01/23/06 Laughter

This is where it's at! Being able to laugh, not in malice but in sheer joy, is probably the most healthy thing I can think of. It's good for you physically and mentally. And be able to laugh at yourself! I taught for ten years, drama and English and all kinds of related things, and I discovered that you have to be able to laugh at yourself or you get really grumpy really quickly. Example - I had a stage in my classroom, just a little one, big enough for small scenes but not a full production. I'd walk around the room while I was lecturing, and I frequently ended up on the stage. I was tryinig to make a point to one of my classes and figured I'd casually put my foot up on a stool. Looking cool, you know? Except that I missed and fell over backwards, right on my ass. Had I not been wearing jeans, we'd have ALL been shocked, but as it was, you could hear a pin drop when I landed. I came up off the stage floor, howling with laughter. The kids were stunned that I could laugh at that (high school is all about image!), but as soon as they saw that I wasn't really hurt and was mildly embarressed, and mostly just amused, we all hooted until we cried. Later, one of the girls asked if I wasn't horrified at being so clumsy, and I told her that I'd had so much experience at making a fool of myself that it didn't bother me any more. If you can laugh at yourself when you do something silly, it takes a world of pressure off you. Everyone spills the soup, slips on the ice, trips on the sidewalk. How you handle it tells the world a lot about who you are. Laugh, and you'll feel better.