.

I don't know.

I didn't really watch.

I never watched it once or twice.

One week in 2007,

A group of my friends went on vacation.

How do you remember it was 2007?

Because it was a big deal.

That was like eight years ago.

Yeah.

One week in 2007,

A group of my friends,

We rented a condo in New Hampshire.

And one of them was obsessed with Man vs.

Wild.

So we all there was only one TV in the house.

So we would all watch and we all got really like obsessed for just one week with Bear Girls.

And that led to a lot of comedy because we ran around New Hampshire pretending to survive.

He's pretty funny.

He's like a good guy.

He's got a good sense of humor,

Too.

Actually,

That was last night.

I watched the episode that I had DVR'd and he was he was him and at the Helms were going back and forth pretty good.

They were like just teasing each other and just throwing one-liners out and stuff.

It was pretty funny.

That's awesome.

But yeah,

A lot of comedians are miserable or their comedy originally came from misery.

Yeah,

I think that's it.

I think it can you know,

It's like we can find pleasure through pain.

You know,

If the sadness pushes us there and actually,

You know,

This this is a beautiful example with with Ed Helms.

So now I'm once again glad I brought it up.

So but that that's the trick of it.

It's like a lot of times in life,

Pain can push us towards something better.

But at some point we need to allow that pleasure to pull us further and and to be the driving force of our life.

If we never make that switch.

And we think that that's our identity,

You know,

That's then we meet tragic ends.

Yeah,

You know,

I mean like Robin Williams is the most recent obvious.

I mean,

If you know,

I don't obviously I didn't know him personally,

But we'll just pretend that his life fits into this mold because from an outside perspective,

It kind of looks like it.

I don't know the actual truth of what went on within him,

But you know,

Comedy,

Comedy,

Comedy fall back into depression.

If he could let go of that depression or you know,

If we can use that pain to push us forward into laughter and happiness and joy and get some fulfillment out of that and then let go of what got us there and allow the pleasure and the laughter to pull us forward.

And if we don't enjoy,

You know,

Then we're on to something and that's that's exactly what Ed Helms said.

It's,

You know,

He just took basically a whether he knows it or not,

He took basically a spiritual principle.

And he lived it in his own life.

You know,

He had pain push him towards comedy.

And then at some point,

He did a lot of work to allow the to allow his perspectives about life to shift so he wasn't a victim of life anymore.

And that he found the joy and happiness in life.

And that's when things really opened up for him.

You know,

So that that's a perfect example of,

You know,

We can have somebody using laughter to bridge that gap from living in pain.

Okay,

I found laughter.

And then,

Then what though?

Do you stay there?

Do you stay with the pain making you trying to make you funny,

You can only stay living in pain for so long.

You know,

If you allow it to push you into the laughter and then from there,

Have the joy and happiness.

I bet a lot of people try to stay in a little bit of the pain because they're afraid.

They're afraid that that is what makes them funny.

Absolutely,

Absolutely.

That's huge.

And you know,

I that I even had to do some of that when when I,

When I went through my spiritual awakenings,

Like,

Even when your life is really is,

Is really a mess like mine was the there's still that ego identity you create,

Like,

Nothing works.

I'm not happy.

I'm not happy.

Oh,

But,

But my personality is what makes things bearable because I can crack jokes and I can be witty and I can do that and I got the laughter and I got class clowns.

You know,

So that made things bearable when I was younger,

So I have to hang on to that.

I have to hang on to that.

And we think that if we let go of what got us there,

Then we're going to lose ourselves.

We're going to no longer exist,

Even the good parts of us.

And that's exactly what we need to let go of because it's an and honestly,

I tell people this all the time when they're in the,

In the,

When they're at a crux of a spiritual awakening,

And that fear starts gripping them.

Whether they know it or not,

People get to a point where they're very fearful of letting go of their personality.

They don't know who they're going to be if they let go of that anger or that sadness.

And a lot of it's unconscious.

They don't know who they're going to be.

And I tell them,

I'm like,

I'm a whack job,

Man.

I was a whack job when I was a kid.

I'm a whack job now.

It's you're not going to lose who you are.

You're actually going to open up to even a better version of who you are.

And you're going to be able to,

You know,

Whether that's a clown or not a clown,

You really can embrace your personality more when you have that fear.

Not a part of what's going on.

You know,

The fear is actually,

We think it,

It,

It's the cause for everything,

But it's actually holding us back to launching out to a whole new level.

You ready for the quote?

No.

Uh,

Wait.

Okay.

Now I am.

All right.

Ready?

Yeah.

This is a good one.

Promise?

I promise.

The human race has one really effective weapon and that is laughter.

Mark Twain.

Mark Twain has some good quotes,

Man.

That dude knew his stuff.

The,

Uh,

Satirist.

Is that right?

Satyrist?

Satyrist.

I don't know.

Satyr was his game.

I don't know how.

Satyr was his game.

Yes.

I don't know.

Uh,

I don't know what the proper pronunciation of that word is.

Yeah.

Satyrist sounds right.

You can laugh at just about anything if you're really,

I mean,

Like you mentioned,

We were laughing about addiction,

You know,

I mean,

Laughing pretty darn hard about that one too.

I apologize to anybody that.

I don't.

I think,

I mean,

I'm hoping,

I'm hoping that they're going to see it for what it is.

It's a way out,

You know,

Um,

It there,

There is nothing that,

Um,

Is so life altering that,

That we can't laugh at it in one shape,

Way,

Shape or form.

You know,

It just reminded me of something that,

That we,

I did back in my hometown.

I had this,

Um,

Little apartment when I was 18 to like 21,

22 or something.

And it was right around the corner from the most,

The busiest funeral home in our town because it was the French one and most of the town was French Canadian.

So it was,

It was right around the corner.

What used to happen would be like,

We knew a lot of people,

A lot of our friends died around that time.

And,

Uh,

What we would do is we'd go to the funeral and then afterwards we'd,

Everybody'd park at my house.

And then after the funeral,

We'd walk back to,

Um,

My apartment and we'd sit around and have kind of like what would turn into a party for them.

You know,

We'd sit around drinking beers and talking about,

Um,

Their life and,

And it always started out pretty solemn.

I mean,

We just came from a funeral,

You know,

So we're kind of bummed,

Missing them,

You know,

These,

And these are people that are dying at a young age,

18,

19,

16,

Early twenties that we knew,

You know?

So what,

But eventually what would happen is it would turn into a celebration of their life and we would be telling one story after another about them and just laughing.

And it was so healing for us,

You know,

Especially at a young age,

We just sat around and it really,

I mean,

I could feel the,

The sadness and the despair and the hopelessness leading up to those funerals.

Cause I wasn't in very good space at the time.

Um,

And then,

But that later the next day I would wake up and I'd be like,

Wow,

Like I,

I feel better.

I feel,

I feel pretty good.

It would be like a weight was lifted off of me because of that laughter that we shared,

You know,

Commemorating their life.

Some of the,

Yeah,

Some of the biggest laughs that I've ever had and most memorable good times,

Ironically and horribly were at the reception after a funeral.

And it's not horribly,

It's,

I mean,

You know,

Those people are on the other side that they're not suffering and not in pain.

If they're looking back,

That's probably the best time for them to looking back going,

Oh,

Thank God those people aren't walking around all miserable.

I'm fine.

Good.

I'm glad they're remembering me like that.

You know,

It is a tribute to them.

So,

You know,

That's,

I think that that,

That is really a good example of,

Of how we can use laughter in very difficult situations.

It doesn't mean we don't care.

You can never be miserable enough to heal somebody else.

You know,

Just we,

You know,

I was just listening to a song during a personal training session the other day and a line jumped out at me that I've always liked it.

It said something about the more,

The more I suffer,

The more I really care.

That means I care.

And it's like,

A lot of times we walk around like that in difficult situations.

You know,

We make ourselves suffer because then we must really have loved that person if we suffer.

It's like that's not what they would have wanted.

That's not what they want now.

They don't want us to be suffering.

Just because we're suffering doesn't mean that we care about something.

You know,

So if we consciously look at it,

We can laugh at that.

That's absurd to think that the more I suffer that that means that I actually loved somebody.

So that's a low place to end a show about laughter.

I think we should change the name to like the opposite show.

The most depressing show.

No,

The opposite show.

Because if we talk about laughter,

We'll.

.

.

Oh,

You want to change the name of the podcast?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean,

Like if we talk about laughter,

We'll be kind of serious.

And if we talk about more serious subjects,

We'll laugh more.

Right.

So it's an oxymoron show.

Yeah,

Definitely.

Definitely.

Yeah.

All right.

So.

.

.

I'm going to go cry in a corner.

So if people want to.

.

.

Wow.

Before I toss it over to you for plugs,

My podcast,

Another podcast on the New Shore Podcast.

.

.

Yeah,

Plug it.

Plug it.

.

.

.

Is back.

The sky is falling.

Check that out every other Wednesday on iTunes or at newshoreproductions.

Com.

Same places you can find this podcast.

Yeah.

And where can people contact you if they want to laugh some more?

Laugh all the way to Life Enhancement Services.

You can find me on the website,

Life-enhancement-services.

Com.

And.

.

.

Or find me on Facebook,

Glen Ambrose with two N's.

All right.

Talk to you guys again soon.

Take care.

This podcast is presented by New Shore Productions,

Executive producers Glen Ambrose,

Benjamin Barber,

And David DeAngelis.

Reviews

Another great one !

You see, this is why I love your podcast, because it's insightful and wise but also light-hearted and funny... 😁 And I think we can all do with more laughter, so thank you Glenn 💜x

Keep laughing 😊🌟💫

Laughter IS the best medicine!