Levity begets longevity. Medical research has long corroborated such. Physical benefits of humor include the exercising of muscles and organs, increased oxygen and blood flow, and release of those God-given antidepressants we call “endorphins.” Physicians also assert that humor relieves stress, which is healthy.
I am no doctor, but I do know these three things:
• Humor will get you through anything;
• There is humor in everything; and
• Humor feels good.
In other words, humor is a readily available coping mechanism.
Patty Wooten agrees – A sense of humor is both a perspective on life – a way of perceiving the world – and a behavior that expresses that perspective. It is a quality of perception that enables us to experience joy even when faced with adversity.
But we must look for the humor. Often humor is apparent. Other times, we need to prompt our internal chuckles.
One prompt is to ask ourselves a question. What if . . .?
Take joy suckers. You know the kind of people I’m talking about. When these folks enter a room, all oxygen dissipates. Joy suckers reek of gloom and doom. They say that will never work; we’ve tried that before. (Translated: The sky is falling . . . wanh, wanh, wanh!)
Joy suckers are universal. When one invades my day, I wonder to myself, What if we install oxygen masks in all ceilings? That way, when a joy sucker enters the room and there’s a sudden drop in cabin pressure, voila, the masks will drop down! This visual cracks me up every time.
Joy suckers commonly come in the form of bosses or supervisors. Have you ever had a schizophrenic boss? Me, too!
We hear her heels clicking into the office with a dither every morning around 9:00. My coworkers and I intently peer from our cubes at the unsightly countenance, hoping to detect whether this is the more likeable woman or her evil twin, Cruella. Unfortunately, the mystery is most often solved by one of us stepping in the rank pile of her mood. The unlucky one stands licking his or her wounds (and wiping their shoe on the carpet), while the other workers tuck tail and vanish.
Hollywood knows her. You might have seen the film (The Devil Wears Prada). To quote Stanley Tucci’s character Nigel, All right everyone! Gird your loins.
I wonder, What if we hang a traffic light that had a sensor for her moods? Green would mean “this is about as good as it gets.” Yellow would mean “no one’s stepped in it yet, so best proceed with caution.” And red would mean “full DEFCON alert . . . Take cover!”
Her drama truly tickles me.
Join me in viewing our days through sitcom lenses. Sitcoms are funny because we relate to the universal truths. As my hero says:
The absolute truth is the thing that makes people laugh. – Carl Reiner
Life is a gas!
© 2013 Russ Riddle. All rights reserved.