Sunday 1 April 2018

What Makes Us Really Laugh? My take…


Laughter is the best therapy. Laughter works all your facial muscles. Laughter makes you look beautiful. Oft heard statements by all of us, and from most of us. I don’t disagree at all. I feel laughter is one of the key outputs from the energy of love. As the water drops from a height to a turbine to convert mechanical energy which then gets converted into electrical energy by the generator; the feelings run through the heart which converts it into love energy, and this love energy is then converted into laughter energy by the brain. This is what our first instinctive reaction will make us feel, isn’t it? You feel good, you feel loving and loved, and you laugh. Is that really so? Or is the brain tricking you here too?

Laughter is a product of brain. The brain knows what’s good for the body, and creates those actions, those hormones that work for the benefit of rest of the body, and for the brain itself. Meditation and laughter are the two best nourishers for the brain. One cleans it, and the other flushes it with positivity. First make a blank canvass, and then paint it with vibrant colours. But what makes the brain laugh? That is the question in current consideration. And it’s not the “lovey-dovey positive energy feel” always. I have my 10 likely catalysts for the chemicals in the brain to ignite into the powerful explosion of a laughter. They are:

      1.  Me Better:  This works when a brain realises that the other brain / s is not as smart as it is, and enjoys that feeling when it creates a situation that the other brain is not able to fully comprehend immediately, or the other brain gets confused. Or it talks about a situation where the notional characters in the situation have a slower or a confused brain. This is a great source of temporary joy to the temporarily superior brain.

2      2Me Same: Here, a brain tries to be at same wavelength as the other brains in the room. And so when one brain starts laughing, the other brain quickly responds by laughing back. This strategy is often deployed in absence of another brain, which becomes the subject of laughter. Or is seen frequently in people sharing common memories too, or in strong friendly bonding sessions. Me Same brain catalyst is an infectious catalyst.

       3Me Not in That Situation: How often have you seen people laugh when somebody slips on a banana peel, or has got a very bad haircut, or disgustingly sometimes just at plain fat people. Or sometimes just when the brain realises its escaped from a difficult situation. The brain is relieved at not being in that awkward or difficult situation, and expresses this vicarious sense of happiness through laughter.

4.       4Me Making Me Attractive: This is the classical case of a brain trying to flirt with or seduce another brain, or make it itself more loving and attractive (people in love often are seen laughing sheepishly, remember?). The brain knows laughing will release the much needed chemicals to make them more attractive in those situations.

      5Me Inspired: When somebody comes with a very witty or smart observation, comment, comparison etc, then laughter is a form of flattery, a form of appreciation for the smarter brain. The brain gets inspired, gets ready to improve itself in the fight of survival for the fittest, and in that moment of inspiration it cannot hide that laughter erupting.

6        6Me Talking Stupid or Being Stupid: Not all brains have this ability. But there are many who adopt this catalyst. It helps to disarm the other person, to excite the “Me Better” catalyst in the other person, and when the other person laughs, the originator’s temporarily dumb brain excretes the “Me Same” catalyst and correspondingly starts laughing.

      7Me Complimented: This is a very sophisticated way of accepting compliments. You don’t look boastful or proud or conceited; you simply look like a good bloke having a laugh! But make no mistake, no brain does not feel all gleeful and joyous when hearing compliments, and so this catalyst “kills two birds with one stone”.

       8. Me Showing Closeness / Forgiveness: Often the best of friends play the worst of pranks on each other. And then both laugh it away. The prankster friend’s brain wants to test its closeness with the other brain, and the victimised brain wants to test its scale of forgiveness. And for both the tests, the decibel of laughter is often the best measure. Often deployed in moments of confrontation also to diffuse the situation.

9        9. Me Powerful: This is a dangerous catalyst driven by centuries of human evolution: the desire to be more powerful. So here the brains conspire, and target some innocent, and bully him and make fun of him, and feel powerful and demonstrate that sense of alpha male bonding amply visible in the cavemen perhaps when they went out for hunting. This feeling of power and control and bonding of the strong, creates a sense of security and well-being that eventually translate into laughter.

         10. Me Innocent / Seeing Innocence: This is a very beautiful and probably the purest catalyst deployed by the brain to convert into the laughter energy. When one realises that he has been very innocent, gullible, vulnerable in any situation or when he sees the same traits in another person (including a child), then the brain realises where it originated from, the purest form of energy – the Cosmic Superpower – and it cannot hide its joy remembering that.

Whatever might be the reason, the motive, the catalyst - if we can all laugh a bit more, the world will surely be a much happier place! So keep laughing, and let the brains do what it does best!


3 comments:

Unknown

Very well articulated .. Maja aa gaya !

Rituranjan

Good observation...I was trying to visualise Gabbar as MePowerful but then Kalia & his partners would be MeSame...or is there any other category when there is laughter feigned to drive out fear.

Joker aka Anadi

Don't compare. Just laugh

Say what you think...