Laughter is imperative to recover from brain injury and all other issues that affect your health. If it were not for keeping a sense of humor one does not know how one could survive. There have and continue to be plenty of tears shed in the meantime. They aren’t just your tears, but those closest to one’s situation…that care and love one. They also suffer immensely without education or help.
Jazz Has a Sense of Humor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Most have learned to laugh with me, but they cry with me too. They probably cry because I make them absolutely miserable at times! I think we’re not crying about the same thing…at least most of the time! Yes, I wish I could change things but I’m not sure if it’s the injury that is the worse or the ignorance and the games people play with one’s life that is the horror of brain injury.
You might have already heard this one because this is now about 2 decades old, and my neuropsychologist said she was going to share this one with others! Life gets complicated with brain injury. The simplest of things you never think about can become very confusing.
Shortly after my injury I discovered I needed to label things so I would remember what I read. So I made two piles of information and I marked them “Read”. It took me a few days to realize that I did not know whether that meant that I “Read” the information or I need to “Read” the information.
It was all good though…I had plenty of time to read and I was entertained again anyway because I never remembered reading anything a first time so it was all new to me again! Entertainment was so cheap. One magazine could last forever. By time I finished reading the magazine it was time to start reading it again!
Speaking of labeling things…Read or Read? I was reading labels yesterday. I was never one to care who made what! Name brands just didn’t mean much to me. I was the conservative type. So I was wondering what new labels were: Made by Liz Claiborne, Jessica Simpson, Gloria Vanderbilt, Earth, Adidas, New Balance?
I checked my name brand label yesterday. It was worn with age and I couldn’t read it. Then I realized there was nothing to read because I was simply “Made by God”! It doesn’t get any better then that.
Related articles
- The Quest for Higher Laughter (queenoflight88.wordpress.com)
- Laugh it up! (butterflywarrior.typepad.com)
- Hope Laughs. (crittyjoy.com)
- Is Laughter the Best Medicine? (arganesh3.wordpress.com)
- Brain is Critical in Responding to Humor (socyberty.com)
braininjuryselfrehabilitation 
yeltnuh
May 30, 2012 at 11:04 am
Oh my gosh! I’ve had the same problem with the word ‘read’! I’ve resolved it, though: since my short term memory is a bit, errrr, erratic, I’ve decided that ‘read’ always means ‘might as well read it, since you likely forgot it and ooooh, look at the pretty cover!’
brain injury self rehabilitation (BISR)
May 31, 2012 at 3:57 am
I love the way you tackled this problem! I never gave that a thought…but you are right! I’ll have to remember that “might as well read it, since you likely forgot it”. Thanks for your solution.
Maria Tatham
May 30, 2012 at 12:13 pm
One of your very best laughter days, Edie! But I did want to cry too. Both!
Yes: ‘Edie, Made by God’!
brain injury self rehabilitation (BISR)
May 31, 2012 at 3:50 am
Happy to know the “laughter” is appreciated!
susan craig
May 31, 2012 at 8:59 am
Another insight we can all relate to. Thanks for writing! I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. There is a link to the “rules” page on my site http://wp.me/p1UchF-3V
brain injury self rehabilitation (BISR)
May 31, 2012 at 9:19 pm
I am humbled to receive my 2nd Versatile Blogger Award. I am still working on learning wordpress and although I’m great at typing there is so much I don’t understand and difficult to follow-thru. I’m spending my energies to helping others, writing, sticking to the basics, and reading other blogs so I can keep learning. I’ll try to figure this out, but I might need to recruit help in the future from someone. Pray for your safe move across country.