The Importance of Humor

by Robert Stuberg

Have you ever thought about how important humor is to your life? In thinking about the subject for the past few days, I found myself reflecting on how critical humor really is in our lives.

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I can't imagine going through a day without laughter. In fact, when I think about those times in my life that were the most difficult, I find myself remembering how somber things seemed. There was little humor and not much laughter. Conversely, when I think about those times from the past when I was most alive, I immediately begin to recall experiences that made me laugh.

Certainly one of the best ways to ruin your life would be to take everything too seriously, especially yourself. Have you ever noticed how really successful people are able to laugh at themselves? I don't think I've ever met anyone worthy of modeling who didn't make humor an integral part of his or her life.

While much has been written over the years about how to be happy and successful, most people shy away from talking about how to be unhappy and unsuccessful. But, of course, studying contrasts can be very enlightening.

When it comes to being unhappy or miserable, I think I've learned a formula that never fails. See what you think. It's simply this: Remove humor from your life. Don't laugh. Don't look for the humor in the experiences you go through on a daily basis. That'll do the trick don't you think? All you have to do to add unhappiness and misery to your life is to remove humor. That will undoubtedly help you find your way to total misery.

Luckily, the reverse is also true and I think we all know it deep down. So the question is: Why don't we laugh more? Why don't we look for ways to lighten up and find more levity and have more fun? I think like a lot of good things in life, we tend to forget what works and we need to be reminded of the simple truths.

Humor will make every part of your life better. It will help you through difficult times and it will help you make the good times even better. It will attract good people and good situations to you. You'll become a magnet for positive experiences. And it's well documented that daily laughter will make you healthier.

But, of course, there is a downside. You may start to lose some people in your life. People who don't have a good sense of humor will probably start avoiding you. They'll probably start to wonder if you've joined some kind of weird cult. And, of course, you'll have to decide how to handle this. Should you try to change them or try to get them to laugh once and awhile? Sure. It might help. But don't be surprised if they fail to see the humor and continue on with their sour way of looking at the world. Ultimately, we can't change others, we can only change ourselves.

Besides, have you ever noticed how some people wouldn't be happy if they weren't miserable? There may actually be something humorous about that.