Years ago, I was visiting my son and his girl friend in San Diego. As I was preparing to return to New York City, they took me to one of my favorite spots by the ocean. I held my arms out, turned my face up to the sun and said something to the effect of how much I loved the place. At that precise moment several seagulls apparently needed to poop, and it all landed on my arms. My son and girl friend were laughing so hard they were crying, and no one came to my aid. At the time I didn’t think it was quite that funny.
However, over the years I’ve loved and treasured any opportunity to laugh. Seems there just aren’t enough opportunities for me or others to experience humor. And MBA candidate Eric Tsytsylin claims we’re in a “laughter drought.” Babies laugh, on average, 400 times a day he says, and people over 35, only 15.
Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity says Alison Beard in a Harvard Business Review article, “Leading with Humor.”
Humor is subjective of course, and yet the more ways we can help people smile, or even laugh, the better off we’ll all be. Not everyone can tell jokes—I hired a comedy writer once who told me I just wasn’t funny, so not to use the material. But, thank goodness, there are lots of ways to experience humor. What can you do today to make someone smile? Humor is also contagious, so one smile will inevitably lead to others.
