Humor

Well, I went pretty heavy on you last week. Humility! And believe it or not, I have more I can write on that.

But, this is a good time to remember to laugh. As some of you may have caught on, I value a sense of humor. I think the worst insult I can give someone is to describe them as humorless. Fortunately, almost everybody has a sense of humor, although you have to dig deeper to find it in some people.

Yet, study after study shows the benefits of laughing. It boosts your immune system, improves moods, and helps prevent heart disease! Laughter even burns calories (not a lot, but I’ll take any loss I can get). Laughter is so important, there is now laughter yoga. Really. It’s a thing.   (And, yep, Theresa already knew that. I’m so surprised).

At work, it can easily improve communication and cooperation. An article in Forbes  listed several benefits of humor at work:

People will enjoy working with you — humor can build friendships.

It is a great stress buster — it actually allows you to shift your view and physically relaxes you.

It is humanizing — people at all organizational levels can find common ground in humor.

Ha+ha=aha — Humor is shown to help in creative thinking.

It boosts morale — it makes work more fun and people enjoy coming to work.

People who use humor are more approachable — and people approach them more openly.

It can increase productivity — it encourages thinking outside of the box.

The article also lists a well-known caveat about humor:  “It’s hard to do well and easy to do badly.” Humor is edgy and can be offensive, especially when people force their humor. And everyone has their own tolerance for what we can laugh at — you need to figure that out before pushing the boundaries.  For example, I know I can make fun of Kristi’s fashion choices because she is good at laughing at herself and has enough self-confidence to not take it seriously. (Plus, she looks at how I dress and has an even heartier laugh).

Some times, I just need a laugh. Believe it or not, I have my “go-to” ways to laugh. Usually, I just look in the mirror but that laughter always leads to tears for some reason. I can watch “Young Frankenstein” anytime for a laugh.

Growing up, I loved the comedian Foster Brooks, which none of you have likely heard of. He was on a lot of variety shows and celebrity roasts, which were popular in the 1970s. Brooks always played a drunk, which was obviously a good role model for me as a growing child. Of course, you have to remember at that time that in sitcoms like Bewitched the husband can’t get far in the door before he has a drink in one hand and a cigarette in another — it was just the time. Brooks was actually sober during his famous time, although he was a recovering alcoholic. In other words, he was usually laughing at himself. Below is a clip I’ve probably seen a 100 times where Brooks has a conversation with Dean Martin (and if you don’t know who he is, don’t tell me). Brooks was known for improvising and you can tell Martin is caught off guard.

Enjoy a laugh today. And every day!