How many times have you laughed today? Any doubled-over belly giggles this week? A chuckle? Maybe a smirk? Let’s laugh again. 

I once conversed through Messenger with a friend from high school. Our chat had been intelligent and playful. As we signed off, I thanked him for making me laugh aloud through the keyboard of my cell phone.

After I thought more about our conversation, I remembered how much I love smiling and laughing until the muscles in my cheeks and belly hurt. I was also reminded how seldom that happens anymore.

If we pull back with a larger lens, we see that entire professions, families, and communities have stopped taking a generous dose of the best medicine of all: laughter. Has the whole world forgotten how to laugh? Or have we collectively decided not to enjoy life?

For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.

~Proverb 15:15

Laughter changes our perspective and is a big game-changer in the attitude department. Too often, when we try to accumulate the things that matter the most in life, we include money, power, good health, work that satisfies us in one way or another, happy relationships, and so on. Sadly, I’ve never coached a client or worked with a student whose goal was to create and enjoy more laughter. (Obviously, I have never worked with a standup comedian yet.)

But laughter is important. Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist who spent three years in various concentration camps during the Holocaust. He not only survived those horrific experiences but also wrote about his discoveries, providing lessons years beyond his own life. Here’s an unexpected survival tip from Frankl: “I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable.”

Much is going on these days in our country and our lives. Our first inclination may be to hunker down, duck our heads in the sand, and hope to survive. But how much more fun, productive, and healing could it be if we opened ourselves to laughter? Imagine how much the environment around us would change if we shared a good laugh at home, at work, and in public places.

Not only that, but laughter has always been known to offer healing benefits. We can combat high blood pressure, reduce stress, relieve worry, alleviate depression, and leave fear behind when we simply laugh.

We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the LORD has done for them.”

~Psalm 126:2

But there’s one more added benefit to laughter. We are better witnesses for God when we are filled with laughter and sing with joy. Long faces, grumpy attitudes, and icky spirits repel people from the freedom we invite them into. 

Let’s do everything we can to create more laughter around us. We know funny people, so let’s spend more time with them. Watch comedy sketches on YouTube instead of the nightly news. Giggle half the night with your best friend. Dance to the grocery store’s canned music. Become the person who always has a new joke tucked in the back pocket of their memory. Let’s laugh again. 

In the end, like Frankl, laughter may be the key to our survival.

Make a plan to incorporate more laughter into your daily schedule.

Dear Heavenly Father, keep me from taking everything in this world so seriously. May I invite and enjoy more laughter in my life as a reflection of Your joy within me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Genre: Nonfiction

Copyright 2025: Let’s Laugh Again: Cynthia Mendenhall: All Rights Reserved.