7 Things You Should Know About Your Sense of Humor
Everyone’s first laugh comes in first few months of life. Before you could even talk, you were laughing. Your sense of humor is one of the first things that those close to you ever noticed. Your sense of humor is unique. It is part of the very core of who you are. You aren’t you without it. And neither is anyone else.
Think about it: would you marry someone without a sense of humor? Could you be close to anyone without a sense of humor? How long could any relationship last without a sense of humor? How long would you last without a sense of humor? Your sense of humor may be the most interesting thing about you, here’s why.
1. It will change the way you see yourself and the world.
Your sense of humor is a perspective that has the power to transform your life. It makes everything more interesting, even in times of stress and boredom. It helps reframe problems that feel like dead-ends and turns them into something you can work with. Your sense of humor won’t solve your problems, but it can help you handle them. Like any tool, you can learn to use your sense of humor more skillfully. As you learn to work with it, you will find that you will want to use it more often. Your sense of humor always feels good—always. But it isn’t just something that makes you feel good—it is a powerful expression of your inner wisdom that reminds you of what you love in life, and what you want to share.
2. It’s the secret sauce in great relationships.
Your sense of humor makes relationships work. It is the one thing everyone is looking for in a relationship. All successful relationships have one thing in common: they depend on their sense of humor. Surveys and extensive interviews of married couples and on-line dating communities identify a sense of humor as the most important thing to look for when making a commitment. You know someone understands the real you when they understand your sense of humor. That’s why most people only laugh deeply when they are with good friends—it’s an unguarded moment; it’s the real you, with nothing faked. Love and humor are similar in a very special way—both are meant to be shared.
3. Four out of five doctors recommend it.
Your sense of humor is good for your health. It can help you manage and release chronic stresses at the root of disease and symptoms such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart attacks and ulcers. It boosts the immune system—laughter and cheerfulness have been shown to raise Immune System Lymphocytes, Immunoglobulin, Natural Killer Cells and Gamma Interferon. Unrelieved stress raises levels of destructive hormones such as cortisol and epiphrine; your sense of humor can help to lower them. Your sense of humor works directly on the anger and hurt feelings that result from taking yourself too seriously. It doesn’t make problems disappear, but it makes them much less stressful.
4. Moods change, your sense of humor doesn’t.
Your sense of humor is not a mood. Moods can enhance or disturb your ability to access your sense of humor; but moods come and go, your sense of humor is always with you, even if you aren’t aware of it. Emotions and misfortunes can temporarily cover it over, but your sense of humor can’t be erased. Your sense of humor can help you take command of a bad mood—many times, a bad mood is simply a refusal to listen to your own sense of humor. One thing you can always count on: your sense of humor will never make you feel bad. It is a unique perspective that will always work for you. It’s a way of seeing and experiencing the delight in world that belongs to you even in hard times.
5. Everyone has a sense of humor.
Your Sense of Humor is called a sense because it is a faculty of perception as essential as the physical senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight. Sometimes it is said that a person lacks a sense of humor, but this is fundamentally wrong: everyone has a sense of humor. Chances are that another person’s sense of humor is different from yours, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have one. When we say that someone doesn’t have a sense of humor, we are really saying that we don’t feel connected to them. We can learn to develop better access to our sense of humor—access can be cultivated, visitations can be encouraged! Friendships and goodwill toward your neighbors are usually the best settings for such visitations.
6. It’s a welcome mat for solutions to your problems.
Your sense of humor is a profound force of attraction. It transforms fear of the unknown into enthusiasm for new possibilities that lie ahead. Your sense of humor is deeply receptive, and can help accept the changes in life that are the hardest to accept. Whatever you already have and whatever want—none of it is enjoyable without a sense of humor. It’s like the flavor in food—it’s the deliciousness in life. It won’t necessarily make you money, but it will always grant you a truly valuable perspective and will enhance your enjoyment of life. Our sense of humor expresses our capacity to give and receive, to take in and to let go, and to enjoy whatever life brings us.
7. It’s the real you.
Your sense of humor is not about making other people laugh, or whether you can remember a joke. A musician can play a song that she doesn’t like, and play it so well that her audience is thrilled. A comedian can tell a joke and get a laugh from a joke he doesn’t personally find funny. But you can’t really laugh at something that you don’t think is funny. Your true sense of humor can’t be faked. You will always find it relaxing because it’s just you being you. Like sex, if you fake it, it isn’t relaxing.
Have you ever felt like you couldn’t be yourself in a certain situation? That usually means you were in a situation where you didn’t feel comfortable sharing your sense of humor. Ultimately your sense of humor is about trust, especially the ability to trust yourself. When you trust yourself you don’t have to take yourself too seriously—that is, more seriously than a situation calls for—and you can really enjoy your sense of humor.