Imagine life without humor. How do you think it feels like? Empty? Sad? Boring? What about when youre surrounded by humorless people all the time? People who are dour and unsmiling 24/7?
People who remain stony-faced even though those around them are dying of laughter? Would you want to be with people like this? Probably not.
On the other hand, think about the people who see the humor in everything. People who can see through the darkness and find a way to bring the light back.
People who arent afraid of looking at themselves through someone elses eyes, and then be capable of laughing at themselves and letting others laugh along with them.
Heres the interesting part. Humor is one of the first traits that gets cut off the moment life becomes difficult and challenging. In our daily struggle to win at life, to keep hunger and defeat at bay, we often replace humor with seriousness. Now, theres nothing wrong with being serious, but you cant totally replace humor with something akin to vitriol.
For instance, havent you noticed that those who have forgotten to laugh are those who usually look way older than their age? And those who embrace life and laugh wholeheartedly look younger than their years? Its amazing, isn’t it? To look younger, one simply needs to re-learn how to laugh, and laugh often at that!
With that said, here are a few ways having a sense of humor can help you generate a more positive mindset:
1. Its a great stress buster
Whether you like it or not, life will always find a way to make you feel stressed. You could be getting massages and practice meditation every day, but external forces will always try to box you into a stressful situation.
But, worry not! If youve got a sense of humor, youll be able to laugh your way out of it. Youll probably tell yourself, Oh, hello there stress! So nice to see you again! Some people wont find it funny, but if you did, then you just reduced your stress by a few levels!
2. It helps elevate your mood
Theres nothing quite like having someone funny around to cheer you up. Instead of having your emotions spiral down towards negativity, having a good laugh will lift up your spirits and your mood.
When you feel really, really sad, how about you try binge- watching funny movies? See if that doesnt lift your spirits up! You wouldnt want to binge-watch sad movies when youre feeling down as that will only depress you even more. Or, how about you call up your funny friends and bond with them over dinner or something?
Surrounding yourself with funny people during times of darkness is guaranteed to help you see life in a more positive light!
3. It brings people closer
Theres truly something special about people with funny bones. They not only make a room full of people feel better about themselves, but they can also help bring people closer.
When youre surrounded by happy, laughing people, your thoughts tend to go from negative to positive. You suddenly feel lighter, and youre able to put your problems at the back of your mind.
Shared laughter helps you maintain positive relationships with the people around you. Laughing together about something bonds people together.
Just be careful, however, not to laugh at someone elses expense. Jokes that hurt other people is never a nice thing to do it tears down relationships instead of strengthening it.
4. It helps diffuse tension and conflict
Humor can help diffuse tension in a room full of hot-headed people. When youve got people ready to come to blows, a well- timed joke can lead to people bursting into laughter instead. It takes a special kind of person to pull this off, however, if you succeed, then people will see you as a hero and thank you for the intervention.
Humor can make people see the conflict or problem in a different light. You can use humor to get your point across. Just be careful though that you deliver it in such a way that you wont offend anyone.
If you dont think it through, your humor can backfire on you big time instead of diffusing conflict, youll be making things worse. And you want to avoid that from happening at all costs!
5. It helps you see things from another perspective
Positive humor is great at making you take a step back and look for another angle to whatever problem or challenge youre currently facing. Its sort of like asking yourself, Whats the joke? or Whats the catch?
When you have that kind of mentality, youll be more likely to get over your negative emotions really quickly. Sure, you may feel affected and disappointed youre human after all but you dont let the negativity affect you. Instead, you use your humor to get you out of your rut and try to look for a way out.
6. It encourages creativity
Negativity stifles creativity. In order to be creative, you need to think outside the box and explore. You cant do that if you look at your craft or your career with a negative attitude. However, if you think positively and apply a little bit of humor to your situation, it can spark creativity within you!
As you learned earlier, humor helps you view things differently. When youre not too serious about things, you can actually let your mind wander around and play for a bit. Before you know it, youll have thought of something creative! Something that will allow even more positivity to enter your life!
7. It makes you more resilient
Resilient people are able to smile no matter what ails them. Whether its a natural disaster or a man-made one, resilient people can rise through it all. Thats because they can see beyond the darkness. They know that pain is temporary and fleeting. And that is why youll often see them still smiling and laughing even through their tears.
Being positive and having a sense of humor helps loosen those tight knots on your shoulders. It makes you feel relaxed and helps keep your problems at bay. This is what differentiates positive and resilient people from those who let all the negativity affect them.
