WEEKLY MEDITATION
The burden of self is lightened when I laugh at myself
-Rabindranath Tagore
Today’s quotation brings up two important points. First and foremost, it mentions the ‘burden of self’, a concept at the very heart of addictive patterns. Much of life is unavoidably burdensome. If we don’t learn to address this inevitable aspect of the human experience in direct and healthy ways, we may create emotional short cuts in the form of addictions. No one gets to avoid experiencing the many discomforts that come with the human experience. But if we become dependent on avoiding them through external means, addictions are born and the proverbial burden is inevitably deepened. As this deepening occurs, so, too, do our avoidance behaviors, and in turn, our addictions. And this is where laughter can play a role. Laughter is one of the healthiest natural tonics available to us. Laughter acts as an antidote to the heaviness of life. As mortal beings, without the ability to laugh at our ourselves, we are forced into debilitating seriousness. And while we may need to take life and recovery seriously, we also need to be able to transcend this seriousness from time-to-time—and just laugh.
