The healthiest type of humor - and the best place to start - is to be able to laugh at yourself. Remember that you cannot laugh and be angry at the same time. They are incompatible. Try laughing and hollering at the same time. You can't do it! In order for you to be angry, you've got to stop laughing. If you can't laugh at yourself, go get a funny tape. Learn to distract yourself. The time it takes to listen to a funny tape is just enough time for you to think thoughts that will calm you and help you reassess your situation.
Laughter puts a bridge between the situation and you. It's your buffer zone, your oasis. It reminds me of the Quaker farmer who was milking a cow that demonstrated a very mean temperament. After much frustration and knowing his anger was rising within, he addressed the cow, "Thou knowest that I am a Quaker and cannot strike thee in anger and cannot curse thee, but what thou doth not knowest, cow, is that tomorrow I am going to sell thee to a Baptist, and he's going to beat thee with a rod."
If you find yourself wrapped in the blanket of depression, my suggestion to you is make a list of how an un-depressed person would be acting. Healthy, normal people would be getting up, getting dressed, going out and doing things. You may say that you don't feel like doing anything. If you want to feel normal, then you need to do normal, healthy activities every day to produce the feelings of normality. Flooding yourself with humorous materials has an analgesic effect. For a few minutes, you find yourself deflected away from your depression into the glorious throes of laughter.
That brings me to the emotion of fear. I am not talking about the kind of fear that comes as a result of a danger or threat toward your life. I am talking about the fear that is the result of speaking in front of an audience, asking someone out on a date, the fear of being embarrassed or even writing a book. Laughter can be the method you can use to help deal with the debilitating effects of fear.
President Dwight David Eisenhower got over his fear of public speaking by envisioning his audiences in tattered underwear. This humorous visualization gave President Eisenhower the courage to stand in front of crowds and give speeches throughout his political career. It is important that you can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy fear and anxiety. Ask yourself, "Is this the kind of fear or anxiety that any body would be experiencing in this situation?"
Laughter puts a bridge between the situation and you. It's your buffer zone, your oasis. It reminds me of the Quaker farmer who was milking a cow that demonstrated a very mean temperament. After much frustration and knowing his anger was rising within, he addressed the cow, "Thou knowest that I am a Quaker and cannot strike thee in anger and cannot curse thee, but what thou doth not knowest, cow, is that tomorrow I am going to sell thee to a Baptist, and he's going to beat thee with a rod."
If you find yourself wrapped in the blanket of depression, my suggestion to you is make a list of how an un-depressed person would be acting. Healthy, normal people would be getting up, getting dressed, going out and doing things. You may say that you don't feel like doing anything. If you want to feel normal, then you need to do normal, healthy activities every day to produce the feelings of normality. Flooding yourself with humorous materials has an analgesic effect. For a few minutes, you find yourself deflected away from your depression into the glorious throes of laughter.
That brings me to the emotion of fear. I am not talking about the kind of fear that comes as a result of a danger or threat toward your life. I am talking about the fear that is the result of speaking in front of an audience, asking someone out on a date, the fear of being embarrassed or even writing a book. Laughter can be the method you can use to help deal with the debilitating effects of fear.
President Dwight David Eisenhower got over his fear of public speaking by envisioning his audiences in tattered underwear. This humorous visualization gave President Eisenhower the courage to stand in front of crowds and give speeches throughout his political career. It is important that you can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy fear and anxiety. Ask yourself, "Is this the kind of fear or anxiety that any body would be experiencing in this situation?"
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