Three Laughing Monks

 “Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.” ~ Veronica Roth

Once upon a time in China, there lived three old monks. No one knew their names because they never revealed them to anyone; they were simply known as the three laughing monks.

They traveled together and did nothing else but laugh. They would enter a village or town, stand in the center of its main square and start laughing. As the town’s people or passers-by watched them, they would be unable to resist and join them. Eventually, the whole village or town would be laughing and at this point, mission accomplished, the old monks would move on to the next village.

Their laughter was their only prayer and teaching as they never spoke to anybody. They were loved and respected all over China. So they traveled and laughed for many years, spreading joy and happiness throughout China.

One day, while in a village in the Northern province, one of the monks died. Shocked, people came running from far and wide to witness the reaction of the remaining two monks. To their surprise, they found the two monks laughing, harder than before!

Someone asked the two why they were not mourning and for the first time, one of them responded. “Yesterday on our way to this village, he proposed a bet on who of us would beat the other two and die first. Now he has won, the old rogue! He had even prepared a last testament.” As tradition required the dead to be washed and changed into new clothes before being put on the funeral pyre, he had explicitly asked that his old clothes be left on him. “Since I had never been filthy for one day, I never allowed any of the filth of this world to reach me through my laughter” his testament stated.

The old man was thus placed on the pyre with the garments he was wearing and the fire was lit. To everyone’s astonishment, fireworks of a hundred colors went exploding up and down and those who had gathered joined in the laughter of the two remaining monks.

Campaigns are drawing to a close and in about ten days, it will be D-day in Kenya. Kid gloves are off and it’s a do-or-die contest as the day draws nigh. Sentiments are heating up on social media and people are picking sides and drumming support for their side.

However, prices of most commodities are still high, fuel is still expensive, Ukraine is still at war, the cold is still with us, and cats are still divas! Politics at this point is only creating more anxiety in an already problem-riddled existence.

So today I am borrowing the wisdom of the three laughing monks. Life is short and its challenges are never-ending. As I pass through for a brief moment in time, I need to find a way to live and enjoy life as it is. Granted there are things I can change, and I am working on those. For those that I cannot change, laughter is the ultimate solution.

Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol and dopamine and increases the level of endorphins while boosting the immune system. It provides a physical and emotional release and provides a healthy distraction from negative emotions, free of side effects.

There is no shortage of comedians on social media: follow some. Are you a dog or cat person? Pick your side and there’ll be tons of videos on YouTube. Are babies your thing? You can find a lot of videos of hysterical laughing babies online, and they are contagious. (Beware!)

When stress weighs you down, find a reason to laugh until your ribs hurt (it’s a diaphragm workout) and cry your eyes out (internal spring cleaning). I promise once you dry your eyes and catch your breath, your problems will look like nothing unique to mankind, and you will be in an emotionally better place to be able to tackle them.

Though the laughing monks lived long ago and in China, today you can become one of them, right where you are. Because this too shall pass and when it has passed, I will look back and be glad I spent a moment in laughter.

“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.” ~ Robert Frost

“Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” ~ Lord Byron

“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” ~ Herman Melville