The Emotional Intelligence of Humor

Telling jokes is a social activity, but if you're "in it" just for the laugh, an emotional roller coaster is bound to appear out of thin air begging you to take a ride. If you do, be prepared to become a roller coaster junkie. 

Humor is like an innocent confession whereby we're admitting freely to the world what we think is funny, what we think is ironic, or what we think is just downright ridiculous. In sharing, there's always the risk of encountering opposition.

Since you can't control how others perceive the world, you have to be mindful of what you joke about. This doesn't mean that you play the audience, but rather that you respect your audience. In doing so, you don't give up that individual aspect of yourself that respects the value of humor. 

When you're committed to lightening your burdens and those of others through the use of humor, others don't rain on your parade. While arguably not every moment in life calls for humor; the ability to step back, to evaluate whether or not you're going to ride a specific wave of energy or emotional experience, is entirely in your hands.

Howard Gardner, a psychologist at the Harvard School of Education said that: "The time has come to broaden our notion of the spectrum of talents. The single most important contribution education can make to a child's development is to help him toward a field where his talents best suit him, where he will be satisfied and competent. We've completely lost sight of that. Instead we subject everyone to an education where, if you succeed, you will be best suited to be a college professor. And we evaluate everyone along the way according to whether they meet that narrow standard of success. We should spend less time ranking children and more time helping them identify their natural competencies and gifts, and cultivate those. There are hundreds and hundreds of ways to succeed, and many, many different abilities that will help you get there." 

Visionary educators actively involved in helping shape the minds of the world's youth know this statement to be true. As we grow as a global community, as we grow as individuals, we learn to see that this applies to adults as well as children. Often times we give liberties to children and then yank them away from adults. Seeing the brilliance behind the contributions that others make, helps us find the courage to share our own. 

Some people decide to keep their hands inside the roller coaster at all times, others white knuckle the ride, while others lift their hands in joyous celebration of the ups and downs! However you choose to ride the energie strands of manifestation is your choosing. As for me, I fastened my seat belt securely, and found within myself the resolve and humility to let go and enjoy the ride!