Calming Humor
An article on the traits of calming people listed humor as a way to “lighten the mood”. Since one goal of my spiritual life is tranquility I read the piece, though my chest tightened thinking how “humor” has hurt me. Ridicule, sarcasm, put downs, racial or religious humor don’t feel funny. Bury the blond jokes, the Polish jokes, the Jewish jokes, and all the others. Joking at one person’s expense to make someone else feel better is sick. For years I was abused by those forms of “humor”. I even used them to entertain others. Once I realized humor was painful I avoided it. Only in the last decade has a healthy (strange) humor entered to my conversational repertoire.
My humor derives of noticing incongruities: the four year old wearing a packer sweatshirt over a pink fluffy tutu. I laugh at animal behavior such as the incident where a robin sat on top of the suet feeder, bent over to peck at the food. A red-bellied woodpecker landed on the opposite side of the feeder and looked up. Seeing the robin’s butt, the woodpecker used his long bill to poke the robin in the rear, thus taking control of the feeder. An additional source of humor is ME. So many times I plan for one outcome only to have to deal with another. Reminds me of the quote, “The best laid plans of mice and men”. Laughing at myself relieves many a difficult situation.
Healthy humor and the ability to laugh at life is a gift. What about you? How does humor enhance your life? Can you share it?