“What does ‘chuckle’ mean, Teacher?” asked one student after I had presented the class with a card of synonyms for the word laugh for use in their English Narratives.
I hesitated to reply because I knew that for me, chuckling is totally a physical experience and can only be understood by and in my body.
“That one’s a body word. We can look it up in the dictionary and see what it says, but it’s a word that we feel in our bodies,” I responded.
I continued to describe how I experience chuckling as bubbles that erupt from inside me and move from one place to another, like from my heart to my throat. The bubbles then ‘chuckle’ gently inside me like an effervescence, evident to no one else except myself. Quite different to laughing, which is more a shared experience.
The students nodded sagely, added the word to their weekly list and some affirmed they too would like to experience the word chuckle.
The following morning, one student burst through the classroom door, beaming in joyful exuberance, declaring “I chuckled! Last night I thought about a sentence I could write that had chuckle in it and I remembered something that happened and I chuckled! You were right, it was inside me; it was all in my throat, all little bubbles, bubbling up in my throat. I chuckled!”
We laughed together as we confirmed that chuckle is quite different to laugh and how it is completely inside our physical body. We were both in awe of how the experience of chuckling was almost identical for each of us.
No dictionary required!
I began to contemplate what does happen when we chuckle. I had a sense of change, of energy moving from one place in my body to another, and a sense of transformation.
I had probably only chuckled a dozen or so times in my life, and chuckling was for me almost a sacred act, one which could occur within a precisely timed context of inner transformation. Inner mirth is not at a premium in our world – we tend to laugh outwardly most of the time. This being so, I knew I would need to wait until the next opportunity to chuckle presented itself, and I would then observe very closely what occurred in my body.
My time came several months later as I was reading ‘The Word Love’, an article by Jonathan Cooke on the website Words On Serge Benhayon.
Jonathan’s descriptions of his childhood and pubescent experiences associated with ‘love’ were so remarkably similar to my own that I began to feel a gentle, warm glow of recognition in my heart.
Fondly reading about mutual experiences of youthful folly from my current position of maturity, and feeling this wise, urbane acceptance of similar experiences also, I felt the little bubbles of chuckling start to effervesce in my solar plexus. The bubbles rose delightfully to my heart, where they lingered in the warmth momentarily, before rising to my throat. There I felt an, oh-so-subtle vibration, a smile gracefully curved my mouth, my eyes started to shine… and I chuckled very, very gently.
My heart seemed to open expansively as I felt the energy associated with those youthful follies and misunderstandings being transmuted in my body through a completely natural transformation by mirth* and joy.
Shortly afterwards I walked on the beach, feeling light headed, open hearted and in love with everyone I met.
Chuckle is one word that refuses to be pinned down by dictionary definitions and meanings and has to be lived and experienced in order to be understood in all its divine joy and glory.
It feels to me that we could all benefit from chuckling and what I have affectionately referred to as the gentle transformation of mirth*, and how lovely this feels in our body.
Inspired lightly by the word, and the act of, chuckling and by my joyful body, which aligns naturally to all that is True Joy. In appreciation of the teaching of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine who present that the body is the marker of all truth.
By CBH
* ”Mirth: merriment or laughter” [Oxford Pocket Dictionary, 1984,p. 468]
Further reading:
Playing With Life And Waking Up With Me!
Joy
The Illusion of Happiness, Finding the Joy Within
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Thinking about having a chuckle brings a smile to my face, and a warmth to my heart.
What a super cool way to connect to the meaning of a word, especially a word that offers so much to us as people to experience. Chuckle is a word that needs to be used and felt more!
I always think of chooks when it comes to chuckling and I know it clucking they do before they crow but I guess essentially I see the chuckle to the laugh in the same way, a prelude of what’s to come maybe. It’s amazing what we can get from just one word as this article demonstrates and how when we relate it to ourselves and what we truly experience we then bring in the true meaning. The way this was introduced into the classroom by the author was priceless and it showed in the enthusiasm that it was bought back into the classroom with.
Thank you, it seems that true definitions are in our body!
I love how you described the word chuckle to your class, and how one pupil came in the next morning sharing their experience of having a chuckle – i look forward to my next chuckle.
How much greater would our communication and expression be if we were to use our body to define the meaning of words instead of our heads.
It’s true that some words are best felt in the body to know what they truly mean and can’t be fully described with more words. I enjoyed reading your description of a chuckle CBH. Someone else above described it as a tickle from God – I love that.
Chuckling is a delight – and the more the merrier. I also love the point where it is one definition that can’t be pined down by the intellect. It’s got great company even though there are words we try and force in to a box so the understanding is feed to our heads and not felt in our bodies.
There is no doubt that a chuckle is different to a laugh! Your description CBH is a great one. I feel a chuckle is something I do usually when I am on my own thinking of an occasion where something tickled my imagination!
A deep joy is to read this, what an amazing sharing of truth, love and joy – reminding us in words and palpable feelings from your words and experience used, how absolute sacred and truly fun to chuckle and let it out! We so appreciate it.
More of this please CBH. It is so very healing to have words come back to the living experience they are, to have us come back to feel ourselves fully and allow for expression in every part of our body.
It’s true – there is a great alchemy at play within a chuckle. Ask any baby, for not only do we come into this world mastered in expressing the joy and love of our divine origins, we also come with an inability to hold it back.
CBH you bring a joy and lightness in this blog and a beautiful reminder to not hold back on chuckling in anyway – what a blessing to have you as a teacher.
I have to say it, this lovely exploration here brings a smile to my face…
Can we have enough ‘mirth’ and merriment in this world? No way 😉
In my experience,there is a beautiful sense of resonance and vibration that spreads throughout the body from a true deep chuckle which leaves my body feeling warm, open and expanded.
It is quite amusing CBH how you shared that the actual word ‘Chuckle is one word that refuses to be pinned down by dictionary definitions and meanings and has to be lived and experienced in order to be understood in all its divine joy and glory’. More chuckling for all I say.
I love the word chuckle and chuckling and I love feeling it in my body. I was just feeling how babies chuckle – it’s a mirthful, full-bodied experience and sound when they do which makes even the hardest shell of protection melt away. Hmmmm…I don’t ever recall hearing a baby laugh…….interesting….!
Our bodies know and love joy… it is our natural state… and Universal Medicine gives us the sat-nav to take us home.
CBH – thank you – your biog describes the word chuckle so well that it is easy to imagine. And I completely agree when you say: “Chuckle is one word that refuses to be pinned down by dictionary definitions and meanings and has to be lived and experienced in order to be understood in all its divine joy and glory.”
I love how your student connected to the word chuckle and shared that with you the next day – this alone brings so much joy that the inner percolation is ready to take off for another chuckle as soon as possible, in fact I can see it is a health concern to not know how to chuckle and to not chuckle frequently enough!
I wonder how many other teachers would describe a chuckle to their class as something to be experienced from the body. I love this.
ha ha… what is it about the word “chuckle” that makes me chuckle? Just reading the word and a smile and little glow appears 🙂
Thank you CBH, I find when I chuckle it is definitely from the inside out, It is the openness and honesty that comes with it, and the childhood innocence I get too,
This is so gorgeous to re-read CBH. Being playful and light-hearted – laughing, chuckling, smiling all elevate or confirm our mood and we feel an inner joy.
This is so gorgeous …. I am going to look out for when I next chuckle to and see if my experience is the same as yours : ) Also you sound like the most AWESOME teacher 💖 the kids must adore having you as their teacher they get to learn and feel what chuckling is 😆
it certainly is a lovely feeling when our body is able to vibrate with that inner resonance of joy
How delightful, yes a chuckle does affect the whole body and in my opinion there should be a whole lot more of it going on!!
I know I have read your blog before, again I had an inner smile from the start. How awesome you teach children how to feel a word with their body, a uniting experience of light heartedness.
It is fun to think of the different ways I laugh – it could be a loud cackle, a one off celebration of Ha!, a giggle, a groan (normal response for bad puns), a thin, polite smile, a fit of hysterics (haven’t had one of those for a while), a snigger, and of course the chuckle. Different things make me laugh: I like clever jokes, I like silly cracker jokes, I love puns, I love people who make me laugh, a good, clean comedian, and watching toddlers pottering about makes me smile, especially when I can feel their joy as they explore their bodies and what they can do. Making light of difficult situations helps, so I always appreciate a good sense of humour.
To let out that inner joy that lives within is so freeing as it comes with grace and understanding of how we are in life and in that it is showing us the true essence of who we are.
What a beautiful blog so light and playful and comes form a very relatable knowing inside ones body. Chuckling definitely the best medicine to experience and treasure.
I so love this – that our body experiences first and the word comes after to capture it. When we try to understand from purely mental and intellectual point of view, it creates an opening for misinterpretation, and then bastardisation.
When you hear true joy in someone’s laugh or chuckle I just absolutely love it, if they could bottle it, it would be the best medicine ever.
Funny just reading the word chuckle brought a growing inner smile to my face 🙂
Nothing is better than to feel the truth of words and live them.. I have started recently to discover within my own life how much in truth I had not lived.. but walked on moving clouds so to speak. It is since I am connecting and feeling my body so on that I realize that I can live so much much more from my body and so can I feel so so much words. And when I speak words I can then feel them, instead of just naming them. How important to discover our own truth, universal wisdom, until we realize we are One.
I never considered until now how a chuckle is a body experience. very cool. Its also got me wondering about so many of our other words and phrases that come from our body.
It is lovely to connect to the well of joy within us, and then to feel the resonance of the LWL ( love-within-laughter) that naturally comes.
The appreciation of such things is that which makes life a joy to live
The gurgles and giggles that erupt from our bodies as we chuckle lightens our step, our body and the moment we are experiencing expedientially.
I had a smile on my face as I read your blog..thank you and I thought about times that I had chuckled and how much I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the simplicity in which offered your students to feel for themselves what a chuckle was for them….and from that they shared their experience. We have so much knowledge and wisdom in our bodies about life (at any age) but often we don’t reference that (or connect to it) and rely on dictionaries etc….but we are a walking dictionary with our own take on life.
“The body is the marker of all truth” what a wonderful statement that is and one that seems to get lost in our need for definitions and evidence before we believe anything we read, see or hear. yet when we feel it is absolute, there is nothing that can deny a feeling and it is something that it makes perfect sense to build our choices around.
Thank you for this beautiful sharing. I love the word “chuckle”. Just reading the word makes we want to do exactly that!
This is a totally awesome blog CBH that has brought to my attention the divine power of the chuckle – I am going to observe my day today and see if I can appreciate a few chuckles here and there and see what unfolds from them….
Even before reading your blog again CBH your title itself brings a smile to my face,I loved how you described what was happening in your body when you chuckled, I will take note next time a chuckle bubbles up and be more aware of the joy that is in my body with its expression.
I knew the word chuckle and love how you described it but mirth was a new one for me. Thanks for sharing the story, I could just picture the student coming into class all excited that they had experienced a chuckle in their body.
I love how you explained this to your students about this delightful word ‘chuckle’ which I had forgotten was even a word. That it is a body experience and different to a laugh, I loved this explanation. It truly is a body experience. Loved this blog, very joyful.
I had never really considered the intricacies of what a chuckle really is before this blog … I so love the description, and its made me feel joyful simply from reading this tale.
I like chuckling, it is indeed a body experience, and I feel like you have described it so well. Its amazing to reflect on the lightness this brings to our being, for we are only a few breaths away from being surrendered and joyful- always
Thank you – a very pleasant story to read. I feel a lightness in my face after reading that.
When understanding comes with the lightness of joy, energy can be transmuted and what remains is that lightness and joy which is there within our bodies but radiates out of us for all to see and experience.
I just got something else too – when we outwardly laugh, the world can join in with us and it is for everyone. The experience of a chuckle may feel private and internal, but everyone still receives the blessing of Joy, such was the experience in this blog, walking along the beach being in love with all. We can’t help it, when Joy is felt the confirmation is in all we see. So, in my understanding, nothing is ever for us as we are constantly communicating the relationship, movements and choices we have with ourselves.
When I first read this blog I didn’t get it – I couldn’t grasp the understanding of chuckling or the experience of it. Now I get it, not because I’ve experience it but because I am more open to my body and knowing the wonder and magic it is capable of. I look forward to a chuckle with myself 😉
A great reminder of a joy that can be present each day if we choose to live in a way that supports this.
What a beautiful opportunity for these children to learn to connect with their bodies in a classroom setting.
What I enjoy reading this blog is how you approached this as a body experience, and not from a head definition and how different that is, and when we share this, somehow another gets it. I’m not sure I’ve even chuckled in the way you describe it, I’ve felt an inner delight, a private sense of just enjoying being with me for no reason and a deep satisfaction as I get so, as another has commented above, I feel that we do not celebrate or affirm this often enough, and how much that could support us being in the world to know and understand we have this inner solidness in us which stays with us no matter what.
Life does not need to so serious! Mirth is indeed very transformative, and it helps to elevate not just ourselves, but the joy and light in everyone around us. Once we are in the joy we confirm the truth inside of ourselves and can rise above the distortions and issues of life.
I don’t think I have chuckled much reading this definition. This is a little sad.
I love how you describe a chuckle versus a laughter, one is like a deep contentment in oneself the other a sharing of this felt beauty.
We don’t often discuss our own inner mirth and this blog got me thinking that there’s a real lack of appreciation for those moments of deep, precious, private mirth – never at another’s expense and always a recognition of something we deeply know. It’s like chuckling is a spontaneous inner eruption that confirms ourselves with something joyful in the world. That’s something to be celebrated surely?
I find it super power-full and super gorgeous how we can be united as one by a common point of lived experiences that define the words we say.
There is a lightness in living from our inner hearts that transforms everything
I just love reading this blog again CBH, it is so joyful, I will pay more attention next time I feel a chuckle coming on, a chuckle, is what one gives to one’s self.
I love the lightness of the energy in which this blog is written. It reminds me that things do not have to be heavy and serious and that a message can be conveyed with great lightness and joy.
Thank you CBH, beautifully shared I love how you have expressed so exquisitely from your body, something that still alludes me at present to that extent. In saying that I love the feeling of joy and love coupled with allowance that we all feel when we chuckle.
It Is always lovely to balance the sacred, the serious and the joy, this is what’s natural otherwise everything just slows down and starts to get bogged down
Isn’t it a miracle what the body does for us? It teaches us poetry and helps us remember all arts of the Universe.
Beautifully said CBH, reading this blog made me smile and reminded me of the joy felt when we allow ourselves to let go and chuckle. Thank you I am now feeling inspired to find moments when I chuckle and enjoy how gorgeous this feels in my body.
There is much to enjoy about this blog CBH. I really enjoyed reading about your awareness of your body and how you can track exactly what is going on within your body as you chuckle. Not that long along I had very little body awareness and would have had no idea what you were talking about here. As I get to know my body more and what is happening within it, I can appreciate its divine order and have come to know the truth of what Serge Benhayon presents about the body being “the marker of all truth”. The body knows exactly what is happening and tells us very precisely how we are living. What a gift.
Chuckle is a ‘Tickle’ from God – just happens and is full of the absolute Joy-full ‘All’ that is possible, written as I enjoy a little chuckle in my body – Thank you CBH.
I agree chuckle and tickle from God fit so well together. We say too that something tickled me pink as though it made me feel warm and aglow from inside. Love the way language captures these feelings.
I love this comment about a chuckle being a tickle from God. It’s such a beautiful way of feeling it as even though it’s a more private moment of joy it is inclusive and expansive too. In contrast to laughing which can feel very exclusive sometimes – especially when someone or a group of people are being laugh at by others.
Two words for my weekly dictionary-chuckle and mirth – and one experience to make-to chuckle.
To chuckle is delightful CBH. I totally agree with you, it is a body experience! Everyone should be aware of how good it feels and what it expresses, delight.
Oh my goodness. I love to chuckle. Thank you CBH for this gorgeous blog and for being such an inspirational teacher 🙂 🙂
In dictionaries we learn the meaning of words. In life, we experience them. The lived experience with them is always amazing if we are able to relate to what happens in your body. As this happens we learn what is really true about that word.
I agree. I have never read the words ‘false’ and ‘chuckle’ or similar, like artificial chuckle together. A beautiful word and expression.
I just love the word chuckle it has a quality of warmth and timelessness, and totally agree that chuckling is sacred, a moment of oneness – total connection to that which arises the chuckle itself and yet entirely at one with your own experience of it!
I had a lovely experience as I read, “My heart seemed to open expansively as I felt the energy associated with those youthful follies and misunderstandings being transmuted in my body through a completely natural transformation by mirth* and joy.” This is exactly what happened for me as I read this and then recalled my youth. Instead of looking back with judgment, I felt instead great tenderness for the younger me and a glow in my heart. A glow I can feel is always there if I only connect with it – a beautiful realisation.
Dear CBH that was very interesting for me to read your amazing blog. As I am german I had no idea about the english word chuckle and I had to looked it up in the dictionary. To make it short I love to chuckle too and I would like to offer you one of the german translation for it – chuckle means glucksen!
An interesting and reflective exploration CBH… Alerting us to the fact that true wisdom is known not in the lineal mind and its understandings, but from our own lived knowing and experience in the body.
Dare I say, it’s a ‘cracker’! (chuckle..)
What a great teacher you are CBH and what a wonderful lesson for the student, in watching and feeling a chuckle grow in his body. Who knows what this interaction with you, his teacher, may have opened up within him.
Thank you CBH for bringing me a greater awareness and appreciation of the connection between words and the body – rather than going to my head to find a word to express something I wish to communicate I intend now go to my body to feel for the appropriate word.
They say that heaven is in the detail and it’s true. It is found in seemingly small things like words, mannerisms or a subtle movement. And a chuckle is the same as it can capture a moment of wonderful joy, feeling so delightful and warm about the smallest detail that reminds us of the huge love we are inside.
Beautiful Dean. Heaven sure is in the detail. The seemingly small things are in fact the moments that form our deepest pleasure in life. Lovely packages of joy.
Since reading this blog, I actually notice how much I chuckle!!! Go figure, I do it heaps and it is like a mini virus, others can join in without really knowing why…which makes me chuckle some more 🙂
That is totally excellent Lucy Dahill. I chuckle quite a lot too – and others often catch on…
We definitely need more chuckling in this world 🙂
I very much enjoyed your blog and the way you write CBH. While I read about the boy sharing he had chuckled I felt a chuckle of my own gently exploding into my body. Like never before I experienced every detail of it. Such a wonderful warm and joyful feeling.
There is a standout moment in this blog, when CBH responds to the child’s question about chuckling with “that one’s a body word.” This shows that CBH has a living connection with her body and from there she has been able to introduce an incredible perspective to our human language.
Thank you, Elizabeth. I agree that this feels like an ancient awareness, something we all naturally do in our pure state of awareness as we engage with each other, even pre physically. To confirm that this is part of how we can be physically is a cause for joy and celebration. To be able to exchange anxiety and stress for merriment and joy…..yes – that’s my way forward.
I came back to this blog today because the energy you express when talking about chuckling makes me feel the joy in chuckling!
This blog is beautiful, all I want to do is have a chuckle and let my body be free to explore and express this. The body is the marker of all truth and why not allow it to have a joyful massage with a chuckle?
I love this Natalie ‘A Joyful Massage’ 🙂
Our bodies don’t lie: a false smile has no light in the eyes and a false laugh can be sinister. Whereas a true smile ignites the whole body and a chuckle is a heartfelt warm sharing of fun.
The more I listen to my body the more I learn about the truth of words and that any deception is paper thin and in my head.
There really is just so much to feel, and observe, and enjoy in our bodies on such a grand – and yet completely personal scale. We pay no where near enough time to understanding ourselves in this way!
Very beautiful blog.. Thanks!
I love a chuckle and love how you have taken this further/deeper within. Very joyful blog
CBH- I too loved your description of chuckling- what amazing science you have brought to your students- one of true joy!
So beautiful to hear and connect to the energy of.
I love how you define the difference of a chuckle that is inside and felt by ourselves and how laughter is a shared experience. I get the feeling that because you have written this blog from the feeling in your body, that is why everyone connects to it and it feels so familiar for everyone, where as if you had written it from your head and tried to define it like a dictionary or to get the ‘right’ answer, it would not have felt the same when reading it compared to a lived experience. It really highlights how our bodies intelligence is quite different to that of the head, more practical, real and relatable to people, which is very interesting – more lessons from the body please… they are way more powerful.
I feel that when a chuckle vibrates through my body is can have a short duration or a longer ripple effect with little chuckles that follow. Either way it leaves a lightness and an expansion in my body with a feeling of joy for a long time afterwards. If this chuckle includes another sharing that beautiful moment with eye contact the warmth and inner unconditional love shared is heart warming of another degree. An awesome sharing CBH and a joy to read.
I again experienced the absolute joy and freedom of a good chuckle the other night. It was after a deep sharing with another, we stood opposite looking into each others eyes and were then drawn to embrace and there it was that amazing feeling, a chuckle I could not but express. It was so naturally playful. The beauty was that in that moment my friend too began to chuckle and the depth of our joy and connection expanded greatly also touching others and lighting up the room. If ‘laughter is the best medicine’ a chuckle holds a myriad of healing properties.
Love it … a blog on chuckling that can’t help but bring a chuckle to our bodies as we read it.
I know.. LOL, a whole blog on the humble chuckle!
“…chuckling as bubbles that erupt from inside me and move from one place to another…” I love this description CBH. I can connect to the light and joyful feeling of a chuckle and whole heartedly look forward to my next chuckle.
I had a chuckle when I was at the cinema tonight – it felt delicious all the way through my body.
The other day I had a little chuckle to myself and then I recalled this blog and really enjoyed the chuckle I was experiencing it was a lovely confirmation of appreciating the difference between a chuckle, a giggle and a laugh.
I love when words are described the way they are experienced in the body and not just defined by the mind.
Agree Esther. If we were all taught from young to feel from the body first the world would be a very different place.
Well said Esther Andras. Words have been so bastardised and we have been robbed of an amazing and powerful experience of living from the true quality of words.
This blog on chuckling really highlights the difference in actually feeling words and brings up a deep smile even as I type the word.
Irena and Carmel I agree, to have an awareness around how ‘humor’ is used is great to have. The word itself is perhaps used very loosely and as you offer Carmel it can be dressed as humor but the message is sarcasm which if we aren’t aware hurts. It’s tricky because if the deliverer doesn’t have any awareness of what they are actually doing and you raise the topic the following reply is ‘you’re too sensitive and don’t have a sense of humor’. Sensitivity is good it’s just a reading on what the true meaning is. True humor is amazing and brings joy, laughs and chuckling and connection, supports all equally and never ever leaves anyone feeling anything else.
I find Oliver, that often a standard word will not bring understanding to an emotion and the only way to be able to capture the feeling in our body of the emotion is through describing it in how it moves in our body. Some words hold the feeling within them like ‘chuckle’ denoting joy, while other words are empty of the feeling in the body such as the word ‘angry’ and requires more words for us to understand what is being felt.
Love this CBH and totally get what you’re sharing here.
‘Chuckle’ is a word I am quite familiar with and have used it often when expressing in written form to others to share my experience of something which has left a playful sense of joy in my body. Sometimes it is the only word that I know that I can use to portray to another the dance of joy in my being. ‘Laugh’ ‘LOL’, ‘giggle’, ‘haha’ or a smiley face just won’t cut it. Chuckle happens when something connects me with my joy and it dances in my body. It feels like a merry little man dancing a jig in my body. He is… ‘chuckling’.
I love your merry little man dancing a jig in your body, Elizabeth. So true – chuckling is quite unlike any other movement or word we have to express mirth – it goes to the essence and the joy of mirth and of being in a physical body 🙂
My dad recently died and in his last few days of consciousness he did a lot of chuckling. I had not seen him smile nor laugh much in my life so it was a great gift for me to see him going about his last days chuckling about how amazing he felt and how astounded he was at how much support he found all around him after a life time of suffering and isolation. He was really chuckling from deep inside, there was such Joy in it, like his whole self was laughing to himself as he felt a part of everything; he said it was in amazement of all the healing he had done over the past 2 years with the support of Universal Medicine and how, after all his hellish struggling, everything was just falling into place for him with such synchronization it had to be Divine.
This is so beautiful Jo Billings what you share here about your dads passing and how he allowed himself to have a true appreciation for himself and everything and being able to enjoy those truly joyful moments from a whole body experience with you. This sharing is priceless.
Wow: what an amazing way to pass over, Jo, in the joy of chuckling; I have never heard of anything like that previously. Your Dad must have been so deeply connected with himself and within his body, rather than rushing to get out of here or resisting letting go….he was not only experiencing, but also expressing joy unreservedly as his preparation to pass over. That is truly remarkable, Jo. You honour us with this sharing and the huge expansion of what chuckling truly represents for all of us.
Thank you, Jo, for sharing this. How beautiful to hear of such amazing surrender and acceptance leading towards dying…an inspiration for life.
The use of humour in our everyday language can be a complex issue – we can drop a comment that carries an undertone of sarcasm or put down that is hurtful. Friends often insult each other in banter, but it never feels very nice. A comedian constructing puns and jokes with the deliberate intention of making us laugh can be working with a slight sense of desperation and ‘please love me’ that can be draining. True laughter that naturally bubbles up with joy or a deep chuckle is very simple and has a whole different energy and feel.
So true, Stefanie, that there are so very many ( multitudes!) of energies that enter our bodies moment by moment. How lovely to connect with, and confirm, those that bring us joy. That is definitely a science worth the study!
English is a very strange language indeed and chuckle is an equally strange word. funny how we can take a word and repeat it a few times and it sounds even stranger! Chuckle is one of those words that, as you have said, is best experienced in the body and when it happens it is like an eruption of joyful bubbles in the body! Beautiful how you were able to share this with the kids at school!
I agree Henrietta, I love words like chuckle – ones that are almost alive because of the fact that to be understood you need to experience it.
One has only to see a baby chuckle to experience the joy of a whole body inner tickle.
Yes Catherine to watch a baby chuckle brings such a warm fizzy exuberance to your whole body. A chuckle is definitely a body word felt from within our joyous souls.
The joy, the cuteness and beauty which arises from a persons chuckle is very warming to the heart.
Gorgeous Catherine, watching a baby chuckle is one of the loveliest things.
Its true CBH, a chuckle is transformational. I was chuckling through your blog and I felt the bubbles spread everywhere, ever the far reaches of my legs and crown. I am left feeling lighter, more vibrant and more open-hearted. Thanks for teaching me the energetic qualities of the chuckle CBH.
Oh yeah catherine bower. To see a baby chuckling is a delightful experience and also very clear proof of the infectious transformational power of the chuckle for other people outside of the chuckling body. I love that a good chuckle spreads itself around.
The sound of a chuckle coming from a baby or an elderly person feels the same as its like a moment that stops in time and everyone gets to feel the absolute joy radiate with this loving action.
True, from head to toe, every single cell sings and dances with joy from the inside out.
What a lovely way for your students to consider how they feel in their bodies.
How lucky are the children in your class that supports them to feel words rather than just know them by their dictionary definition!
I agree Rosie, it would be beautiful to receive this much love and support in a classroom, its awesome to hear that there are teachers this dedicated to joy and expression working in the current Education System.
Thank you CBH,& jy36, I agree, all educational experiences could have realm of enjoyment through a glorious chuckle!
I was just considering the fact that different languages can sometimes separate us but when the language of love is felt there are no barriers, it expresses more than words can often convey.
CBH I love your description of what chuckle does to your body. It feels tender, warm, playful, unstoppable, rising to the surface and illuminates the world around you.
Chuckling is a wondrous thing we all experience as babies and are blessed to feel the bubble erupt when we are adults. Its infections and fun and you don’t know when they are going to make a surprise visit. Thanks for the article it brought a smile to my face.
I hadn’t really taken time to consider the word chuckle before in what it really means, and maybe this is because it is such a physical experience rather than a mental one. As soon as you were describing what is happening CBH, I was with you in my body rather than my mind. This is a delightful experience, to be released from having to think and work things out. It also shows the beauty of words and feeling of their energy. Chuckle certainly has bubbles in it!
That is a great point Joan – chuckling is very physical so I too have not truly considered it before. Yes simply feeling how the body changes through an action such as chuckling, is very freeing as it does not need to be over thought. It’s lovely to consider this for all the many ways we express through our body when we naturally honour it.
What an interesting blog CBH. I do enjoy having a chuckle with myself, although I have never noticed what happens in my body. Your detailed description of it sounds delightful! And quite a self healing moment. I would like to be a student in your class.
Oh wow CBH your blog surprised me. Your description of chuckling was an absolute delight to read. Thank you for sharing.
I experienced a chuckle when I read this – Thank you…”Chuckle is one word that refuses to be pinned down by dictionary definitions and meanings and has to be lived and experienced in order to be understood in all its divine joy and glory.” What also came to me is how often we take for ‘truth’ what is written in the dictionary concerning the meaning of a word even when it doesn’t feel right. There are many I could relate, but here are a few, gravitas, serious, ernest, religion, love, corruption…I have looked up the meaning in the dictionary and have felt, hang on they don’t feel like that. Reading this article is wonderfully supportive and inspirational concerning the beautiful activity of feeling for / discerning for yourself.
I have not ever read anything so delightful about chuckling. And it makes me wonder – If writing can be written this way, why is there not more for us to read that is so full of joy.
That is an awesome question to pose, Shami: why is there not more joy in our expression of words? I guess, firstly, we need to live more joy….and, perhaps, then we need to claim the true (energetic and bodily) meanings of words …like the writer says here.
This is so gorgeous and how lucky those children are to have you as their teacher – in fact we are all lucky to have you as our teacher to bring awareness in this way and connect the word to our bodily experience. There is almost onomatopoeic quality to the word chuckle – onomatopoeia being one of my favourite words!
Me too Aimee. Bring on my next chuckle moment so I can feel it for myself!
What you present here CBH about feeling words from our bodies is key and a magical way to teach, absolutely confirmed by your student returning with her own findings from her experience of the word chuckle. We really have to feel it for ourselves to know it. Knowledge is just something to recollect without the livingness of it but true intelligence comes from the body’s amazing wisdom.
“Grinniken”, I like that, you can almost feel that one too, thank you Floris.
I love the way you are with words CBH. I have always loved to play with words and make word jokes but since meeting Serge Benayon and gaining a much deeper understudying of how language originated and the power and energy in words this has gone to a whole new level. It is lovely to stop and feel what a word means, how it feels in the body instead of simply using it, as is common. My use of language has become much more aware and deliberate for it.
“… the body is the marker of all truth.” It never ceases to amaze me the wisdom that comes from our body if we so choose to listen to it. I am learning to listen to my body, how it is feeling and the signs my body communicates with me more and more. For example, I have always had a re-occurring ache on the right side of my neck. Recently for a couple of days sure enough the ache was there and I had clocked it. I observed myself and during a few conversations one afternoon I expressed what I felt to say. The ache disappeared and I was left in the amazement of what had happened.
I’ve never considered chuckling and laughter to be two different things but after reading this blog earlier today I wanted to go away and ponder on it before I wrote something. Later in the day I giggled and something and felt this was similar to a chuckle, and felt like a delight in my body, like I was being cheeky with myself.
It would be so lovely if we had of had these discussions when we were children in primary school, unfolding and discovering for ourselves all of the lovely, joyful and appreciative ways to express, that we can continue to confirm and share. I feel many people shut these expressions down, because they are not so accepted and appreciated in society.
Chuckling feels such an expression of joy to me. I remember chuckling often when I was a young girl -this was so natural for me. I stopped doing this after being told many times to ‘be quiet’. Since studying with Universal Medicine I have begun to re-discover my natural joy and to allow myself to express my joy -here’s to the next chuckle!
Inspired. This morning’s early activity at school is going to be synonyms for ‘laugh’…let’s see if we get a chuckle! Thank you.
I really enjoyed reading how a body experience was related to students and they
“sagely” understood, and it seemed as if there was a moment of pondering or sitting with the feeling of chuckling and this opened up the space for exploring it. A great example of true teaching and education.
Lots to chuckle about here CBH (does that stand for Chuckles Become Heart-full)? Thank you for the lovely reminder to keep observing my body…particularly those effervescent bubbles.
Chuckles Become Heart-full…love it, Mr Harvey! I’m sure CBH would assume that title quite readily……;)
I have been very much enjoying the deepening relationship with words ever since I heard Serge Benhayon speak about the energy in words, and starting to observe how this relationship feels in my body. I loved your exploration and explanation of such a delightful word as ‘chuckle’. And I also love how you were so observant, playful and precise in sharing the movement of energy that you felt within your body.
Yes I agree Golnaz and there is a great little audio here – http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/truth-in-words/energy-in-words.html where Serge Benhayon presents how you live comes first and then words are there to complement that together with a short article (written by the Unimedpedia team) about energy in words. Here is a para from that article: “Before the word came about, there was an original energetic impulse, that is, an energetic activity or experience which was deeply felt and registered itself in the body where it left an impress. This impress was then ‘translated’ into a sound and/or a visual symbol and finally into a word. The sound, the visual symbol and the word all convey the energy of the original impulse.”
It is a great audio thanks Nicola, just listened to it. I love how you keep appearing with these links, always relevant and interesting, and true of course.
Your students are blessed to have a teacher like you CBH. The way you described this situation is true education for these children.
So true Joost – it is a very playful reminder! Unimedpedia also offers true descriptions of words – that come from the body – while also debasing how they have been erroneously used in modern times. See: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index
So true Carolien. I was so inspired by the way CBH taught this word – not through dictionary meanings or google searches, but from sharing how it felt in the body. It does revolutionise how we have been using language in recent times, and yes, offers a way of communicating that uses the power of intelligence we hold in our bodies.
I love that Simone the power of intelligence we hold in the body. This is so natural to children and important to keep this alive in them.
And from what CBH has presented here, it is possible to keep this intelligence from our bodies alive in children – so much comes back to how we educate them. From what I have learnt in recent years with Universal Medicine, it is also possible to reconnect with this intelligence too, as I have done as an adult.
Absolutely Simone, we can always return to this connection by choice. Body awareness is key here.
I am wondering what if most words required them to be experienced and lived in our bodies the way you have described the word “chuckle” here? What if we actually had to embody and live the truth of each word to fully understand and appreciate it? There are some great articles about the truth in words on the site below which discuss this: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/truth-in-words
CBH, it was such a joy to read this blog. I had a smile on my face the whole time. I also love how you truly shared the meaning of the word chuckle with your students – it is something felt in the body, not something we can learn through intellect.
So true Rosanna and what a beautiful way to be taught a language, by feeling the meaning of a word in our bodies long before we might even know how to spell it. I have some favourite words that are not based on what they mean but how they feel when I say them. So delicious to have this body based relationship with our language, which after all arises from our body’s ability to produce a huge variety and quality of sound that ends up conveying our thoughts, feelings, desires and moods.
Your blog opens some deeper thoughts and ponderings on the affects of chuckling as opposed to laughter, has on the physical body. Laughter has a very healing affect on the body and I believe it actually changes the chemical balance.
I wonder if chuckling have a different affect on the chemical balance in ones body?
Gorgeous blog CBH, a real joy to read and behold, thank you for bringing light and awareness to ‘chuckling’, it is something I have never felt into how its experienced in my body.
Yes wouldn’t it be wonderful to have lessons that where experiences like this de-light-full sharing of CBH. Having said that I realized this is exactly the school that is presented by Serge Benhayon…. experience everything in our bodies first and decide for ourselves what something truly means for us. No dictionaries or experts required to tell us what it is.
I once heard a great definition of ‘expert’: x is an unknown quantity, (s)pert is a drip under pressure. (I wonder if that definition is in the dictionary?)
I agree jy36. I would love to have had a teacher like CBH when I was young. I can feel the equality and shared experience and exploring that they offer their students. What a wonderful experiment for a student to discover chuckling.
So true Anna. An inner giggle or chuckle is a celebration of a joyful experience, it warms the entire body and leaves you feeling light and this radiates. You can feel when someone has had a chuckle. It is lovely to explore this in depth and have an appreciation of what a chuckle is.
Thank you CBH for such a light and insightful example of our lived experience it filled me with joy to read. It is so true that many words, feelings and actions can only truly be understood when we experience them. Once we experience them this becomes a lived experience in our body, a marker of something that allows us to return and connect to this quality. As you share, the body is the marker of truth.
Yes, what a delicious collection of words all of which could set me off chuckling from the inside again.
I love that you asked your class to incorporate joyful words into their creative writing as when I connect to words like giggling or chuckling they almost instantaneously make me want to do the same.
As I read your delightful description of a chuckle, I delved into my past to recall a time when I have chuckled to myself and as I did I remembered the feeling I had and what you say is true. A chuckle is unlike laugh in that, as you say, it bubbles up from inside and is experienced in the body.
I agree Carolien, it gives the children power over their education and their understanding of the world, rather than being given empty knowledge
CBH before I read your blog I had never thought too deeply about the word chuckle. The detailed way you describe the experience of chuckling is truly delightful and chuckle worthy.
Indeed chuckle worthy. Bring back the chuckle I say. I love how many times chuckle is being used in this blog and comments. Awesome.
This is so true Anne, ‘What a lucky class of students who has a teacher such as you CBH, who inspires children to feel the meaning of a word through their own lived experience’, this is a great way to get to the true meanings of words and making it a lived experience rather than just something we are told, so much more true and engaging for the students.
Yes Karoline I loved this too, and the great sense of the teacher holding the students in such equallness and connection – so that school can become a safe place to open up, learn and grow together.
There is a sense of deep knowing and understanding that comes with a chuckle.
What a beautiful gift you have given us to share and enjoy the chuckling experience with real appreciation of the joyful smiles from within. thank you love it .
There is so much joy in this blog! I love the word ‘chuckle; it makes me smile and there’s a lightness to it. I got to experience a little chuckling while reading this blog and it was great because I hadn’t thought about the word and how it felt in my body before. It is absolutely true; chuckling can only be felt in the body and laughing is more you do in the company of another. Thank you CBH for giving us the opportunity to feel the true meaning of these words in our body which I can take with me into my day and observe more deeply.
I agree Caroline, there is so much joy in this blog. I had not though of or used the word chuckle for a long time, and it was great to have a blog on the subject. I too had a few chuckles as I read it. It is so much a body experience to have a chuckle, and it is something that can be very easy to experience even when alone, reading an article, remembering an incident or with others. It is great to have had CBH remind us of this word which I sense many people now would not have been even aware of, they take life so seriously they tend to not notice the humour in situations. I love to have a little chuckle, even a giggle, or a “fit” of laughter, to me it feels so good.
How beautiful is it when you can share inner joy with another eg your students, through their experience of the word “chuckle”. What a beautiful loving gift you brought them CBH.
I agree Alex, it’s very interesting how each language has its own onomatopoeic words, where the sound of the word portrays the action involved. As well as chuckle, we have chortle, which to my ear sounds a bit like a chuckle which is involving the face muscles more on its way to becoming a laugh or even a guffaw.
I feel there are many words that are difficult to define in words and have to be experienced in the body and to be felt, such as: glory, Divine, God, love and……. chuckle.
This is so lovely what you have shared Mary and I can see how so often we try to use words to speak ‘about’ something instead of allow ourselves to feel the truth of it in our body. So many times I have spoken without connecting with what I am saying in my body .. I can now see how this is like lying to myself because what I end up ‘speaking’ is not in-line with the truth that is held in my body. I then become fragmented (in parts) because what is felt and what is said are two completely different things!
I do the same Adam! Sometimes a situation or something that I’ve just read leaves me helplessly spluttering and gasping with an over-abundance of mirth, and it’s simply impossible to explain the reason to bewildered onlookers. As you say, Joy sometimes just needs expressing for its own sake!
Oh Floris this is gorgeous! Not content to let language be a barrier – you looked up the word and instantly experienced a chuckle! I love it and the joy you brought to us with your comment.
How delightful to explore with your students a word such as chuckle – and to share the body experience of this with one of your students who connected easily to what you had presented. I loved the exploration of words being something that you experience in the body, bringing awareness back to body instead of all teaching being about the mind.
This was a delight to read. I don’t have a memory of chuckling that I can reflect on, but loved the way you described it and it’s healing power – a naturally divine occurrence reminding me that the body is truly extraordinary beyond our current understanding.
CBH I am touched by the way that you live in connection with yourself and aware of your body to be able to be with your students in a way that when called for you can offer wisdom. How confirming for a student to have it received and engaged with in life with so much vibrancy. This kind of teaching is very different to the imparting of information.
I agree Deanne, what a wonderful opportunity these children are being offered with CBH as a teacher; an opportunity to see the world in a different way and to be introduced to the wonders and the magic of our bodies and of life.
Yes I’m really appreciating what CBH is bringing to us and to the children she teaches. CBH you bring the body into the picture and the importance of a connection with it to support how we learn, understand, and become aware of so much more in our lives.
How delightful that your students were to experience a teacher such as yourself explaining the word ‘chuckle’ in an open and accessible way. Bringing the explanation to their bodies to go away and experience it for themselves. I loved that. Then to have the confirmation of your student to truly experience that with such exurberance (another great word). How lucky they are to have a teacher like you!!
A lovely description and heart warming message about a sacred and age old act of joy. Whether shackled with chain during the middle ages, or beaming with light in modern times, man cannot but chuckle at the constellations he endures; further proving, there within is an inextinguishable spark that fires at least occasionally.
Perhaps Oliver, that would explain why it can feel so sublime when one experiences these chuckling episodes. It’s that inextinguishable divine spark firing within all of us.
Brilliant Oliver. Chuckling is undoubtedly an act of joy, absolutely. I like your point about the ‘constellations we endure’ and ‘the inextinguishable spark that fires at least occasionally’. For within this there is the knowing that despite what we get ourselves into deep down we are still a ball of love and fun which can still be ignited, often despite our hardest efforts.
.. even the word ‘chuckle’ make me smile!
Yes… what a great word it is.. I say (write) with a big smile too!
I agree SusanG, simply saying ‘ Chuckle’ seems to stimulate the facial muscles and tongue into performing a smile.
I agree Anne. What a memorable teacher CBH will be for so many students. To support students to connect with their feelings and to explore the experience of them is GOLD!
I agree Rosannabianchini. How different English lessons would be if children were taught to feel their words before speaking. This could revolutionise the English language!
Such a beautiful gift you have given your students CBH – they will carry that imprint in their bodies forever.
Another classic example of how we so often use a word or a phrase without a second thought as to its true meaning – for example ‘and I had a little chuckle to myself’.
That feels the key to chuckling – that we chuckle to ourselves, it’s an inner enjoyment and the chuckle is simply our body expressing that joy with something a bit more than a smile. It is a kind of held back laugh, or maybe not quite funny enough for a laugh but amusing nonetheless. Humour is something I use as part of my armour, and control, it stems from being at boarding school and needing to survive ridicule from others – by ironically, deliberately making people laugh.
It is fascinating I agree Harryjwhite. I have not contemplated the subtle difference before reading this blog. It’s very interesting to observe the difference.
Super delightful blog – it gave me much to smile about and look forward to really feeling next time a chuckle emerges for me. Greater awareness of our magnificent bodies is a joy – it is sadly too common that we try to numb or shut them down.
Hi CBS, I think of chuckling as more of a suppressed laughter, like behind the teachers back, that you get into trouble for. I have just read Jonathan Cooks blog “The Word Love”, as you suggested. I can’t say it made me chuckle but I really liked it. “It has that comfortable familiarity of someone about the same age and from the same country as me and I have loved discovering how to love myself and reflect that back to others”.
It’s a good point Doug and I feel that it’s less to do with any inhibitions and more to do with the geographical location of the laugh, i.e. the chuckle is a sort of buried-deep kind of laugh, more of a subterranean explosion than an in-your-face one.
I loved this too. These children and many more are very blessed to have an amazing teacher like CBH truly loving what they do and teaching from their heart.
Great blog CBH. Chuckling feels to me like laughing to myself rather than laughing with others, so your blog has opened up a whole new way for me to feel into what chuckling is like in my body. Very interesting for me to observe next time I am having a chuckle.
Yes chanly88, ‘Chuckling feels to me like laughing to myself rather than laughing with others.’ It’s a good way of describing it. It’s important we have these moments of connection with ourselves, isn’t it!
That is a great point Anne. I could really feel the connection and the joy that child came back with after experiencing his chuckling. It would be great if schools taught in this way where children then developed markers in their bodies.
Me too Donna. Reading about the child coming back after experiencing his chuckling was an absolute joy to read. To teach in a way where we support our children to feel their own bodies is Huge!
Even the word chuckle makes me smile. Next time I chuckle I will have to make note of what is occurring in my body. Thanks CBH this was fun to read and very true, chuckling is one of those words that is felt in the body.
Indeed Chuckling is a full body experience and with much joy to it. Thank you for the reminder that everything comes back to to its original energetic impulsive. Chuckling is a great example of this.
Interesting blog CBH. What resonates for me is the deeper meaning of words, and the simplicity and detailed meaning that is possible. Through the body, as you describe, can the depth of their true meaning be felt. The joy that is experienced when some-thing is registered in the body is the simplicity I feel of what living really is.
This is one of those heart warming blogs that bring that gentle smile to your face.
I LOVE when a word is broken down to its experiential form and there is the recognition of our most universal language and that is the language of energy . . . This language is not bound to country, culture or time. It is boundless and ageless.
‘transforming energy through mirth’ – I often have a good inward chuckle at myself, my antics or my ‘spirit’ paranoia – laughing at oneself leaves a feeling of relief afterwards, perhaps we are releasing tension or anxiousness as well as witnessing how funny or ridiculous we can be? And you certainly feel lighter after the act. Sometimes I can feel my laughter come from a place deep within me, as if it drags itself out from a pool of deep sadness.
I absolutely love this new understanding of our ‘Chuckle’.. This morning I woke to the sound of the Kookaburras chuckling outside of the house and it already had me pondering on the joy that they express when they chuckle and how this would actually feel in my body to be the same. I love that you have cemented the fact that this chuckle comes from inside us and I look forward to feeling my next body experience of joy. Love your beautiful express here CBH.
Chuckle isn’t a word I’ve heard in a very long time – it feels very sweet, innocent and for oneself as opposed to laughter which is often shared with others. Thanks CBH, I look forward to feeling my next chuckle!
This is so gorgeous CBH. Thank you. I could feel you in your class as I read. I loved reading every word and felt like it was told in a beautiful story like way- I didn’t want it to end and I smiled while reading the whole blog. I often chuckle, sometimes inwardly and sometimes outwardly but always it is with and to myself. I will pay attention to where the bubbles travel in my body next time I chuckle.
I love the excitement with which your student came bursting through the door with. Testament to you being a great teacher CBH, someone the students trust and enjoy having around.
HI CBH – I so enjoyed reading your blog, and I chuckled a little reading some of your descriptive expression – in fact I chuckled earlier when commenting in Adam’s blog about the women’s hockey team – not really needing an opposing team – they were doing a good enough job in amongst themselves – I chuckled then, fully feeling the situation and seeing the silliness of it – just sensing the ridiculousness, and feeling the merriment in that sensing. Maybe a bit like feeling when something in the body says that’s ‘funny’ – if you say ‘funny’ a few times – that can sounds a bit silly as well. I love language and the sound and feeling of some words.
Thank you CBH for a lovely light hearted blog. How awesome is it to have a teacher teaching students to connect with their bodies and feeling how the body responds to certain things. I have experienced chuckling and it is like my whole body lighting up with the joy that is forever present in my body. Usually after a chuckle I want to share the joy of what I have been chuckling about with others. Just like your student in the amazement of what he felt.
Sorry but I have to write more!!! I love the word giggle too and often my chuckle is remembering my giggle! Sitting here chuckling now and throughly enjoying the bubbles! Thank you again CBH 🙂
CBH this is lovely, and has brought to my awareness that yes, chuckling is also an inner body experience for me. Perhaps not bubbles, but a feeling of recognition of sameness of self and other people, and the natural joy that arises from that.
Love your blog CBH. My grandfather and I used to chuckle all the time, and when I chuckle I always feel the foundation for not taking life too seriously that he instilled in me. I love how you have started that off for the students in your class. It has held me well throughout my life!!
I love how many times chuckle is written in this blog and in the comments – BRING BACK THE CHUCKLE! It is such a great word and such lovely to read your experience of the word – in the dictionary they should have Chuckle – see this blog and a link to it. I love a chuckle and it is such a private moment that comes up through your body. “I had myself a quiet chuckle about X”…..love it.
I agree chuckle is a lovely word especially in the action it represents.
From your description CBH I realise I too had a chuckle while reading a blog recently, not that I named it that at the time, but I now recognise the beauty of the experience as very similar to your own, the light hearted bubbly sensation, the warm, expansive feeling in my heart, the simple joy and connection, the change of energy that seemed to flow into my day. How lovely to feel the playful recognition arise in my body so subtly, so freely, so naturally without any constraint, just as it was as a child. CBH thank you for allowing me to appreciate more deeply the gift a chuckle truly is.
Oh what absolute joy to read your blog CBH and a great teaching. I shall pay more attention to my chuckles and the transformational affect it has in the body. I have what is called a “laughing Buddha” at my front door but I feel he symbolises the expression of absolute joy and delight that is bubbling from within an open heart – chuckling brings those effervescent bubbles of joy to the surface and it feels absolutely divine.
Thanks CBH for reminding me of what it feels like to chuckle. Even saying the word makes me smile. It has been a while but I am now definitely on the lookout for the next opportunity to appreciate the joy of a good hearty chuckle in full.
I love that you have brought this lovely playful word forefront to be recognized and fully appreciated. What is also magic is you have launched it to a group of budding enthusiast and offered a foundation for enjoying themselves and their innate humor. Way to go Teacher of great wisdom ☺
CBH I can feel the joy in the way you have written this piece ‘I began to contemplate what does happen when we chuckle. I had a sense of change, of energy moving from one place in my body to another, and a sense of transformation.’
I have chuckled before and it feels delightful. Aren’t we blessed to have you in the world as a teacher. 🙂
I loved reading your blog, it was so refreshing how honest you were with your students, by describing what a chuckle felt like. Very empowering for them to feel for themselves. I agree it is a physical thing that starts off deeply and tingles up through my throat.
Chuckling….I love that word. It sounds like it feels, bubbly, warm and hearty. I love to chuckle when I read something silly, or see someone who is trying very hard to be serious about something that just isn’t….especially when that someone is me! There is no mockery in chuckling, it is just a moment that takes in the silliness of the things we do as human beings, and places it in the context of the truth that our bodies just know so simply. That is transformation. That is alchemy!
The wisdom of the body is a delight to behold – gracious and willing to be delighted, childishly so. Thank you CBH for warming my heart, Oh! and reminding of Jonathan Cooke’s gorgeous blog that had me chuckling too.
Yes Rachel, chuckling gently shakes the body so that all seriousness falls away. Sometimes chuckling does not make sense to others but it is contagious. It just goes out waves and reaches everybody.
Love a good Chuckle….! a great confirmation of the joy within us.
I absolutely love what you have shared. Thank you for describing this activity of chuckling, that we all do experience, so gorgeously as I now have connected to a deeper awareness with it. This so beautifully highlights how divinely designed we and our bodies are, should we choose to pay attention and discover what is actually on offer. That we ‘are’ designed to evolve and our bodies are constantly reflecting to us the opportunity to do so through truth.
Gorgeous blog CBH, I will await my next chuckle and observe it. I feel the absolute delight in how you expressed what you truly felt and allowed it to be fully felt and lived in the body.
I love what you share and can’t wait for my next chuckle, to really feel the bubbles and ‘gentle transformation of mirth’.
I know this feeling CBH and it really is an inner bubbling. ‘ I felt the little bubbles of chuckling start to effervesce in my solar plexus. The bubbles rose delightfully to my heart, where they lingered in the warmth momentarily, before rising to my throat. There I felt an, oh-so-subtle vibration, a smile gracefully curved my mouth, my eyes started to shine… and I chuckled very, very gently.
Imagine descriptions like these in the dictionary. Straight from the body. So beautiful thank you.
I love the simplicity of this blog in looking at an ordinary word such as chuckle, but what comes out of this is extraordinary. What I love most about your sharing CBH is the joy and delight that was shared between you and the child who came running into the classroom having experienced what it was to chuckle, and the equalness felt between you both – two people sharing the joy of discovery and of each other, and realising how similar they are, irrelevant of age i.e. adult and child. Underneath all the ideals and beliefs and emotions we are all the same, and how amazing would the world be if we all treated each other equally no matter what our age, gender, race, culture etc.
CBH what a joy this was to read, so well written it conjured up the feelings of fullness, joy and the lightness of God. My whole body enjoyed it.
Trying to dissect the chuckle would be like scientists trying to study the cats purr – it’s very illusive, but has a definite purpose that is known within! Seriousness for me locks me deeper into “issues” and laughter really gets things moving.
I have noticed there is a direct correlation of very wise people and chuckling. Look at the Dalai Lama and Serge Benhayon. It is the quiet knowing that while there is serious work to be done, we do not need to always be so serious in doing it, for it is the ‘lightness’ of light that is able to transform the weight of the shadows. The angels play in Heaven and through that, great work is done on Earth.
I love the full embodiment that you have brought to the chuckle! I had never really appreciated how it feels, but it is as you have described, like an effervescence which bubbles through the body. A wonderful, mirthful expansion of joy!
I love what you have shared CBH and no accident that this would all take place in a classroom. For me, chuckling is like sharing a private joke with God – it is a quiet and full-bodied confirmation of the truth and the interconnectedness of all things, for when this is felt, it is like the ‘penny drops’ and we are able to peer between the curtains to what really lies before us. This is a moment where you cannot help but smile with every cell in your body. It is private in the sense that no other person needs to be there physically to share, but public in the sense that what we are feeling in this moment is our connection to the ALL, and in that, everyone is there in an instant, smiling alongside us. Children and babies chuckle all the time for they remain deeply connected to our innate Divinity and the magic that abounds in our everyday lives. As adults we tend to drift away from this knowing and at best can only dip in and out of this connection, rarely sustaining it in full. When we remember that we are all children of the Universe (God), we give ourselves permission to feel the chuckle that forever sits waiting to be released from deep within our hearts.
What a delightful blog and what a blessing for the children being so honoured and inspired by you to pay attention to the wisdom they can access through their bodies. I love your use of this wonderful word to remind us about the joy and playfulness possible when we take the time to actually feel words. It is also great to be reminded to pay more attention to those gorgeous moments of appreciation, mirth and chuckling.
Thank you CBH, after reading your blog, I felt like I had a chuckle the other day, it wasn’t a laugh, it was something within me for me and not at all like a laugh, it seems so long ago that I had forgotten all about a chuckle, thank you for reminding me, I will be taking notice and enjoy a good chuckle when I feel it arise.
Well CBH, I’m not sure I have chuckled as you describe, I know I have laughed a lot, sometimes inappropriately, oops. I think that I too have chuckled, a little internal laugh just for me, I’ll pay a little more attention now after reading your blog.
I love your offering to the children in your class on the word chuckle:
“That one’s a body word. We can look it up in the dictionary and see what it says, but it’s a word that we feel in our bodies,” They could all feel what you meant because you really had it in your body. Such a difference with explaining a word from the head. We can never ‘teach’ or offer anything we don’t live ourselves for another to get it.
Great point, Simon, by experiencing how to use the body for learning they can apply this to all different area’s in their lives.
That is such a beautiful explanation of ‘chuckle’ CBH and I love chuckling too. There is un-doubtabley something very vibrant and delicious about it, and what is more I have also experienced sharing a chuckle with another person, which then lead to joyful laughter shared out loud. Chuckles are intimate, warm and friendly and definitely open one’s heart to love, one of God’s gifts of non-verbal communication from body to body, heart to heart.
Hello Andrew Allen and I agree. For children to have someone with them that takes the time and care to support them with every little part of life, including the feeling of a chuckle. It’s wonderful to see how this will help them grow, that words aren’t just to be used or written but to feel what they are and from there how they open things up. This is great support for all of us and I an loving seeing more of it. Thank you Andrew and CBH.
Your student’s response the following morning is very sweet 🙂 I will remember this light-hearted appreciation for those “chuckle” moments. Thank you.
Hello CBH and I have never put this much detail on a chuckle to be honest. After reading your blog I will take note next time I do and I will report back. I’m looking forward to seeing what it really feels like. I know for sure I will appreciate the ‘next time’ more after reading your blog. That is possible the biggest thing I took from this, appreciate the little things that are with you already and as you have clearly described there is so much to see in every moment. Thank you CBH and I will be back.
Hello matildaclark and I love that as well, “how one moment touches the next”. It’s great to highlight how connected life is and how this makes sense. We often break parts of our life up, see things as separate and not a part of each other. But everything is connected and one moment naturally leads to the next, it just makes sense. Great description Matilda thank you.
Hello jenny mcgee, thank you. This, “to appreciate the little things that are with us already” is super important and supportive for us all. It can be something we don’t really do enough of. We seem to be quick to be critical of ourselves and say internally all the things we are not but to truly and consistently ‘appreciate the little things’ I have found is life changing. The world is different through appreciative eyes. Thank you Jenny.
I love that this blog feels, to me at least very left field, it is very descriptive of an experience that has clearly been felt deeply. It is also great CBH that you opened up the students you teach to feeling for themselves how something is from their own point of view and not from a textbook answer of what is right or wrong. That felt very empowering for the children and it would be wonderful to see more teaching in this style where the student it encouraged to trust their own experiences and learn about the world from the inside out.
CBH, this is such a joy-full blog, I love it. A lovely way to start the day, I could feel the hint of a ‘chuckle’ as I read it. I love your description “The bubbles rose delightfully to my heart, where they lingered in the warmth momentarily, before rising to my throat. There I felt an, oh-so-subtle vibration, a smile gracefully curved my mouth, my eyes started to shine… and I chuckled very, very gently.” This feels so, so beautiful as I read it and brings a smile to my face. I realise that I don’t remember having a chuckle for quite a while, but your blog is a great reminder to really take note the next time the chuckle starts to bubble within, and really watch and feel what happens. But I feel there have been a few blogs over the past couple of years that may have brought that chuckle through for me. It is such a personal thing to feel, and yes, as you say, it is a ‘body’ feeling, not well described in a dictionary.
Chuckle is a beautiful experience and I often chuckle with and at myself about the silly things that I have done as I find chuckling brings a transformation to seeming ‘mistakes’ but seen in the light of new awareness and greater understanding about life were a great way to learn. Thank you CBH.
“That one is a body’s word’, I love that sentence. It just makes me realize that there are actually a lot of body words out there, words that you just cannot describe and that you have to experience for yourself.
An absolute delight to behold your observation of the chuckle. Your definition resoundingly accurate to my own experience of it, and I realised there are actually many words that I can look up in the dictionary to get clarity on, and find the meaning there in print not cutting what I can feel from my body about the word. The body does truly know, and I would say, more than we know it knows. Thank you CBH for this most welcomed topic.
What I appreciated in reading this blog was how you describe the word from your own experience and your meaning that came from that rather than the dictionary. You could tell it meant more to your students and offers us a great example of the impact we have when we simply share from our body.
I really love this Jennifer – to feel how diverse a word could be depending on ones experience from their body but to still feel the essence of the word in all.
We could all most definitely benefit from chuckling of the sort you describe! It is wonderful to laugh from all of you, every cell vibrating, it is gorgeous.
How beautiful that you took it further with your students than just giving a dictionary definition, this feels to me how education can truly be, supporting kids to developing a knowing and feeling in themselves which cannot be denied or forgotten. No need to try and recall the meaning, you just absolutely know it through out your whole being.
I totally get what you mean CBH about the gentle transformation of mirth. When I truly laugh or chuckle about something, without trying, it just seems to leave me feeling lighter, fresher and more present.
I love how you shared with your students that chuckle is “…a word that we feel in our bodies” without having to know what they mean in our heads.
Thank you CBH for a gorgeous, bubbly, light blog reminding me how much my whole body loves to chuckle.
Your description of how we can know and have a true relationship with a word through a physical body experience is very beautiful. It shows just how much we a taught to remember words and meanings when it is far more powerful to experience what they are about and use them from our bodies.
I too know this word ‘chuckle’, but cannot really recall when I have chuckled, maybe it’s been too long!
‘No dictionary required!’ I love this. So often what we know to be true from our bodies goes way beyond definitions. This will no doubt be a word none of the class will ever forget. Or having the explanation of a word through ones body. I can only imagine that no pupil was not attentive – as opposed to the lessons I seen as an adult where I’ve struggled to stay with. What a blessed class having you as a teacher.
Three new words to add to my English vocabulary in this lovely blog. I love the ‘chuckle’ I feel we all know this experience from young and the way you have learned them the meaning of this word is something they will never forget, their bodies will tell them. Just the way I will never forget the meaning of these words because of this blog.
What a great blog, Ive never contemplated a chuckle, and now I know and am more aware when one arises. Feeling into a chuckle I last had, yes bubbles of joy!
I was smiling as I read through this blog. I am often asked what certain words mean and find it hard to describe as the ‘meaning’ is ‘in my body’. And I agree chuckling is definitely one of those words that is felt from within the body. Thank you for sharing and the children are very blessed to have you as their teacher.
Wow, what a playful exploration you have written here CBH of the notion of chuckle. Next time I feel a chuckle coming on, I am going to pay much greater attention to what is actually happening in my body.
I love how you redefined this word for your students, CBH, especially how they then got to experience and understand the word for themselves after. I can imagine these students remembering the word and its true definition for years to come – I’ve found that in school when you can personally relate to something you remember it a hundred times longer than other knowledge.
Thank you for this observation. I was not aware of this word chuckle in German it is ‘kichern’, and I do know what it means, but as you described the entire feeling what it is like in your body, I feel inspired to register it when it next happens to me again. I realise that I do not take all the attention I could to these little but important moments.
If someone were to ask me if I chuckled I would probably say no. Feeling into the word more and the detailed description on offer it feel like sparks lighting up the body and the joy we possess in each an every aspect of us. Our body is in communication always and ‘chuckles’ are like it’s sweet singing voice.
To know your body to this degree is wonderful. Thank you for sharing how chuckling brings you much joy and transformation. When I chuckle it feels like a confirmation of the joy I am already feeling within and what I already know to be true. It feels so lovely.
What a playful and light reminder that our body holds the answers we seek if we pay attention, listen and observe.
Everybody deserves a good chuckle every now and then, and now there is no excuse for me to hold onto feeling sad because I can actively seek something that will make me chuckle, because this feeling is there, waiting inside my body just waiting to come out and spread to everything around me. Babies love to chuckle and look how infectious that is!
What a beautiful way to teach your class, to remind them that the natural way to understand life and the meanings of words is to feel from our body.
CBH, I love your blog and I love a good chuckle. From this moment, when I am feeling a little low, I shall look out for more opportunities to have a good chuckle!
The word chuckle to me has affectionate tone about it – I may perhaps be remembering something one of my children had done when they were younger or something silly I’ve done myself – there’s affection coupled with the mirth and a fondness…..yes, coming from the heart….a warmth.
Beautiful to read, thank you. I particularly love the sentence – ‘“That one’s a body word. We can look it up in the dictionary and see what it says, but it’s a word that we feel in our bodies,” I responded.’ A great way to share this children.I love a good chuckle, I chuckle often and enjoy it greatly.
Could it be that if we were totally present when we spoke, all words would come as a direct expression from our body and they would carry with them the power of our lived experience? In this way no words would lose their value and no unnecessary waffle would occur.
To chuckle is to connect with natural joy within our hearts, a lightness and freedom that all is well deep down. Life happens but this joy can always be connected to if we so choose.
Great how you described ‘chuckle’ as a ‘body word’ and beautiful how that inspired the student to connect to his body and feel the truth of the word. Many words are ‘body words’ I feel and it’s when they become ‘head words’ that they lose their power. So then a powerful word like ‘love’ is often used in situations where it is not truly felt in the body such as: “I love my beer”… but is this the same as the deep tender love we feel for a baby? In this way words become bastardised until we reclaim them in their full expression.
“It feels to me that we could all benefit from chuckling and what I have affectionately referred to as the gentle transformation of mirth*, and how lovely this feels in our body”.
I loved reading your blog CBH, so light, joyful and full of wisdom
I look forward to my next chuckle, to be sure I will be aware of what is happening in my body.
What a wonderful lesson for you and your students.
Now I understand why so many dictionaries feel ‘dead’ to me. When I look up a word, especially when translating – I have to feel it. I have to feel what this word means in my body to understand it.
Chuckling is innocent and and indeed a very personal experience. It is like telling myself a joke.
This blog takes body observations to a new level. I can’t say I have ever given chuckling much notice but I know I do it a lot! it makes me wonder what could be learnt from those chuckles should I not just let it pass by but actually appreciate when they do arise. Thank you CBH.
What a joy it is to read this article! I loved how it reconnected me to feeling what joy feels like in my body – this is not something I yet experience continually but this article inspires me to look out for it and feel it. What I also got from this article is how all words can be felt and should be felt from the body to ascertain its true meaning. Coming from the head and dictionary means we don’t fully understand it but just repeat it – for it to be truly understood it needs to be a lived experience. Like everything, if it comes from our livingness it is truly reflected, if it comes from recall it is hollow and isn’t expressed with truth.
Thank you CBH for your experience of sharing the word chuckling with your students. What a beautiful way to teach and sharing body wisdom at the same time.
Light-hearted and delightful CBH this article did make me chuckle, and I reflected on how gorgeous it would be to to have a teacher like you.
What a fabulous way of teaching, showing the students that sometimes you need to just feel the word instead of going to the dictionary. I am a English Tefl teacher so am constantly trying to convey the meanings of words to my non native English speaking students. Quite often I need to use hand gestures, facial expressions, and even noises to get meanings across. A lot of the students are understandably quite attached to their dictionaries, however, as this blog shows there is so much more to a word than just a definition.
What a really delightfull blog (I am using new words now …. delightful 💕) and what a fun teacher you are ✨ What you share is gorgeous in that when we feel words within our body it gives them a far deeper and more intimate meaning. Bringing it back to our body in anything we do is always very cool, even or especially with words and expression. It allows us to stop and gives us a space to feel much much more. Thank you for what you have shared.
Such a beautiful confirming in reading this joyfully DBH and an understanding of ‘ to chuckle’ much felt and the word understood from within. I woke up the other morning chuckling and chuckling in waves throughout my body of laughter in side i could hardly contain and now I know the word to describe what I was feeling. What fun, a pulsating joy inside that certainly expanded my whole body.Thank you for sharing this its is perfect at this moment :).
Thank you CBH I dearly enjoyed reading your words on chuckling. I love how you say chuckling can’t be just be looked up in the dictionary we need to experience it. So it is our bodies that bring the words and make them alive. I have been translating texts from English to German, German to English, over the past years, which has brought me closer to words and how we express with words. What I have found is that it very much comes back to feeling what is being said to find the right word in another language that expresses that what has been said. So yes, it is a bodily expression rather a searching for words in our minds.
I agree, chuckling amongst other words have to be felt to understand the true meaning.
I really enjoyed reading your article CBH, it brought a smile to my face, no chuckle as yet but I await my next opportunity and will observe very closely, as you did, what occurs in my body.
Chuckle is a word I know well, but have never fully explored the physicality of it – what a gorgeous description – thank you!
Lovely blog CBH! There are so many different types of laughter, even some which contain very little mirth and some which seem purely ostentatious and not really felt from within. The Chuckle however is in a category all of its own. If a laugh was a volcano erupting, then a chuckle would be one of the many preceding small seismic shocks which give us just a hint of what is to come. In some cases, a chuckle belies the true magnitude of mirth felt by the chuckler, for example when reading a hilarious book on a busy train and feeling rather constrained by the public nature of the situation! In such circumstances the chuckle might become a chortle as the facial muscles struggle to contain the explosive force of mirth. This can have disastrous results if one is eating at the time! A chuckle is certainly something that is very personal and is felt deep inside. I believe that laughter, generally, is one of the most powerful uniting forces on the planet.
Allowing ourselves to feel the magic of nature, that wonderful sense of the interconnectedness of all things, and the blessings that are happening all the time around as if we only have the eyes to see, these are surely windows to the word joy , another wonderful word.
Loved reading about the exchange between you and your student, and feel how light hearted and joyful you both were for having experienced a chuckle. I never gave it much thought to how it feels before, but it does have a distinctive feel to it – I will definitely pay more attention when the next one arises.
Thank you for sharing the transformative power of chuckling and the link to Jonathan’s article which had me experiencing the beauty of chuckling and how totally it is an experience in the body. We can laugh half-heartedly, cynically etc but as you say chuckling bubbles up inside us and is irrepressible and connects us to the joy of being in our body and is thus very grounding.
I love this notion of transformation though mirth. So true too. It is all very ‘feelable’ when we chuckle about something and the change is absolutely evident in our bodies.
Mirth- I love this word. It is not a word I use or have even seen from memory or have heard being used. . . But I know it feels lovely in my body.
Hi CBH, I loved your blog and will really enjoy feeling my next chuckle, in itself you can’t help smile when you read it and that seems to me to be because I know what a chuckle feels like and it’s delightful.
What a lovely way to teach CBH. Feel your words and experience them. School would have been very different for me if this were commonplace!
I agree Richard, how different our communication would be if we were taught to feel a word before looking it up in the dictionary. It would be an evolutionary way of teaching.
I chuckled by reading this lovely blog….hmmm. Feels for me like I am complacent in a good way and connected to everyone in joy without interacting.
When I read the title of this blog I had an instant curiosity for the word mirth, it feels so lovely in my body and I would almost not be able to describe it in words. I absolutely agree that certain words are body words to deeply enjoy in our body without the need to know in my head what it means. Thank you for this delight-full blog.
I had a similar curiosity Lieke, in reading the title I wanted to know what mirth meant and can now see that I was seeking a background knowledge just like the child asking the question about the definition. There is a big difference in knowing I just don’t need to know but in my body I’ve already made a connection to the feeling I have in saying it and indeed experiencing it for myself.
Me too. Mirth seems like an old word rarely used, yet one that seems to feel deep and full of ancient meaning and wisdom. It is beautiful to read and feel in my body, and perhaps to rediscover further.
CBH, I smiled as I read this blog. It reminded me of the lightness of ‘chuckling’ and the fact that this is different to laughing… The way you described this… “I had a sense of change, of energy moving from one place in my body to another, and a sense of transformation” left me feeling playful and reminded me I need to connect to this more often (!!) – thank you.
I love this line also Angela. It reminds us of our internal alchemy – the ability to transform the darkness into light. A process so simple that once you have given yourself permission to feel it, you do not have to go in arduous search outward for something that always lies within.
It does feel super playful and also delightful all in one. I look forward to my next chuckle which I am sure will not be far away.
CBH your explanation of chuckling is simple and explains something I have never pondered on. You are correct about it being one of those secret moments of self-joy. I can remember many times when people would ask me what I was smiling and laughing at (a chuckle that escaped and seen) rather than share I would just reply ‘nothing’ to keep the quiet joyful moment to myself just a little longer. As I carried on a small smile lingered for all to see.
Ah yes, that moment when something makes you smile from deep within but it isn’t for sharing…lovely.
This is a wonderful sharing CBH – feeling into this I have chuckled over the past decades but never really felt into where in my body that I could feel its beginning or end, but I do remember as in your beach walk with an “open heart and in love with everyone you meet”. That feeling of such openness, no holding back allowing the fullness of the ‘all that I am’ to just shine out to the world. Beautiful.
What a gorgeous blog! Thanks for sharing! “Chuckle is one word that refuses to be pinned down by dictionary definitions and meanings and has to be lived and experienced in order to be understood in all its divine joy and glory.” You have explained chuckling to a T. I too read ‘The Word Love’, an article by Jonathan Cooke on the website Words On Serge Benhayon.” and chuckled with it. You are so right when you say there is a difference between laughing and chuckling. I will be observant to the next time chuckling come up for me and treasure the moment.
I am off to read this article by Jonathon and look forward to feeling any chuckles, how it travels in my physical body and to noting any bubbles or transformations.
I have found that chuckling often happens with moments with/by myself, as a deep connection to my own inner joy and ease. It is a bubbling deep within my eyes and my smile and is felt far deeper from my heart to my Soul, this is a truly beautiful way to inspire everyone to deepen their own relationship with themselves and find new markers of what a word feels like from the body and not as a thought from the mind.
It is so true that to understand this word and many others we need to feel it in our body which is a universal quality rather have a mental construct in our heads.
I agree Sarah, the greatest teaching always shows us how to connect with the wisdom of our bodies and the truth that lies within.
Absolutely Sarah – the option is always there to come back to the true and root meaning of words, energetically so, which are felt our body. I love the potential of this marker and knowing that truth in the word and of others are only a choice away. We bless these words and the person receiving them when we speak it in its true form or essence.
Yes Sarah, the head can bring differing and somehow divorced definitions, but as in this example, the body shows a ‘universal quality’.
This is such a lovely article CBH, I have a young son and have at times chuckled when he has been telling me something important to him, I have in these moments felt his innocence and absolute beauty and have felt so joyful and adoring that I have felt these little bubbles rising up inside me and I have smiled and chuckled, for me it is a feeling of adoration, joy and love.
How cool! I had not thought about it before but there is a difference between a laugh and a chuckle and your description of a chuckle CBH is spot on. I definitely could chuckle more…
I have never pondered on chuckling. This was a very interesting read.
Great blog CBH, I love a good chuckle either in me or watching someone else have one. I was on a fishing trip once in Ireland and a guy there who had never caught a fish before suddenly pulled in five mackerel on one line. Well this certainly made his day and tickled him majorly and he started to chuckle, and he chuckled and chuckled and chuckled. It was lovely to see and then it was like, you can stop now. This guy took chuckling to a whole new level.
kevmchardy, I had a chuckle when I read your comment, I had a vision of the fisherman with his catch of 5 fish on the one line. What joy he must have felt.
Reading this, makes me smile. No chuckle right now, but a complete knowing of all you describe. I love the feeling across my body of a chuckle, it seems to blow out all the cobwebs too as it permeates through every fibre of the body. For me it has that similar all body experience much the same as getting the giggles, another very physical feeling in my body, which stays with me for quite some time. Absolutely gorgeous. Thank you.
I had a little chuckle, Jenny at your mention of the ‘giggles’, every so often I have been known to have a little attack of them, it is such fun, but amazing how hard it can be to stop them, when some little thing brings them on in my body. I find they can sometimes go on for quite a while, as a vision of what I am giggling about keeps coming to me. Yes, giggles is another word for something that begins definitely as a body experience.
This blog is really cool DBH on so many levels! I have never considered or pondered on the different words in English we have for laughter, nor have I really considered the word “chuckle”. Given that English is such a rich language I am full of appreciation for the fact that it has so many words that can articulate precisely their meaning but with variations on a theme. I don’t remember ever “chuckling” not only because, as you say, we don’t really do enough of it but because it’s not ever something I have been particularly aware of. This points out to me very clearly how serious the world is (or how seriously I have taken the world) and how merriment and joy are not the norm. The word ‘chuckle” itself feels like something playful, round, whole and full of joy. In fact to me the word is synonymous with the Dalai Lama, who I imagine must do it a lot! The next time the impulse to chuckle is there I shall pay attention to see the effect on my body. I am looking forward to savouring the experience! Thank you so much for writing this – it was an absolute joy for me to read.
I agree, Michelle. the Dalai Lama has definitely gotten down the fine art of chuckling to an absolute livingness. Other than that, babies seem to chuckle delightfully quite often in their natural joy. What I love about chuckling is that it can’t be forced, ordered or expressed on demand: it has to come from within the body, completely naturally; it’s either there or it’s not – at least that’s how I have experienced it to be.
They certainly do, Michelle819, and I have a sense that babies are joyful in their bodies, so that even a touch on the hand, a tickle, a connection with the eyes, anything can be a source of joy and chuckling for them because they are totally at ease and in acceptance of their bodies. Of course, everyone accepts them, too! I have to ask, when do we arrest that joy and at what stage do we stunt ourselves down and small from the joy and when do we drop acceptance and take on judgement….and then stop chuckling?
That’s a great question to ask! I know that one of the reasons starts to come when we feel that the amazingness in ourselves is causing reactions in others that we don’t want to feel. We calibrate to not rock the boat and to fit in. We settle for recognition instead through what we do, and in that settlement we have compromised who we are so stop accepting ourselves.
I have a feeling, michelle819, that I have seen the Dalai Lama having a little chuckle in the past, and I too equate it to something he would do a lot. He does have such a sense of humour, really sees the funny side of life.
I was with Chris James over the weekend doing his sound retreat – quite honestly Chris has got laughing and chuckling down to a fine art too. Totally inspired by his humour and seeing the funny side to everything. Totally love it. I don’t think I have laughed so much in such a concentrated period of time!! Not sure I managed a chuckle though – I was probably close. Being reminded not to take life so seriously and that laughter and humour can always be had no matter what is going on for you is a breath of fresh air!!
I had a gentle chuckle at the description of your student’s delight when he shared his experience of a chuckle.
Beautiful blog about the body expression of words and therefore the truth of words and not just an interpretation of it. How amazing if we would live all words like you describe “to chuckle” – live true harmony when we use the word harmony, live the truth of education, live true learning…… Live and express love always.
I love this Rachel. True responsibility in words and in what we speak — live and express harmony, truth, love, joy. And we can all live and express like this.
So true and so inspiring Rachel, feeling what we truly want to express and expressing what is true in what we do. Words are such a support. With them it is like painting our feelings on a canvas for all to see.
Rachel yes, the body expansion of words, I felt that too, and how important it is that we understand the true meaning of words and how they are, and how when words are expressed in truth there is a lightness and joy in us in our bodies.
So true Nico and this is a great marker for all of us to look at the actual quality the words are holding when we express. As vessels of energy this gives us an immediate check in point of from where we are speaking and what we are letting through. The more love we hold in our bodies the more love can be expressed, very simple, but logical process for a vessel of energy. Each time we express is a point of reflection on how to deepen the love we are and to never obstruct evolution by holding back on truth.
Superb CBH, I tried very hard to chuckle throughout your blog, but it seems what you say is very true. I also wonder if we in fact applied this same principal to many of our words, that it would change the truth and accuracy of what we express. I have discovered the truth behind the body being the marker of what is true also, as Serge Benhayon presents, and all words have a true meaning which when understood, can be felt through the body. I laughed inwardly to myself as any chuckle remained elusive… and will from here on be more aware of the difference.
Chuckle is a great word that sounds like it feels. The English language is constantly changing with words being dropped and added, as we as a society change. Words like ‘hangry’ – getting angry due to hunger and a drop in blood sugar – was recently added; another ‘body’ word. I never had the need to define what chuckle means, but if I had to, I would say that it is a laugh that occurs in recognition of an inner knowing.
Awesome Jinya, that resonates with me also ‘a laugh that occurs in recognition of an inner knowing’
CBH, it was gorgeous to wake up and read your block this morning. Chuckling is such an amazing word, as you say, felt rather than defined. Thank you for opening our hearts to the sheer joy of chuckling in a gentle amusing way
CBH this is such a delightful and joyful blog to read, and chuckling is as you say, an experience of joy bubbling up in the body when we don’t need any one else to share it with or to confirm the mirth. We can be joyful sharing in what another is offering, and how gorgeous is that!
It was great to remember what chuckling feels like in the body CBH it really is such a joyous occasion and I remember feeling really at one with my body when I experience it – it’s like an inside tickle. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Oh shellyjones44, I’m feeling that inside tickle right now, and really want to pass it on!
I can feel how joyful is the word ‘chuckle’. It’s a word that comes from so deep inside and is palpably felt, it expands me from the inside out.
This is a great lesson in understanding the meaning of words through the experience in our bodies CBH, thank you for presenting that to us. Your blog got me to ponder about the fact that of course we do feel all words we speak in our body and we know exactly, although not always conscious, what words to use in a certain situation are appropriate to use. Dependent on how I am connected to my body and to my inner most, the words I express differ as when I am connected to my tenderness the words I use are from there and will never harm anybody. But when I am disconnected from myself I can use words that are for instance expressed from a frustration I allow to build up in my body and words from there will hurt anybody I hold responsible for this frustration.
Therefore our bodies are our great resource for the words we express, and the word chuckle is an experience that is from the joy of our body in its connection with the truth and restores pure joy and laughter into our world.
Yes Nico, beautifully put. For me this highlighted that words are having no more power than our body does, and that our body actually knows the meaning of words better then our minds. We are so beautiful and exquisite that our body learns us all – everything, really everything.
Great point Nico and Danna, words need to come from our body to have any impact or meaning, if they come from the head they are empty and do not fully deliver what they are meant to.
How words we use change depending upon the energy we are connected with I had not considered before but it so true. Thank you Nico for sharing this.
I agree too it’s the energy we choose that will determine our words we use.
CBH what a lovely blog, I had a smile on my face the whole time. I love it when children ask questions that make us stop and feel and then together we learn or in our case relearn something. I can’t wait for my next chuckle so I can observe it.
Me too lindellparlour, I love the innocence children often ask questions with. Questions which we would normally just brush off yet because someone is asking them we have to stop and ask ourselves what exactly do we mean by that.
I will be observing my next chuckle intently, what you’ve written feels very light and true.
Its true pernillahorne, I will be paying much more attention to my chuckles 🙂
Me too it’s on the radar – I look forward to defining its meaning more. I can say though I am aware on what chuckling is – I clocked the joy when reading and taking note on what was shared, and understood the complete and in depth description. Haha, chuckle chuckle !!
CBH, reading your blog I learned new english words; chuckle, mirth and effervesce. Gorgeous words and a lovely blog in which I feel your playfulness in experiencing what goes on in your body. Very beautiful that you share this with your students, one of those moments that will stay with them for they were asked to feel something from their body, this does not happen as often as it should.
Yes a great opportunity to share this bodily experience with your students and one that I am sure many of them will come back to fondly. When we are real and playful it has far greater impact than when we get caught up in the seriousness of ‘getting it right’.
I totally agree Katinka. CBH certainly has much to offer in the classroom by simply allowing the students to feel for themselves. I too learnt a new word – Mirth! Seems we’re also getting a bonus lesson!
Yes Katinka, I was attentive to learning and understanding these new words too. It was interesting how I chose to feel them and if they felt right for me to use in my expression. Some words I am open to while others seem to come with baggage. Words and how i feel to express and communicate really define how it’s needs to be heard in another’s body. It’s so interesting …
I so agree Rik that feeling words, really feeling them is very interesting. I am involved in translating official documents from the EPA (Esoteric Practitioners Association) from English into Dutch and I love how in the translation process we allow to feel the energy of each word.
Coming back to CHB wrote for us, it is beautiful to share that with our children too, part of learning them to discern everything energetically.