{"id":1596,"date":"2015-03-16T22:23:39","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T22:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1596"},"modified":"2015-03-07T22:40:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-07T22:40:56","slug":"food-for-thought-participatory-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/03\/food-for-thought-participatory-humor.html","title":{"rendered":"Food for Thought: Participatory Humor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Victor Habbick\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The old saying goes, “Laughter is contagious,” and so often, we discover that’s true. Someone in a meeting starts to giggle. He or she happens to glance over at a coworker, and that person “catches” the giggle, tries to stifle it, but cannot. Soon, a current of funny starts darting about the room until, finally, someone’s giggle becomes and out and out gaffaw, and everyone has a good, long laugh.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to think of enjoy that kind of humorous moment by yourself. Of all the emotional gifts we have, I think God gave us laughter absolutely to share – to participate in humor, and to collectively enjoy the stress-freeing, joy-filled experience together.<\/p>\n

I like to share things that I find funny with others. That way, my “giggle” can ignite someone else’s, and soon we can be laughing openly, enjoying the bond of humor and humanity that is so wonderful for and to us.<\/p>\n

Today, try to find humor – and then share it! Participate in humor, and let it catch on and lift up life today and always,<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The old saying goes, “Laughter is contagious,” and so often, we discover that’s true. Someone in a meeting starts to giggle. He or she happens to glance over at a coworker, and that person “catches” the giggle, tries to stifle it, but cannot. Soon, a current of funny starts darting about the room until, finally,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,4,1047,578,1246],"tags":[1603,1599,54,1601,265,1602,57,1598,1600],"class_list":["post-1596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","category-uplifting","tag-finding-joy-in-life","tag-giggling","tag-humor","tag-humorous-moments","tag-joy","tag-joy-in-life","tag-laughter","tag-sharing-humor","tag-sharing-laughter"],"yoast_head":"\nFood for Thought: Participatory Humor - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/03\/food-for-thought-participatory-humor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food for Thought: Participatory Humor - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The old saying goes, “Laughter is contagious,” and so often, we discover that’s true. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1597,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions\/1597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}