There is a saying, "Humor is the best medicine" and I often prescribe humor as a therapist. Laughing in therapy lightens even the darkest mood and can bring the client to a place where things do not seem as bad as they are. I'm not moving the client toward denial of their difficulties, but I am trying to bring the circumstances into a proper perspective.The pains of the past will only hurt you in the present if you let them.
Pain is never pleasant, not in the original experience and neither in the retelling of the experience. The point of therapy is to open the scabs of the past and clean out the infected memories so that healthy healing can take place.
When I was a kid, Ann Landers had a weekly column called, "Ask Ann Landers." She gave advice to people who would ask her questions about personal challenges. She wrote about how common difficulties are and suggested how we should handle them,
“Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, “I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.”
Then repeat to yourself the most comforting of all words,
“This too shall pass.”
Sometimes the only thing we can do with a difficult situation is to shake it off and laugh out loud. You'd be surprised how often it's just the right medicine.
A well trained therapist knows how to sit in the darkness with the client and illuminate the positives. An excellent therapist can take the negatives of the past and turn them into the lessons of the present that lead to growth for the future.
Day 11: Laugh