I have heard people talk about the power of laughter to heal. I came across it first in a book written by Norman Cousins some years ago called, Anatomy of an Illness. It was a story of his own debilitating illness, and how he conquered it with laughter.

It seems that he was overseas at a meeting, and felt a fever coming on. In no time at all he found himself in the hospital, his situation diagnosed as a degenerative arthritic condition. The prognosis was not good. At best, he would have life-long paralysis, and at worst, he was facing death.

His condition didn't improve in the hospital. The longer he was there, and the more medication he took, the worse he got. Finally he asked his doctor, who was also a good friend, if he could experiment with some unorthodox therapy. His doctor relucta…