PART 1: A MERRY HEART
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine,” says Proverbs 17:22. Studies show that humour and laughter help people live longer, happier lives; be more creative and productive; and have more energy with less physical discomfort.
For me, laughter has always been extremely important. Winston Churchill, a famous wit, once said, "You cannot hope to understand the most serious things in life, unless you understand the most humorous." The American Civil Rights activist Clarence Darrow wrote, "If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think."
Humour reduces stress, fear, intimidation, embarrassment, and anger. Laughter connects and embraces us. In sheer gratitude for that connection and that embrace, our mouths open, our chests fill with air, and our bodies do something utterly extraordinary: they make a noise that no other creature has or will ever make in the entire history of the universe — laughter.
Laughter has extraordinary healing powers. When a person laughs, blood pressure decreases, heart rate and respiration increase, the body releases endorphins, and depression declines. After the laughter subsides and you relax again, that good feeling has a lasting effect, even until the next day. Not many medicines will do that.
There is more good news especially for the forgetful few like me.
I am sure most of you will admit to having opened a cupboard door but then forgetting what you wanted from it, or having forgotten why you entered a room, or opened the microwave to retrieve something from the fridge. My memory for names is appalling!
Fear not, further research by Doctor Gurinder Bains shows laughter can help. As with good connections, laughter, amongst other things lowers cortisol levels. Laughter helps us remember. And we remember what we feel.
Laughter improves communication and builds relationships because everyone laughs in the same language. Here is a statement for you: those who lose the power to laugh, lose the power to think.
The relationship between humour and seriousness has long been understood. Seriousness risks narrow thinking, rigid ideology, cruelty, and a tunnel vision, whereas humour obliges us to have an open mind. It obliges empathy and forgiveness. Laughter improves communication and builds relationships because everyone laughs in the same language. Laughter helps us remember. And we remember what we feel.
And what a privilege it is to be able to make someone else laugh. So when you make someone else laugh, you're not just being funny. It's not a trivial thing. You are inducers of hope, embracers of strangers, eradicators of hopelessness, you are healers, and peacemakers and your contagious laughter catches others and confirms our connection.
PART 2: THE GOOD LIFE.
More than 80 years ago, researchers at Harvard set out to answer the following question: What makes a good life?
The Harvard Study of Adult Development began in 1938 with 724 participants—boys from disadvantaged and troubled families in Boston, and Harvard undergraduates—the research then incorporated the spouses of the original men and, more recently, more than 1,300 descendants of the initial group. The result has been a landmark study across several decades and generations of what makes humans thrive and what makes them happy.
Human beings have a natural disposition to a certain level of happiness that differs according to genetic make-up. Although something like 40 per cent of the variation in happiness can be explained by environmental factors, one finding, of the latest directors, Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, stands out.
The study’s director (Bob) and associate director (Marc), in their recent book The Good Life (see our review here). have watched as participants fall in and out of relationships, find success and failure at their jobs, become mothers and fathers. It’s the longest in-depth longitudinal study on human life ever done, and it’s brought them to a simple and profound conclusion: “Here’s what science can tell you,” say the authors. “Good relationships keep us happier, healthier and help us live longer. This is true across the lifespan and across cultures.” The trick is that those relationships must be nurtured.
Bob and Marc aren’t saying that other experiences — war, poverty, work stress — don’t matter. Far from it. But they do say that if the subjects manage to maintain strong family bonds, intimate friendships, and good work relationships, or even just one of those, they are far likelier to be happy.
It also speaks to the benefits of kinship and ancestry and a shared history of togetherness whether that be from a clan, commune, tribe or a closed group, like us judges.
PART 3 AN INVITATION?
Our purpose at JANZ is to nurture you and your family.
One of the ways we meet that purpose is by encouraging our interconnection across all judicial officers and all jurisdictions. Our series of connection and collegiality events across the country is one part of our Judge For Life programme. The events last year were both merry and memorable and we have something very special planned for our Triennial.
Mark your diaries now for Wednesday the 1st of March, ‘JANZ’ night.
Following an impressively swift AGM we have exclusively booked a local venue for you to enjoy the company of others at the Presidents Shout. Join us for cocktails and/or our Wednesday night Tables for 10 where a ‘local’ will guide you to one of their favourite eateries around the city for a memorable night. Details and a reservation form will be emailed to all judges next week.