Humour

August 26, 2026

I’ve been told that I have a goofy sense of humour. That's probably true. I learned the importance of laughter from my parents during my childhood.

And then I married a man who often makes me laugh—over the years his sense of humour has kept me sane, especially during life's challenging times.

I am also blessed to have friends with playful natures—one regularly sends me Instagram leaping goat videos, another creates Christmas videos featuring her live chickens, and a third gives me regular belly laughs with her silliness.

I’m grateful for all the light-hearted people in my life. Especially in this difficult year of 2026 when sometimes I feel more like crying than laughing.

My parents, husband, and friends have intuitively known that laughter and humour bring many emotional and physiological benefits to us earthlings.

Scientists have found that laughter releases endorphins that can relax our bodies, reduce stress and pain, relieve our feelings of frustration and create an overall feeling of well-being, [1].

Those ridiculous-seeming laughs cause enlargement of the inner lining of our blood vessels increasing our blood flow and cleansing our bodies of the stress hormone cortisol, [2]. They also increase our respirations, strengthen our immune systems, and decrease our muscle tensions, [3].

Years ago, a group us who were planning a caregiver retreat for parents of neurodivergent children decided to bring some comedy videos to the retreat. The videos not only brought joy to the stressed-out parents, but also to us organizers as we watched them laughing with each new joke. Their laughter was contagious!

A couple of months back I realized that the stress of the world was muting my natural sense of humour. I decided that I needed to re-invigorate my ability to joke, to be light-hearted, to laugh.

I intentionally began to listen to comedy-based podcasts, television shows, and movies.

In my attempts to re-humourize my life I also found a book that showed me that humour isn’t just good for our physical, emotional and mental health but that it also has benefits for our spiritual lives. The book, [4] written by Jesuit priest and author James Martin has opened my eyes to something that I hadn’t previously known--humour and laughter are important in our relationship with the Holy.

Martin outlines some possible reasons why religious and spiritually oriented people can have a tendency to be serious and less playful, [5].

He then provides evidence that joy and playfulness have been important to many spiritual masters including Christian Saints, Jesus, Confucius, Hafiz, and the Dalai Lama.

I’m not going to provide Martin’s detailed information in this brief blog, but I’d like to offer a bit about what he and others have said about humour, joy, and laughter in relation to our spiritual lives.

Before beginning, I’d like to add a caveat—that is—laughter can be a balm to the soul, but it can also be hurtful. I don’t want to encourage a mocking type of humour in any way.

So here goes:

20th century theologians have seen the importance of laughter in one’s faith life:

Karl Barth described laughter as the closest thing to God’s grace, [6].

And Reinhold Niebuhr said, "humour is a prelude to faith, and laughter is the beginning of prayer,[7]."

In other words, laughter can be a prayer, a way to connect with the Divine. A place in which we see the presence of the Holy.

Laughter and humour can help us to accept reality, foster connections between people, build hope, give us a break from suffering, reduce fear, and encourage creativity, [8]. All of which are important in our spiritual lives.

How might one cultivate humour and laughter into one’s life as a spiritual practice? Here are some ideas that might be helpful, [9].

• Take some time to look back over your life all the way back to your childhood—remember times of laughter, humour, non-harmful pranks, and so forth. Write, draw, or speak about these. If this is too difficult you may choose to shorten the time frame to a day, or a week.

• Reflect on a time that you have been able to laugh at yourself, at your foibles, weaknesses and/or limitations.

• Consider the possibility that the Divine is playful. That you can be playful with God. Spend time imagining a playful connection between you and your Creator.

Have fun friends!

1. James Martin, S.J., Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, HarperOne, San Francisco, 2012, 107.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid, 108.

4. James Martin S.J., Between Heaven and Mirth, HarperOne, San Francisco, 2012.

5. Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth, 6.

6. Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Laughing, Spirituality & Practice: Resources for Spiritual Journeys, https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/explorations/topics/view/8/laughing, 2026.

7. Ibid.

8. Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth, 109-115, 163 and Diana Butler Bass, A Chicken Crosses a Portland Street: to show who the real chicken is, The Cottage, https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/a-chicken-crosses-a-portland-street, October 7, 2025.

9. These are my own ideas and ideas from Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth, 99, 179-200, 219.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Maureen Fowler, a beloved spiritual mentor.