Grief can make laughter feel disloyal until you remember love wanted you alive.

The first real laugh after a loss can feel like a betrayal, as though joy were a form of forgetting. It is worth remembering what the person actually wanted for you. Nobody who loved you was hoping you would spend the rest of your life diminished. Continuing to live fully is closer to their wish than staying broken would be.

If guilt shows up alongside pleasure, try answering it directly rather than shutting the pleasure down. Ask what they would have said if they had seen you laughing. Most people find the answer is some version of good.