Marriage Insight - You Need to Laugh in Your Marriage!

You Need to Laugh in Your Marriage!

It’s fun to laugh, especially together. But did you know that laughter is also important to the health of your marriage? To keep your relationship healthy, strong and growing, you just need to laugh in your marriage! That’s what research shows. And it makes sense.

Steve and I find that laughing together bonds us closer to one another. We love to laugh so we look for opportunities to share funny things with each other whenever we can. We do this even in the midst of painful situations because it’s true that laughter really is “good medicine.”

Laughter is a Gauge

We listened to a radio program recently with Dennis Prager and comedian Yakov Smirnoff, on the subject of “Love Needs Laughs.” They were saying that the impact of laughter in one’s marriage shouldn’t be underestimated. (We agree.) Dennis said:

“Laughter is liken to a Geiger counter. It detects problems in the relationship. If laughter is absent, something is missing in the marriage and attention is needed. It’s also like a gauge as to how well your marriage is doing.”

Share Laughter

Yakov Smirnoff also talks about this issue in a Prager University program (by the same title, LOVE NEEDS LAUGHS, which we recommend you view). He said:

“Listen for moments when you share laughter together. If it isn’t happening almost every day, it’s time to do something about it.”

He goes on to say:

“When there is a genuine connection between people, laughter is the first confirmation of a happy relationship. Intimacy comes next, and then people get married and live together. When things are not working laughter is the first thing to go.”

So how do you get laughter back?

“To laugh together you need to be together, and that literally means spending time together.”

Carving Out Time

You have to make the time (even carving it out sometimes) to be together so you are able to laugh together. That’s just a fact of life! So MAKE the time to laugh.

Here’s another important point to consider:

“Just telling jokes is not sustainable. You must also meet each other’s needs.” It comes down to this… “How do you create laughter? You meet more needs, and then you CAN laugh together.”

It lightens the load in many ways. THAT’S the truth!

We’re told that couples that pray together, stay together. It’s also true what marriage expert, John Gottman says, “couples who laugh together, last together.” So, dust off your smile, go find a random act of kindness you can do for your spouse, and then find a way to laugh with each other. You’ll be glad you did. It’s good for you, good for your spouse, and good for your marriage.

A Few Jokes to Share

In closing, here are a few jokes to share with your spouse (if you think they’re funny):

“My wife keeps telling me I shouldn’t pee in the bath —or if I really have to I should at least wait till she gets out.”

Here’s another:

“If it weren’t for marriage, men would go through life thinking they had no faults at all.”

And here’s one last one:

“During an attack of laryngitis I lost my voice completely for two days. To help me communicate with him, my husband devised a system of taps. One tap meant ‘Give me a kiss.’ Two taps meant ‘No.’ Three taps meant ‘Yes’—and 95 taps meant ‘Take out the garbage.'”