The Value of Humor The reason I chose the title "Uncovering Humor in Daily Life" is because I believe
humor is a matter of perspective and subjects of humor are always present in our lives. It's left up to us to discover them. Humor is valuable because it helps us learn to be flexible mentally, relieve and cope with stress emotionally, helps circulation and breathing physically, and makes us more appealing socially.
The Many Varieties of Humor Humor comes in many forms. From lighthearted to sarcastic, from hopeful to verbal puns, kinds of humor vary from person to person. All humor can be evaluated after the matter as productive or nonproductive, helpful or nonhelpful, fun or irritating, and encouraging or nasty.
The Ability to See Humor in Daily Life The ability to see humor in daily life is a learned skill that can be acquired growing up or in adulthood with some practice. You just need to "have your eyes open." Here's a quick true story. One day while I was driving through a local town on a major highway with shopping malls on both sides,
I saw a mallard duck and it's ducklings literally wait at a sidewalk until the light changed red and traffic stopped to cross a crosswalk. Next, they all proceeded to crossover to the other side walking strickly in the crosswalks. "If only I had my camera or could use my cell phone!" I thought. Soon we won't need crossing guards anymore...the ducks are taking over! After all, it only takes a few fish to pay a duck off for their work! What Keeps Us from Discovering Humor in Our Lives
A number of things can keep us from seeing what's funny in our day to day lives. ¡0
Seeing ourselves as a perpetual victim. Some of us have truly suffered unfair treatment at the hands of other people. However, this does not mean that we need to stay a victim all our lives. Always being a victim is truly a life that
lacks hope, vitality, and fun. ¡1
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Overperformimg and/or overworkingFeeling like the burden of accomplishing multiple tasks always falls on us because we chose not to trust other trustworthy people or give them a chance ignores the value of a good team who shares responsibilities. And overworking lacks the balance of recreation and fun with work. Not being your true and creative self. Whether it means being a people pleaser, living in past pain and future fear, being stuck in our perspectives or thinking, or a combination of all the above, humor is lost when we are not truly and fully embracing the moment. Having a hard focus instead of a soft
focus. A hard focus is being so absorbed in some aspect or aspects of your life that you miss the big picture. Humor is often found in those moments when we observe something that's so funny that the big picture minimizes It's effect. ¡4
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Wearing an "agenda lense." Wearing an agenda lense also involves having a "hard focus." Someone who has an agenda lense views events and people in terms of how these things can be used to reach a specific criteria. Without flexibility of thought and response, spontaneous moments of humor are missed and/or stifled. Being a legalist. The definition of a legalist for the purpose of this article is someone who is preoccupied or
obsessed with rules and lacks openmindedness, genuineness, and the ability to be spontaneous. Rules are a necessary fact in our lives to protect our own and others' freedom. But too many self-imposed rules tends to make us stuffy and uptight.
What Helps Us Discover Humor
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Don't take things so seriously. You may have heard someone tell you this at some point in your life. It's important in life to know what's truly important and what's just appearing as urgent in the moment but is truly passing with time. The things like the people we love and our dreams and passions endure with time. Our personal mistakes, temporary setbacks, people's opinions, and a host of other trivial things need not be taken so seriously that we lose our peace, joy, and sense of humor. Just relax. This is also something you may have heard sometime in your life. Being so uptight and allowing stress to make you tense is counter to being
spontaneous and embracing the moment. Just by "letting stressful and hurtful events and occurrences go through you" or processing them in a healthy way allows you to be more open, present in the moment, and able to see the big picture. ¡8
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Just put things in perspective. Things could be better, but they also could be worse. You can get through this difficult time or challenge as long as you realize you can minimize or exaggerate things sometimes. This means you need to be completely honest with yourself and/or see someone who has it worse than you do. Have a healthy self-esteem. Being stuck up, overly critical, boasting, and being
contentious are all signs of ego and pride that really cover up our own insecurities. Not accepting compliments, allowing others to abuse and/or manipulate us are all signs of a low selfesteem. When we are humbly confident in our practiced abilities, can forgive ourselves of our shortcomings, and see ourselves as equals with others we have a healthy self-esteem. This in turn leads to moments of spontaneous fun and enjoyment. To Sum It All Up Humor is valuable because it helps us mentally, emotionally, physically, and socially. Humor is as diverse as people and we all have our own sense of it that is fun
and productive. Roadblocks to uncovering humor in our lives include perpetual victim mentalities, overperformimg and overworking, not being your true and creative self, having a hard focus instead of a soft focus, wearing an agenda lense, and being a legalist. Factors that help us discover humor include not taking things too seriously, learning to relax, putting things in perspective, and having a healthy self-esteem. Your Turn Now So how about you? Have you discovered your own sense of humor that is both productive and fun? If not, what barriers are keeping you from discovering your
unique humor? What factors can you put into practice more consistently in order to uncover humor in your daily life? This article was written by an SFM affiliate. For information on how enjoy the fulfilled life you would like to live through building an affiliate marketing business, check out this website: http://connect.thesixfigurementors.com/sp/ free-trial-long-vid/sales-pages?id=skmartin