Laughter: Please Stop By For a Cup of Hot Cocoa...

Last month I wrote an email to a friend that got a little too serious. It was unavoidable but not where I wanted to go. I ended it by saying that I thought I might focus on bringing more laughter and fun into my life in 2012...

I now realize that's one of those things that might be easier said than done, but I've never been one to shy away from a challenge!

In 2010, I focused on making myself more vulnerable. While that may sound nuts, it was something I really needed. I learned a lot from it. If you want you can read about the results of my experience making myself more vulnerable. Vulnerability, I Once Considered You a Curse Word.

In 2011, I focused my life on gratitude. I've blogged about that a few times, and I'm working on a book about the experience.

Now that I've decided to focus on laughter in 2012, I've realized something. Laughter can't be forced. It can be invited in. It can be discovered. It can be cherished. It can be searched for. It can be found. But it can never be forced. Well, genuine laughter can never be forced. Of course that fake crap can.

So I'm inviting laughter to visit me on a regular basis. I'm allowing myself to laugh easily. I'm giving myself permission to enjoy laughter. I'm ready to seek out people, events, and activities that encourage me to laugh. I'm opening myself to living a life that puts as much importance on laughter as on the serious stuff because I've realized just how much I enjoy laughter. And, how much I enjoy people who make me laugh.
T. L. Cooper is an author and poet whose work aims to empower and inspire through an exploration of the human condition. Her poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared online, in books, and in magazines. Her published books include a collection of short stories, Soaring Betrayal, her Silhouette Poetry Series, and a novel, All She Ever Wanted. She grew up on a farm in Tollesboro, Kentucky. She currently lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband and three cats.

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