Lighten Up, Make the Best of Ourselves and Our World at Large, with a Humour Attitude
Seriously!?!
What is a Humour Attitude? Do you have to put on a costume and clown around or be a stand-up comic?
Nope. Let’s lay out some context/definitions to begin. The doorway of Humour leads to a Humour Attitude and yet this requires some effort and discernment. Humour according to the dictionary has a variety of definitions. We usually think of it to mean something funny, a joke, or making someone laugh.
The most profound definition of Humour is “our faculty of perception” – the way you see things. With a lighthearted perceptive/perspective attitude anyone can and gets to play.
A smile will bring it on.
A smile is the shortest bridge between two people.
~Victor Borge.
Healthy Humour promotes health and well-being, connects us to ourselves and others, increases our agency of choice, assists us to change, and finally to commit to follow through when the going gets tough or boring! However, how is It seriously possible or practical to utilize this perception/perspective, this ability to see things, to help you make your way in everyday life, in the business world for example?
It has been said that “Business is a shifting maze of human interaction. Humour, the way you see things, can help you navigate that maze.” Malcolm Kushner (‘The Light Touch, How to use Humor for Business Success’)
The word serious by the way, does not have to connote a furrowed brow, or a pursed lips attitude, – its most profound definition is “seen as important”. Therefore, it is vital as a leader to figure out ways to be a productive, resourceful leader, present for yourself and others. Humour can help.
With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die.
~Abraham Lincoln.
Humourobics enter the picture now. Humourobics help a Humour Attitude to actualize. Humourobics are fun, physical, often tactile, emotionally evocative, and thought-provoking reminders that anyone can use to STOP, to take the time in a SAFE way to feel our feelings and yet shift our perception to lighten up and so foresee ourselves within the communal world we are building around us. By doing this, regularly, we alter our perception from a destination to a destiny perception/perspective.
Wherever we are is our valid starting point. Beginner’s mind is an asset here. We get to practice by doing because Humourobics are all about doing something about the way you “see” things. They accomplish many things, from lightening your heart as you travel your long and winding road, to providing a bridge between where you are now and where you’d like to be. A Humour Survival Kit, a Nurture Kit, Tickle Trunk, or Toys: they’re simply a collection of Humourobics. They all contain playful, tactile reminders to lighten up and ‘listen’ to what is possible in this present moment.
Place them where you’ll come across them in your day – in a pocket, purse, on your wrist (tie a string around your finger,) or on your bathroom mirror. Get enough to share and your friends and family will give you more! It’s the “what goes around comes around “philosophy.
Here’s an example of what happened one day with a Humour Attitude and Humourobics.
Picture this: me at the cancer clinic listening to a nurse describe an upcoming procedure. What was said triggered events beyond what one can imagine.
A nurse’s use of metaphor, while describing the impending cancer test “It will feel like a bee sting.” She leaves the room to get the doctor. I decide to flee. “I had spent my whole life not getting stung by bees”. I plunged my hand into my purse, fishing around for my car keys, and found instead my juggling balls. I carried them with me everywhere, in the hopes I would eventually learn to juggle a bit. I needed to practice as I am a klutz by nature! And yet the idea of juggling was magical and so I plodded along.
The nurse re-entered to find me juggling badly. Conversation followed about the arts, street festivals, dreams of purpose, and fun. Cut to the doctor, announcing mid-test that I would need to walk up and down the corridors of the cancer clinic for 15 minutes before continuing. They would return. And the nurse noticed my stillness. What wasn’t being said. I was in despair of the pain-yet-to-come.
Stillness. Then she quietly asked, “Can you juggle while you walk?” That invitation led me to juggle in the hallways. Folks waiting for their treatments called out (stranger to stranger), “Next time I’m gonna bring my catcher’s mitt!” Laughter unexpectedly, rolled freely.
From there, 2 years later, a Humour Program was developed because someone had noted the occasion a patient juggled in the halls and how laughter and joy rippled out.
It started with that nurse. That perceptive nurse who listened deeply, received me, gently in our shared presence, with kindness, compassion, practicality, and playfulness… She, skilfully played in the moment that unfolded before her, no strings attached. With a twinkle in her eyes, she dared to toss out an invitation to me “Can you juggle while you walk?”
I caught her invitation, because depression, had been my companion for many years and I knew first-hand what a difference these tactile reminders to lighten up and be in the present made. We were a collaborative team. When I felt better, I volunteered for a number of years in the Cancer Clinic’s Humour Program and would tell the story of what happened that day.
What was said triggered events far beyond what she imagined would happen when she went to work that day. She made a difference. She bridged the gap between us.
The stories we tell are how we live our lives. In these times of change, it is heartening to share the stories that have enlivened us.
Here are some story prompts to recover and enjoy the smiles they uncover for yourselves.
When have you dealt with an upset client/employee/family member with a humour attitude?
When did you work with a group or a team to complete a project and used a humour attitude to brainstorm, pace, or re-focus the team?
What lifts your heart: about life, your pet dog/cat/turtle/pig/armadillo, that baby’s laugh, farts?
As these stories bubble up, I thank you and all the folks in my world community for these, world-shifting moments. My work is done with a smile coming to your lips.
Like the nurse in my story of over 30 years ago, you make a difference beyond what you know.
Have a wonder-filled week.
Out beyond ideas of right and wrong, there’s a field. I’ll meet you there.
~Rumi
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