Sunday, March 01, 2009

In All Seriousness

Reading about illness (mental and physical) at Jo's blog brought this long-ago published column to mind.

Pollyannas of the world, unite! There’s hope for optimists yet, even in a darkened world. Breaking news (albeit underground and via email), has it that what we currently suffer most from is over-seriousness, causing dis-ease. You can see it for yourself. We’re being terrorized, frightened out of our wits, threatened on all sides, subjected to prophecies of disaster and unless we do something about it, we're doomed!

Ah, but do what? Hit first? Knock some sense into our chosen enemy? Wage war? And if we don’t, what? We’re going to go under some dictator’s thumb? We had better be careful what we dread – arguing for our limitations brings them to our doorstep. With all due respect, you can’t wage war and peace at the same time. News of this new energy center has come at just the right time. It may sound silly and far too simple to be of any use, but go light a single match in a pitch-black room, then come back and read on.

What’s been discovered, according to scientists (who, until this catches on, wish to remain anonymous), is a new chakra. Chakras are energy centers located in the human body. This particular one is lodged between the heart chakra and the throat chakra and has a name directly associated with its function – the clown chakra. If your clown chakra is closed, you can expect major (and serious) problems.

It has been observed that when the clown chakra is open, every cell in the body wears a happy face; closed, every cell frowns. The condition of your own clown chakra is easily discernable on your face. Seriousness forces love out of your cells, making them say, in essence, “I lack love” (or ILL for short). The normal function of the clown chakra is to dispense joy in the form of tiny, red, heart-shaped balloons, invisible but potent.

It sounds like nonsense, and the email bearing this news was certainly light-hearted. However, there’s been enough medical research done to discover that our thoughts do indeed have a direct bearing on our physical selves and on the kinds of lives we choose to live. If I stand in reverence each morning, letting the light of the budding day wash over me, if I let awe creep into the ordinary, if I laugh out loud, my day is better for it.

Allowing myself to be happy doesn’t mean blinding myself to the world and what happens in it. But if, as our science is suggesting, every thought is a pulse of energy let loose in the world, I choose to send out tiny, red, heart-shaped balloons.

8 comments:

Patsy said...

Please keep us up to date on this. This is interesting
~Lorna

Pauline said...

Lorna - just google clown chakra and you'll find more than you can take in on the phenomenon

Yes said...

You've got something there--it's good medicine, and we've got the research to prove it!

Your other blog is very therapeutic...

Roberta S said...

pauline, (who always makes me laugh), this is a lovely post. I'm in agreement that light-hearted individuals are few and far between. It's as if kidding, and funning-around, are so out-of-vogue, that it is risky to go there. Light-hearted conversation is as likely to offend as to tickle the heart and throat into a burst of weak-at-the-knees full-blown laughter. And I'm not funning about this either.

Pauline said...

Firebird and Roberta - go forth in good cheer and laugh :)

Ruth L.~ said...

Loved this, Pauline. So well said, and so true . . . in essence anyway. haven't looked into the clown chakra, but I'll by into the concept, anyway.

I have long noticed, and my husband has commented on it, that people smile at me . . . in supermarkets, on plains, anywhere. I finally came to the conclusion that I must be wearing a smile on my own face first. My inner clown?

Barbara said...

I love the idea of a clown chakra. Next time I start taking myself too seriously I call up my clown! Seriously I think there is something to this.

Chrisy said...

..yes...a new name...and quite apt...isn't that where the thymus is...where some religious beat the top of their chest...