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

—Mark Twain

It’s often easy to feel sorry for oneself—the pity thing.

Let’s face it; there’s a bit of Eeyore in all of us—the forever gloomy old, gray donkey in A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree: “I was so upset, I forgot to be happy…”

But I’ve learned, the hard way that a pity party is a lonely party of one. No candles to blow out.

So, in my battle against Alzheimer’s, prostate cancer, depression, internal bleeding, and a gradual shutdown of my mind and body, I look for silver linings and have turned to laughter—a subject well documented in Psychology Today and elsewhere and one that helps to sustain me.

I’m not the first to write about the therapies of laughter and won’t be the last. While laughter, to some extent, can be infectious, it’s also deeply personal, given we all tend to laugh at different things. It’s one thing to laugh, another to cause laughter—we're all the better for both. One must learn to laugh at oneself—self-deprecating humor!

For me, laughter has made all the difference in lifting my faith and hope while the brightest minds in the world race for a cure for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Patience is a virtue that I am chasing. Laughter has given me a side road.

There are many different forms of laughter. The recent celebrated solar eclipse put a smile on my face, made me feel small but secure in the universe that there is something far bigger than I. Made me laugh in delight—a release from distress.

“Many people feel they can’t laugh in the face of a serious thing like Alzheimer’s,” says dementia educator Lori La Bey, founder of "Alzheimer’s Speaks," a radio show about Alzheimer’s and Alzheimer’s care. “But laughter is the core ingredient of a good relationship—the moments that bind you, melt your heart, and stay with you.”

The VeryWell Mind website says, “Research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-ranging. Studies so far have shown that laughter can help relieve pain, bring greater........

© Psychology Today