The Power of Humor

How well do you receive feedback from other people?

Perhaps more importantly, how well are you able to suspend the story in your head and actually hear someone else's words? I'm currently reading through the book Thanks For The Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, and boy has it been revealing!

One of the concepts I just finished reading about focused on dismantling "distortions" so that we can see feedback at "actual size." This has got to be one of the most important life skills you can develop. I can't tell you how many times I've made mountains out of molehills. Thankfully, we can learn to right-size our perceptions.

What stood out to me most in this regard during my reading was the authors' encouragement to change your vantage point, along with the potent observation that:

"[C]omedy is tragedy plus time."

Wow, so true! It's ironic how the things that hurt us so badly in the present become fantastic and humorous stories through the passing of time. Who would have guessed how redemptive it would be to simply have lived to tell your story? It's actually downright hilarious how intensely we react to the pressure of the moment, the reality of things that neither truly hinder or harm us—like feedback from well-meaning friends or family.

For this reason, there is tremendous power in being able to project yourself into the future, imagining yourself reflecting on your current "problem" in absolute mirth, and then laughing at it now.

If it will be funny in the future, why not find it funny now?

At the very least, this will take the edge off of the intensity of the thing you feel threatened by and help you to regain a rational thought process.