FINDING THE FUNNY SIDE OF LIFE

Lion dance troupe traveling in lorry.

How are you at finding the funny side of life?

I grew up in the state of New Mexico, whose slogan is: "Land of Enchantment." In New Mexico we learned to live with dusty wind. Gusting dust storms bit into the skin, irritated eyes and sometimes even chipped paint off cars. Howling wind occasionally blew for several days straight.

Each Spring my mother complained about the dust. It seemed that a fine film covered every surface in the house, no matter how often we cleaned.

I appreciate the story of a newcomer to the Land of Enchantment who learned about dusty breezes. She was visiting an antique shop and the proprietor wiped down every item before showing it. The newcomer said, "Everything gets dusty here pretty quickly, doesn't it?"

"That's not dust, honey," the shop owner replied. "That's ENCHANTMENT."

Sometimes the only sense you can make of life is a sense of humor! Here was a person who took a negative and turned it into something humorous. That made the problem more palatable - easier to swallow. Finding the funny side can be especially important if your problem is one of those that, at least for now, can't be solved.

A Hong Kong shopping center manager faced such a problem when an escalator broke. He posted a sign to warn customers. He opted not to use the traditional "Out of Order" or "Do Not Use" warnings. Instead, his sign read, "This Escalator Is Temporarily a Stairway." He turned a
minus into humor and made it a plus.

Frank A. Clark says, "I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it." That way, if you're stuck with the situation for a while, you always have a ready excuse to laugh.


From Lifesupport.