Holey Pokey Humor & Happiness

I once heard a quote not attributed to anyone in particular. It goes like this:

“Happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them with a sense of humor.”

I’ll buy that.

Well, just the other day I came across a former blog post I published at a site my dad and I created a few years ago. The event, which was my muse for that particular entry, cinched for me the connectiveness between a sense of humor and happiness.

Here's what happened:
It was morning.. My then 6 year old Kindergartener was in our master bath shower rinsing out the last remnants of too much shampoo lathered into his tiny scalp.

I stood at the bathroom mirror brushing my teeth and listened to my little guy muttering on with some imaginary game or story.

Then he stopped. Noticeably.

In a few seconds he called out to me, “Mom, do you know what makes me happy?”

With a mouth full of gooey toothpaste I called back, “No honey. Tell me. What makes you happy?”

I could hear tiny giggles bubbling up in his voice. And that’s when he said it.

“Doing the Hokey Pokey in the shower.”

You have to know that toothpaste spewed from my mouth at his response– and not because I was ready to spit and rinse. I burst with laughter - literally.
He then began to sing, “You put your left hand in. You put your left hand out. You put your left hand in and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about . “

His laughter combined with that little voice singing was more than I could stand. I couldn’t help myself. I had to join in.

That’s when he said. “Mom, here comes my favorite part…” and we – me standing in front of my bathroom sink and my 6 year old in the shower - proceeded to throw our bodies into an imaginary circle – “You put your whole self in, you put your whole self out . . .”

Yep, there is definitely a connection between a humor and happiness.