As a high school student I learned that I had the ability to make people laugh. I could do it in a number of different ways, mostly immature humor. I learned to value humor and laughter for how it made me feel and how how it made others feel as well. I even studied Steve Martin and read excerpts from other comedians on the joy of laughter.
But something happened…
Somewhere along the way, I lost a bit of my touch for laughing. I don’t know, maybe it was business pressures and the general cares of living that caused this. A good friend, Glen Jackson, recently mentioned that he thought I was too serious. I took that to heart and realized that he was right. I have allowed certain people, business and life to take some life from me.
Now it’s time to be intentional about bringing it back.
From this point forward I am committing to lightening up. Life is meant to be lived and for me laughter is one of my values. When I am light hearted, people thrive, as do I. When I am too serious, things get awkward.
I understand that this admission might be only for me. I also understand that for some of you humor is not your strong point. However, I do believe we can all take ourselves a little less seriously.
Try it a bit. What makes you laugh? What would it look like for you to lighten up?
I put this into practice recently at a conference I was at with Chick-fil-A. At their seminar I decided to relax and go with the flow a bit. In fact, I spent time with some good friends in the hotel lobby much later than I normally would. What happened was amazing. This group of night owls (Chris Carneal, Tim Elmore, David Salyers, Ken Coleman, Michael Williams, David Hoyt) and I began laughing so hard that we cried.
That moment of laughter was so good for me. It was one of the top three laugh moments of my life and I have had some good laughs with people such as Ray Griffin, Eric Hill and Lance and Stacy Humphreys. I just don’t want it to be too long between episodes again.
So, here’s my question for you… When was the last time you laughed so hard that you cried, could barely catch your breath, or looked like an absolute fool? Tell me what happened. Maybe I will do the same. : )
Life is meant to live and laughing makes us come alive.
