This morning's reading (and quote) are so short, they had me diving into the Big Book for more. My index to the Big Book did not have laughter in it so I've added it.
One of the biggest parts of recovery is being able to laugh at and be grateful for my experiences in over-eating and depression. Not with irony or self-deprecation but genuine laughter and joy at what I have learned. It is so easy to focus on what compulsive over-eating and depression have taken from my life. But there have been gifts as well. I would not have refound my spirituality as I have without them. I have made some good friends with wonderful people I likely would not have met but for OA and my search for recovery.
"Laugh and be well" is so profoundly simple an idea. When I feel well, I like to think I have one of those irrepressible souls who finds wonder and delight in the absurdity of life. My sense of awe is within reach. These are the promises of recovery coming to light. My favourite passage on laughter in the Big Book is this, from a woman who came to AA later in life, as she describes in her chapter titled A Late Start:
Those promises [of recovery] I thought were impossible are a viable force in my life. I am free to laugh all of my laugher, free to trust and be trusted, free to both give and receive help. I am free from shame and regret, free to learn and grow and work. I have left that lonely, frightening, painful express train through hell. I have accepted the gift of a safer, happier journey through life. (Big Book, p.543)Yep. This. I want this.
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