Good morning friends
Yesterday, I came across this quote from Wayne Dyer : “Observe yourself and others in this nutty world and then decide whether to carry around anger or develop a sense of humour that will give you and others one of the most priceless gifts of all—- laughter.” And I could see myself agreeing with this totally.
Many times, I have noticed that when people get together, the most common topics for discussion are how things are going wrong, how corrupt the society is getting, how things were good in olden times and how they are deteriorating day by day…. Once this kind of discussion/ gossip starts, it’s very difficult to put a stop to it. In fact, everyone participates in this mud- throwing game enthusiastically. ( I have often found myself getting carried away by these animated debates). Do these discussions serve any purpose ? Occasionally, some of us do get inspired to do something about changing the situation; but more often than not, it’s just empty talk which creates a lot of negative energy.
If we decide to act as Wayne Dyer says, and look at the situation with humour instead of anger, it has the potential to put us in a better mood. We have tried this out on a number of occasions and it has given us excellent results by turning anger or frustration into positive energy.
One example which I remember vividly took place many years ago. A close family friend had a tendency to preach us all the time and I used to get extremely irritated with him. On one occasion, we were to stay with him in his house. We decided to use the shield of humour to protect ourselves from getting angry and irritable and it worked beautifully. Every time, he said something that was likely to trigger us into anger, we looked at each other and smiled in a knowing way. And it worked wonders ! I still remember that trip because of the humour and the laughter ! And all this without antagonising him in any way !
Isn’t that also what cartoonists do so efficiently and effortlessly ? They highlight the ridiculousness of the situation which makes us laugh. ( And the cartoons also have the potential to galvanise some of us into taking action against the injustice.) And of course, laughter is much much better for our overall health than anger.
So, whenever possible, I have decided to use humour and laughter instead of anger and irritation. What about you?
Hope you can smile and laugh every day,
Love,
Anjali Bhatawdekar
