 Welcome to -Humor Your Tumor This column will hereafter be a permanent feature of this web site, although its content will change monthly. It is dedicated to all individuals (and their loved ones) who are now battling cancer, and to Survivors whose cancer is in remission. I’ll occasionally leave you with a joke. This will usually be related to cancer, or some other source of stress in our lives. If you’ve heard a joke along these lines that you love, and would like to see it made available to everyone in this column, please send it to me at HaHaRemedy@viconet.com. Humor Your Tumor An elderly woman was taking care of her 3-year-old grandson and took him to the beach. As the child made sand castles, she dozed off. As she slept, a huge wave dragged the child off to sea. When she awoke, she was devastated, and fell on her knees and prayed. "God, if you save my grandson, I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll do whatever you ask." Suddenly, a huge wave tossed the child back on the beach at her feet. She saw that there was color in his cheeks, and that he was breathing. He was alive! She hesitated, put her hand on her hips, and looked skyward as she said sharply, "He had a hat, You know!" When you got to the punchline, did you laugh? Or at least smile? Like most humor, some people will find this little story very funny, while others won't think it's very funny at all. The first thing to be aware of when you start making an effort to improve your sense of humor is that humor is like beauty. It's in the eye of the beholder. There is no right or wrong when it comes to what's funny. If you think it's funny, it's funny! While we may disagree on how funny any particular event or idea is, the important thing is that you find something to laugh at every day. To this point in Humor Your Tumor, we've focused on how it's important for your health and well-being to build more humor and laughter into your life. In the next few months, we'll adopt a more practical approach and show you how to build up the humor skills you need to use humor to actively cope with your cancer or any other major stressor in your life. All of the guidelines I'll be offering are extracted from my book, Health, Healing and the Amuse System: Humor as Survival Training (to order, call 800-228-0810). This book contains detailed suggestions of the things you need to be doing an a week-to-week basis in order to gradually get yourself to the point that you can use your sense of humor to cope. The first thing to do is determine the nature of your own sense of humor. What kinds of movies, TV sit coms, cartoons, jokes, etc. to you find very funny? What kinds of humor do you dislike, or react indifferently to? To get a better feel for this, spend a week or two just jotting down examples of the kinds of humor you like as you come across them. After a week or so, see if you can find a pattern. Another way to think about your sense of humor is in terms of whether you are someone who often initiates humor, or mainly enjoys the humor of others. When you do make others laugh, is it by telling jokes or funny stories, coming up with your own spontaneous witty remarks, or sharing a funny incident you observed or experienced? Do you have a dry sense of humor? Do you act funny? Are you good at laughing at yourself? Do you find things to laugh at only when you're in a good mood, or do you keep your sense of humor under stress? Give yourself a week or two to think about all this, and then try to write down in some detail just what kind of sense of humor you have. You'll find that it helps to talk to friends and family members who know you well. As you compare notes on things you do and do not find funny, you'll gradually find a picture emerging of your unique sense of humor. To move more quickly in doing this, make it a point to immerse yourself in humor every day. Hang around your funniest friends, go to (or rent) comedy movies, read the comics in the newspapers, seek out the cartoons in magazines, and read funny books. As you do this, keep a notebook with you and make notes about what you thought was funny (and why, if you know why). But be sure to not become too analytical about this and make it work. Do it with a friend, and make it fun! "Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process ." (E. B. White) If you find the time, try also thinking about the important people in your life who you think have influenced the development of your sense of humor. For an especially interesting experience, talk to your parents or others who knew you when you were a child, and see if you can find clues to your present sense of humor in the humor you showed as a child or adolescent. Next month, we'll start developing the basic foundation for your sense of humor.
Click here to link to Dr. McGhee's web site at www.LaughterRemedy.com. Click HERE for additional articles by Dr. McGhee on Humor and health/coping. |
||
