How to Stay Light Years Ahead of the Masses

When you make the choice to definitely commit to making a change in your life, you begin to focus the extraordinary force of your willpower to draw towards you everything that is necessary to successfully make the changes you desire. Properly focused consciousness is the fundamental secret to manifesting precisely what you want from life. The truth of our universe is that you draw into your life whatever you consistently think about. Unfortunately, we often allow our lives to be driven by the force of unconscious desires that were programmed into our minds many years ago. The good news is that these desires can be easily replaced with consciously directed focus. If there is an area in your life with which you are unsatisfied, I can guarantee that you are consistently repeating negative patterns installed into your mind at some point in your past, and you have not made an effort to consciously change these patterns.

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Riches: an Interpretation

How would you define the word riches?

The answer you give is exactly what this book will mean to you. When the word riches is used from here on, it will mean riches according to your interpretation.

Some of you will visualize riches as an unlimited supply of money; a regal estate; a yacht; an airplane, etc. And if this is your objective - fine. Build upon it in your imagination and, as you continue reading this book, you'll find it will be well within the realm of possibility to make your dream a reality.

Perhaps you interpret riches as meaning leadership: leadership in politics, in industry, in commerce, etc. Should your desires fall in this category, the contents of this book will put you on the right track to fulfillment.

You might think that wishing for both material riches and riches in personal power is expecting too much. But it is not. In fact you can hardly have one without the other. But beware! To wish for both - or even one - would get you nowhere. Be careful of that word wish! It can do you more harm than good as you'll later learn.

I once heard a definition of riches which may apply to some of you.

Edel and I were visiting the cozy bungalow of a day laborer and his family. The house was small, but very tastefully furnished. It contained most of the modern conveniences. The small yard showed evidence of a green thumb. The mortgage on the house had been fully paid off. The husband had an income on which the family could live comfortably, and he was assured a pension when his day of retirement arrived. The total physical assets of this family would not exceed $12,000.

"I consider ourselves to be the richest family in town," she said with great pride. "We have no financial worries" she continued, "and perfect harmony reigns throughout our house."

If you have not attained this level of riches, you can think of it as your first plateau and use the power you will gain from this book to lift you up to it. Upon reaching this standard you can raise your sights once more and continue your climb to higher and higher realms.

There are those on this earth who possess practically nothing of a material nature, but who consider themselves rich, because of their happy minds and healthy bodies.

I do not believe any one of us should aspire to be a Croesus, because material riches can engender unhappiness as easily as they can raise one to the heights of ecstasy.

At this point I am going to ask you a very pertinent question: "What is the greatest good one may expect from riches?"

To have money in the bank; to own a palatial home; to be able to entertain lavishly; to be able to travel anywhere anytime - in first-class manner - and to have a wardrobe which would be the envy of all, are a few of the things you might consider as being the advantages of riches.

Think of these things and anything else which might be associated with money and you will still be wrong as far as an intelligent answer to the question is concerned.

The real reason for wanting riches is to be happy. This is the end result of all accomplishment. Although one thinks his goal is riches, in reality he is seeking the soul-satisfying happiness which comes with achievement; the riches are his reward for attaining his objective.

At this point, let me cite a few illustrations which will make my point clear:

A New England capitalist had a unique way of spending his surplus money. He owned a large, fully stocked farm. Each summer a large number of underprivileged children was invited to spend a few weeks at this farm. The kiddies were given the best of everything: fresh, pure dairy products; the best meats of all kinds; delicious fruits and vegetables, etc. The boys and girls were under the supervision of affectionate, capable attendants.

This philanthropist could not possibly be happier using his money in any other way. He would retire at night with a smile as he thought of the joy he was giving to children who were not used to it.

And then there is a generous financier in New York who gains his happiness in quite a different way. He knows the value of home ownership and enjoys seeing young people own their homes free and clear of all encumbrances. He is constantly on the lookout for deserving young couples. When he finds one, he has his assistant make an investigation to learn the extent of the mortgage and who holds it. This big-hearted man arranges to have the mortgage paid off - anonymously - and a clear deed sent to the worthy two.

It is not hard to imagine the peace of mind this open-handed individual is gaining from life.

Permit me to give you an illustration from the other side of the fence: the story of a couple whose lives have been made unhappy through the acquisition of riches.

As soon as they became rich, they had quite an extravagant home designed and built. Their garage housed two of the most expensive automobiles. The wife would not think of buying her gowns in any place except Paris. The husband was most popular in the swankiest country club.

But was this couple happy? Not by a long shot.

On weekends they would entertain sumptuously and, of course, on Mondays they would find themselves with big heads and a "dark brown" taste in their mouths.

Through overabundant living, their digestion and general health suffered. Through dissipation, their faces accentuated their ages and lacked the magnetism so easily acquired with proper living.

Were they happy? Their every expression revealed unbearable boredom. The head of this family worked diligently - and, undoubtedly, intelligently - in his pursuit of happiness. He gained his wealth, but because he didn't understand just what true happiness was, he fell dismally short of his goal.

There is another definition of riches which should be considered and which, to my mind, is one of the most important of all.

"He lives a rich life" is often said about certain lucky people. What is a rich life? It is one well rounded with many interesting and illuminating experiences. Such a man's day is separated into units of creative work, rest, recreation, and entertainment. No one of these, alone, is enough to produce happiness.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is a saying I have heard since childhood; and it is true, no matter how many of us fail to heed its advice.

But to spend all your time resting would actually become tiresome. The purpose of the rest would be defeated. If rest and relaxation are indulged in between periods of work, they will both be thoroughly enjoyed, and you will also enjoy your work when you return to it.

Entertainment is the "dessert" one enjoys at the close of a satisfying day of work. Just as "all work and no play" is not to be desired, continuous entertainment would fail to give perfect happiness.

During periods of recreation you should allow time for constructive reading, and you should expand your circle of friends and acquaintances by allowing time to converse with others.

You can now see that a rich life is a blending of all the desirable elements of life.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH RICHES?

Before starting this chapter, I asked this same question of many men and women in all walks of life. The variety of answers was as different as the people questioned.

A mechanic said: "I would give up my job, sell my house, then do nothing but travel for the next several years."

Do you think he would be happy? I doubt it.

I knew a man who retired from the presidency of a large corporation. He sold his home and intended to spend much of his life traveling. He became so bored with this existence that he returned to his former city, bought a new home and established another business.

An office manager unhesitatingly answered the question thus: "I would buy this business and become my own boss." One does not have to be a psychoanalyst to learn much about this man from this simple answer alone. It is likely that this man is "bossed" too much, which makes him want to own the business so that he can do the bossing.

No man in business is ever his own boss. He has as many bosses as he has customers. He must give satisfaction or his customers will begin bossing him.

Perhaps this office manager is having financial difficulties and feels it would be great to head a company and have each mail bring him huge checks. But what this man and others seldom think about is that an executive's salary is just as dependent as the office manager's on the amount of money that comes into a large company.

Do not misunderstand me. It's great to head a business of your own; but you must grow into it.

A housewife was asked what she would do with riches. I liked her answer.

"I have so many friends and relatives who are not enjoying the best things in life. I would like to take them, one at a time, and do things to make them happy. One I might take to a fine store and outfit her from head to toe with good clothes. Another I would take on an all-expense-paid trip. Still another has a good head for business, and I'd like to help him to develop a small business."

The things she would do for others made a long and unselfish list. There was an expression of great sincerity on her face as she described what she would do with riches. She proved that she knew the truth of the statement that happiness comes from giving happiness.

A boy in his late teens was asked the same magic question: "What would you do if you had riches?"

"Aw, gee, mister, I don't know. I think, first of all, I would get Dad the motor boat he has always wanted. I would get Mom all the modern things for her kitchen and laundry so she wouldn't have to work so hard. And for me, I would go to one of the big colleges and study electronics."

Doesn't a statement like that make you wish you could give this lad riches right now so that he could put them to work in such a wonderful way?

An uncultured, uneducated man was asked what he would do with riches.

"What do I want with riches?" he blurted. "Shavin' and dressin' up for meals, and mixin' with the snobs and high-hats is not for me. I'm satisfied just as I am."

To men like him this book offers little help. They would read it fearing that some of the suggestions might rub off on them and cause them to change from their present relaxed mode of living.

WHY THIS DISCUSSION OF RICHES?

As you will discover before you finish reading this book, you can acquire riches - and in a manner far simpler than you ever dared to imagine. You can become rich in any form you wish: rich in material goods - money, home, etc.; rich in mental and spiritual blessings; rich in personal power and leadership; rich in friendships. Wouldn't it be a good idea then to begin deciding now what kind of riches you feel would give you the happiness you strive for?

If you have been living as the average citizen lives, earning enough to get by, having the necessities of life, and a few of the luxuries, your interpretation of riches may be rather mild. Your bills all paid and a few thousand dollars in the bank could be a situation so far beyond your present status that it would seem foolish to "dream" further.

Do you know that the ability to acquire riches is a state of mind? Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said: "Anything the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." To gain the full import of this statement, you must think about it. Your mind might conceive the wish: "I'd like to be a power among men; I'd like to have money - lots of it." But if your mind could conceive the picture of yourself as having power and money; and if you really believed you could have power and money - brother, watch out; you're on your way!

W. Clement Stone, when he was a young man (and he is still a young man), conceived the image of himself as the head of a large insurance company, and he deeply believed he could become the head. With a beginning of not more than $100, he went on to carve an insurance empire and multiply his original $100 into a personal fortune of $100,000,000. In the book he co-authored with Napoleon Hill, SUCCESS through a Positive Mental Attitude, he tells you how he did it. The pattern Mr. Stone followed was a simple one, once more proving the efficacy of Mr. Hill's motto: "Anything the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

"GROW RICH WHILE YOU SLEEP!"

Up to this point, nothing has been said about the provocative title of this book. It does sound fantastic, but as you learn more about the operation of the mind, you will find that our futures - whether successful or otherwise - are shaped in our subconscious minds, and mostly during the period of sleep.

Hundreds of self-improvement books have been published, but I doubt if many of them have been able to convey an understandable picture of the vital part our subconscious minds play in our lives.

The average concept of "mind over matter" is that if you think in terms of success, you will manifest success. This is true; but what does it mean? Do you really understand it?

A woman came to me, principally to take issue with some of my theories. She did not disagree with my statement that "we first think in terms of success before we manifest success." "But," she explained, "it takes more stamina than I have to follow through with the effort necessary to back up my success thoughts and make them a reality."

Her concept of developing mental power, and then making use of it is entirely wrong; and, I fear, it coincides with the thinking of most people who are exposed to theories of mental self-development.

I once wrote a booklet called "Developing the Urge for Self-Improvement." This treatise pointed out that most people, after leaving school and college, realize that their education - instead of being complete - is just beginning. They realize that they should take steps to add to their storehouse of knowledge - and many of them do. They get books and home-study courses and make a brave attempt at adding to their present knowledge. It is questionable how much good they derive from this additional study, because they are doing it feeling they should do it. But, if they can create the urge to want to study, they will do so because they get a thrill every time they learn something new.

If you are trying to establish a thinking pattern along success lines, and have to discipline yourself to act contrary to your natural tendencies, it becomes drudgery, and extremely boring. Few will continue with such a regime; coming to the conclusion that "this is not intended for me."

On the other hand, once you have accepted the idea that you are a success, your subconscious mind will guide you to the type of thought and action which will produce success. There will be no driving yourself to follow certain procedures; you will do all of the things in keeping with the success plan because you want to do them.

Isn't all of this exciting? Can you wait until you begin taking the steps which you now instinctively know will liberate you from "pay-day blues"?

No, I am not digressing from the remarks I made earlier about "growing rich while you sleep." I am including the previous points to help make it apparent to you that to grow rich while you sleep is not fantastic, but a natural phenomenon of the subconscious mind.

As I have pointed out in many of my previous books, we have two minds: the conscious and the subconscious minds. The conscious mind takes care of all of our thinking, scheming, and planning, while the subconscious mind looks after all of the involuntary operations in the body: breathing, circulation of blood, restoration of worn tissue, etc. In addition to this, it has reasoning powers independent of the conscious mind. While the conscious mind is working on one thought, the subconscious mind can be devoting itself to something else.

Haven't you often said: "I have a feeling I should do this" or "I have a feeling I should not do that"? I know you have. Where did that "feeling" come from? It did not float from free air and bump into your mental antennae. It came from your subconscious mind.

If the "feeling" was negative in its nature, it was because you habitually feed your subconscious mind with negative thoughts. And the reverse is fortunately true. Positive thinking will create positive reactions in your inner mind.

When you arise in the morning, what is your normal tendency? Do you slip into consciousness with the thought: "Well, another day at the grind. Gosh, I wish I could sleep another hour or two!"

Or, do you start your day with vibrancy and the thought: "Boy, I feel good! I'm going out and shatter all records today."

Why the great variation in day-openers?

Is there something physically wrong with the one who sluggishly starts his day? Perhaps yes in a few rare cases. In the great majority of instances, however, the condition at waking is a reflection of the thought pattern established in the subconscious mind the night before.

If you go to bed with thoughts such as: "Boy! Today was a tough one. I have some hard nuts to crack tomorrow which I am not looking forward to," etc., etc., etc., you are apt to be restless all night long, while your subconscious mind mulls over the "tough day" thoughts you gave it earlier. Is it any wonder you awaken dreading the new day?

But, suppose you go to bed building on such thoughts as: "Boy, will I knock them over tomorrow! Today was a fairly good day, but nothing to be compared with what I'll make it tomorrow. I'm going to turn in, have a good night's sleep, and wake up early, raring to start the big day." Isn't it easy to understand how such an established thought pattern will bounce you out of bed with extreme enthusiasm?

Now then, isn't a ray of light beginning to pierce the cloud of uncertainty which confronted you when you first saw the title: "Grow Rich While You Sleep"?

In fact, don't you begin to appreciate the fact that the only way you can trigger success consciousness is while you sleep?

Whenever a powerful thought seeps into my consciousness I sense a slight twitching in the general neighborhood of my solar plexus. This, I am sure, is the building within of an urge to "get-up-and-at - 'em."

Right now as I reread this chapter before starting on the next, I notice the same physical reaction, indicating, I am sure, that although the thoughts in this book are my own, and even with as much as I am accomplishing, I have far from reached my capacity of achievement.

HOW DO YOU FEEL

Has that "twitching" caught up with you? Do you now intuitively know that the magic password "Open Sesame!", which unlocks the door to a life of great abundance and glorious happiness, is yours?

If you don't feel the "twitch," you have not been concentrating while reading. So, for your sake, have a little break of some kind - thoroughly relax - and then reread this chapter before starting the next one.

In fact, in any event, it might not be a bad idea to read the chapter again before proceeding. It will be a fine way to get a good start to the new life awaiting you.

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Automatic Thinking

The advanced writers on the subject of psychology have given us many examples of the workings of the mind on the planes of what some have aptly called “Automatic Thinking,” We feel that it will be well to quote a few cases to illustrate this phase of the subject.

There are many instances stated of persons who had been earnestly endeavoring to solve certain problems and questions, but who had been compelled to lay aside the matters as incapable of solution at the time. In a number of such cases it is related that while thinking of something entirely foreign to the subject the long sought answer would suddenly flash into the field of consciousness, of course without any conscious effort on the part of the person.

A well-known writer, in giving an instance of the kind which had happened to him personally, states that when the answer came to him in this way he trembled as if in the presence of another being who had communicated the secret to him in a mysterious manner.

Nearly every person has had the experience of trying to remember a name, word, date, or similar thing, without success, and then after dismissing the matter from the mind have had the missing idea or word suddenly flashed from the Inner Consciousness into the field of the ordinary consciousness. Some part of the Inner Consciousness was at work trying to supply the demand, and when it found it, it presented it to the person.

Another well-known writer gives several cases of what he calls “unconscious rumination,” in which the mind worked silently, and below the field of the ordinary consciousness, after the person had read works relating to new subjects, or presenting new points of view essentially opposed to previously conceived opinions and views.

He states that in his own experience, he found that after days, weeks, or even months, he would awaken to a realization that his old opinions were entirely rearranged, and new ones had taken their place. Some have called this process “sub-conscious mental digestion and assimilation,” and indeed the process is akin to the work of the physical organism in digesting and assimilation,” material nourishment.

Sir William Hamilton is stated to have discovered an important mathematical principle while walking one day in the Dublin Observatory. He stated that upon the occasion he “felt the galvanic circle of thought close,” and the sparks that fell from the mental process were the fundamental mathematical relations of his problem, which as all students know now forms an important law in mathematics.

Thompson the psychologist has written as follows on this subject: “At times I have felt a feeling of uselessness of all voluntary effort, and also that the matter was working itself clear in my mind. It has many times seemed to me that I was really a passive instrument in the hands of a person not myself.

In view of having to wait for the results of these unconscious processes, I have proved the habit of getting together material in advance, and then leaving the mass to digest itself until I am ready to write about it. I delayed for a month the writing of my book ‘System of Psychology,’ but continued reading the authorities. I would not try to think about the book. I would watch with interest the people passing the windows.

One evening while reading the paper, the substance of the missing part of the book flashed upon my mind, and I began to write. This is only a sample of such experiences.”

Berthelot, the eminent French chemist who founded the present system of Synthetic Chemistry, has said that the experiments leading to his remarkable discoveries in that branch of science were seldom the result of carefully followed lines of conscious thought or pure reasoning processes, but, instead, came of themselves, from a clear sky, so to speak. Mozart, the great composer, once said: “I cannot really say that I can account for my compositions.

My ideas flow, and I cannot say whence or how they come. I do not hear in my imagination the parts successively, but I hear them, as it were, all at once. The rest is merely an attempt to reproduce what I have heard.” In addition to the experience above mentioned, Dr. Thompson has stated that: “In writing my work I have been unable to arrange my knowledge of a subject for days and weeks, until I experienced a clearing up of my mind, when I took my pen and unhesitatingly wrote the result.

I have best accomplished this by leading the mind away as far as possible from the subject upon which I was writing.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes has said: “The automatic flow of thought is often singularly favored by the fact of listening to a weak continuous discourse, with just enough ideas in it to keep the mind busy. The induced current of thought is often rapid and brilliant in inverse ratio to the force of the inducing current.”

Wundt has also said, on this subject: “The unconscious logical processes are carried on with a certainty and regularity which would be impossible where there exists the possibility of error. Our mind is so happily designed that it prepares for us the most important foundations of cognition, whilst we have not the slightest apprehension of the modus operandi. The unconscious soul, like a benevolent stranger, works and makes provisions for our benefit, pouring only the mature fruits into our laps.”

An English writer has stated: “Intimations reach our consciousness from unconsciousness, that the mind is ready to work, is fresh, is full of ideas. The grounds of our judgment are often knowledge so remote from consciousness that we cannot bring them to view.

The human mind includes an unconscious part; unconscious events occurring in that part are proximate causes of consciousness; the greater part of human intuitional action is an effect of an unconscious cause—the truth of these propositions is so deducible from ordinary mental events, and is so near the surface, that the failure of deduction to forestall induction in the discerning of it may well excite wonder.

Our behavior is influenced by unconscious assumptions respecting our own social and intellectual rank, and that of the one we are addressing. In company we unconsciously assume a bearing quite different from that of the home circle. After being raised to a higher rank the whole behavior subtly and unconsciously changes in accordance with it.

Commenting on the above, another writer adds: “This is also the case in a minor degree with different styles and qualities of dress and different environments. Quite unconsciously we change our behavior, carriage, and style, to suit the circumstances.”

Jensen has written: “When we reflect on anything with the whole force of the mind, we may fall into a state of entire unconsciousness, in which we not only forget the outer world, but also know nothing at all of ourselves and the thoughts passing within us after a time. We then suddenly awake as from a dream, and usually at the same moment the result of our meditations appears as distinctly in consciousness without our knowing how we reached it.”

Another writer has said: “It is inexplicable how premises which lie below consciousness can sustain conclusions in consciousness; how the mind can wittingly take up a mental movement at an advanced stage, having missed its primary steps.”

Some psychologists, Hamilton and others, have made a comparison likening the action of the mental processes to that of a row of billiard balls, of which one is struck and the impetus transmitted throughout the whole row, the result being that the last ball actually moves, the others remaining in their places. The last ball represents the plane of ordinary outer consciousness, the other balls representing the various stages of the action of the Inner Consciousness.

Lewes, the psychologist, commenting on the above conception, adds: “Something like this, Hamilton says, seems often to occur in a train of thought, one idea immediately suggesting another into consciousness—this suggestion passing through one or more ideas which do not themselves rise into consciousness.

This point, that we are not conscious of the formation of groups, but only of a formed group, may throw light on the existence of unconscious judgments, unconscious reasonings, and unconscious registrations of experience.”

In connection with these processes of the mind, on the planes below those of the outer consciousness, many writers have noted the discomfort and uneasiness preceding this birth into consciousness of the ideas developed on the unconscious planes. Maudsley says regarding this: “It is surprising how uncomfortable a person may be made by the obscure idea of something which he ought to have said or done, and which he cannot for the life of him remember.

There is an effort of the lost idea to get into consciousness, which is relieved directly the idea bursts into consciousness.” Oliver Wendell Holmes says: “There are thoughts that never emerge into consciousness, and which yet make their influence felt among the perceptive currents, just as the unseen planets sway the movements of the known ones.” He adds: “I was told of a business man in Boston who had given up thinking of an important question as too much for him.

But he continued so uneasy in his brain that he feared he was threatened with palsy. After some hours the natural solution of the question came to him, worked out, as he believed, in that troubled interval.”

The above experiences are common to the race, and nearly everyone who reads the above lines will at once recognize the occurrences as familiar in his or her own mental experience.

Among the many interesting cases related to illustrate the principle of “automatic thing,” or “unconscious rumination,” that of the famous mathematical prodigy, Zerah Colburn, is perhaps one of the most striking. This individual possessed a remarkable faculty of “automatically working out the most difficult mathematical problems.”

It is related of him, that while yet a child of seven years of age, and while he was without any previous knowledge of the common rules of arithmetic, he was still able by some intuitive Inner Conscious faculty, to solve the most difficult mathematical problems without the aid of figures, pencils or paper—by some Inner Conscious system of Mental Arithmetic.

At that early age, he was able in this way to immediately give the number of minutes and seconds in any given period of time, and to tell the exact product arising from the multiplication of any number consisting of two, three or four figures, by any other number consisting of a like number of figures. The records of his times give many wonderful instances of his strange power, from which we quote the following, as an illustration:

“At a meeting of his friends, which was held for the purpose of concerting the best methods of promoting the views of the father, this child undertook and completely succeeded in raising the number 8 progressively up to the sixteenth power. And in naming the last result, viz., 281,474,976,710,656, he was right in every figure.

He was then tried as to other numbers consisting of one figure, all of which he raised as high as the tenth power, with so much facility and dispatch that the person appointed to take down the results was obliged to enjoin him not to be so rapid. He was asked the square root of 106,929; and before the number could be written down, he immediately answered, 327. He was then required to name the cube root of 268,336,125; and with equal facility and promptness he replied, 645.

Various other questions of a similar nature, respecting the roots and powers of very high numbers, were proposed, to all of which he answered in a similar manner. One of the gentlemen asked him how many minutes there were in forty-eight years, and before the question could be written down he replied, 25,228,800; and then instantly added that the number of seconds in the same period was 1,513,728,000. He persistently declared that he did not know how the answers came into his mind.

Moreover, he was entirely ignorant of the common rules of arithmetic, and could not perform upon paper a simple sum in multiplication or division. In the extraction of roots, and in mentioning the factors of high numbers, he gave the answers either immediately, or in a very few seconds; whereas it requires, according to the ordinary method of calculation, very difficult and laborious work, and much time.”

A most peculiar sequel was noted in this case, for as the child was educated to perform mathematical calculations according to rule, and in the ordinary way, his wonderful power deteriorated, and in the end he was no more than the ordinary well-drilled child, so far as the branch of mathematics was concerned.

The instance of Blind Tom is also an illustration of “automatic thinking,” for this poor, blind creature—but little above idiocy so far as ordinary knowledge was concerned—possessed something in his Inner Consciousness that enabled him to play any piece that he had ever heard, even years before, with perfect reproduction of detail; and to also improvise wonderful strains, and harmonies.

Something was at work on the Inner Conscious planes of this poor black man’s mind—as if to show to a doubting and materialistic world the possibilities of the human mind and soul in its hidden phases.

In view of the above instances, and many other similar ones, can you doubt that there are planes of mental action, outside of the ordinary consciousness, on which in some marvelous manner mental work can be, and is, done? Even if the experience of nearly everyone did not furnish proof, surely the recorded cases should place the matter above the plane of doubt. And yet, so strong is the spirit of Doubt, that many will say: “Yes, but—!”

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Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

“Let the surgeon take care to regulate the whole regime of the patient’s life for joy and happiness, allowing his relatives and special friends to cheer him, and by having someone tell him jokes. The surgeon must rebel against anger, hatred, and sadness in the patient and remind him that the body grows fat from joy and thin from sadness.” - Henri de Mondeville

It is true that laughter is the best medicine. Many studies prove it conclusively. It actually helps boost the immune system, lowers blood pressure, helps muscles to relax, and can drastically reduce stress. Doctors say that laughter increases our tolerance for pain and helps speed the healing process.

According to psychologists, having a sense of humor aids your mental health, as well. Having a well-honed sense of humor enables you to see the funny side of problems, which in turn causes you to see the more positive side of life and health.

Being optimistic and happy and having a sense of fun brings out the more courageous aspects of a person. When it comes to battling illness, having a sense of humor makes it easier to bear.

Seeing the lighter side of life gives you a completely different outlook and improves your attitude in life. A sense of humor makes adversities easier to bear. It aids us by making it easier to move forward even in the face of difficulties. Think of a bamboo tree in the middle of the storm. Having a sense of humor makes you more likely to bend than to break when confronted by life’s storms.

Laughter releases energy that makes you feel good. Besides making you feel good physically, it also blows the cobwebs away and helps you to think more clearly. Laughing every day can help rid of depression and sadness.

The person with good mental health has better self-esteem and is more sociable and comfortable around others. A happy person is usually instrumental in creating warm and compassionate families.

A good mental health allows a person to bounce back from traumatic events more easily and quickly. A good sense of humor can bring this all about. The ability to laugh easily is a wonderful gift that you must nurture.

So, what can laughter do for you physically?

Reduces muscle tension

Increases the flow of oxygen to the blood

Exercises the cardiovascular region

Produces endorphin

Lowers blood pressure

Exercises the diaphragm (the large muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity) every time you laugh. Because of the movement, the surrounding organs, such as the kidneys, liver, and stomach benefit from this ‘massage.’

Burns calories, as laughing hard is equivalent to several minutes on a rowing machine or exercise bike.

Because of laughter, you feel more cheerful and happy. This is a side effect of endorphins produced in your body. Laughter releases endorphins in the pleasure centers of your brain, which give you a feeling of natural high.

When you encounter a problem or an illness, you tend to focus on that issue to the detriment of your mind and body. Whenever you have a problem, it is uppermost in your mind and takes over your thoughts and energy. It can make you sad, lethargic, and depressed.

Laughter enables you to push aside the problems you might be facing, whether it is emotional or physical. It redirects your focus away from the problem and lifts your spirits. Laughter leads you to a higher plane where you can experience hopefulness, pleasant thoughts, and happiness.

While you are laughing, you banish those problems albeit temporarily. It provides respite from negative emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, or depression. When you laugh, you raise yourself above all that and breathe in air, which results to a clear mind. Suddenly, the sun is shining and hopefulness returns. It is a wonderful feeling that you can reproduce any time you want, just by simply laughing. Laughter can actually improve your quality of life.

If you are feeling blue, put on a movie. Stay away from drama and pop in a great comedy. Have fun, laugh with abandon, and enjoy the moment. Forget about everything else and just concentrate on the movie and the fun you are having.

The well-known publisher and editor, Norman Cousins, had a personal experience with the healing power of humor. His doctors diagnosed him with a degenerative spinal condition brought about by a type of endocrine imbalance caused by tension and frustration. The prognosis was that he only had five hundred to one chance of survival.

He decided that since negative emotions had damaged his endocrine system, maybe positive emotions could help repair it. He left the hospital and checked in to a hotel. He literally barricaded himself and watched all the humorous movies that he could get his hands on. He watched reruns of the Candid Camera, Marx Brothers movies, and everything else he could find that would make him laugh.

While watching, he discovered that laughter helped ease the pain caused by his illness. He discovered that ten minutes of good belly laugh would give him two hours of pain-free sleep. He proved that laughter really is the best medicine, for within a few years, the doctors pronounced him completely cured!

How does laughter reduce the pain you feel? Laughter provides momentary distraction from the pain and this makes you feel better. The endorphins entering your blood stream give relief from the pain. It is also because your muscles relax when you are laughing.

Laughter also helps you with your breathing. Normal breathing leaves stale air in your lungs. When you are feeling stressed, your breathing pattern is shallow. This prevents oxygen from coming into your lungs and causing more stale air to build up along with water vapor and carbon dioxide. This can lead to upper respiratory infections and serious breathing problems.

Nurses discovered this problem in hospitals, while trying to encourage patients to breathe more deeply. To address this, they let patients watch comedy videos. The resulting belly laughs clear the lungs of stale air, carbon dioxide, and water vapor; allowing oxygen-rich and life-giving air in.

Your sense of humor provides the ability to see changes in your life as merely challenges rather than traumatic events. People with a well-developed sense of humor are more successful in coping up with adversities. More often than not, they feel more in control.

Humor can help you rise above anger, fear, or loneliness. Laughter makes you feel that you can handle anything and are in control. Humor makes you feel hopeful again. The more you laugh and smile, the more you experience that energy you need to make your life better and happier. You acquire the will to live stronger.

The best part is that it is never too late to develop that all-important sense of humor. It is all in the attitude. For the sake of your health, both physical and mental, it is essential that you develop your own unique sense of humor. Practice it every day.

It is not enough just to spend time with humorous friends and family. It is not enough to read humorous literature and collect funny stories and jokes. In order to benefit from the healing effects of humor and laughter, you must be a practitioner, as well.

You should develop that sense of humor and practice it every day. Change your attitude about life and see the funny side. Conscientiously do these and you will immediately notice the big difference. Events and traumas in life will not break you; you will be more flexible when a crisis occurs. You will bend and bounce back faster rather than break.

Pat yourself on the back when you have good days, where you just laugh away your troubles, smile through the day, and even help others laugh and smile, too. The real trick is to still see the funny side, continue to smile and laugh, be playful and happy even if you have a bad day. Everyone has occasional bad days. Sometimes you may not feel like smiling when life is busy throwing more than you can handle.

How do you handle stressful times? Do you yell and scream? Do you cry? Do you moan and groan, and talk about how unfair life is? How is that working for you?

For starters, walk away from the source of the stress. Leave the room. Read something humorous, have a friend tell you a joke, or go online and find the joke of the day. Try Google.com for some sources. You can even have jokes sent to your email inbox every day. You need to find something funny just to get you started.

I know it sounds crazy, but that one laugh could make all the difference in your day. Using humor to get through the bad days can save your life. Laughing will lower your blood pressure right away. You will feel calm and see things more clearly. Whatever the source of stress is, it is not important enough to endanger your health.

Sometimes, simple things in your job cause stress. Others feel down if they have problems involving their spouse and children. Some worry over financial problems. For the sake of your health, it is important that you focus on the positive emotions. In this case, you need to feel the effects of laughter.

In 1980, Dr. Franz Ingelfinger, the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, stated that 85% of all human illnesses are curable by the body’s own healing system.

You have complex molecules in your body and these are called neuropeptides. This is how your brain cells and body cells communicate with one another. All your body cells have receptors that receive these messages all the time. The neuropeptides change every day depending upon your emotional health. Therefore, your emotional health can work for you or against you. Studies repeatedly show that positive emotional health has an enormous bearing on your physical health, so it is important that you maintain a positive focus as much as possible.

This is where laughter and humor come in. Laughter reduces the stress hormones. These are the ‘fight or flight’ hormones and adrenaline is one of these. These hormones can be useful.

By allowing the buildup of hormones without release, you are creating havoc to your health. Anything that can reduce these hormones on a regular basis is good for you. If you go on with life building up these stress hormones, you are severely damaging your immune system.

Your body also has immunoglobulins, which protect your body against upper respiratory infections like colds and flu. Research has shown that laughter can increase these infection fighters. To put it simply, laughter can flip the switch that turns on these immunoglobulins to make them work more efficiently to heal your body and prevent the occurrence of infections.

The study goes on to show that just watching an hour or so of comedy on television can flip the switch for the system. However, the same study shows that if you experience stress after watching comedy, you counteract all the good effects of the fun that you had while watching.

People with better-developed sense of humor bring in more laughter in their lives and have a better-developed immune system, too. “The simple truth is that happy people generally don’t get sick,” this is according to Dr. Bernie Siegel, M.D.

The study also shows that the group of people, who have well-developed sense of humor and used humor every day to battle stress, did not encounter problems with their immune systems.

Candace Pert, American neuroscientist and pharmacologist tells us, “The chemicals that are running through our body and our brain are the same chemicals that are involved in emotion. And that says to me that…we’d better pay more attention to emotions with respect to health.”

Laughter may be the answer to high blood pressure, arthritis, strokes, and ulcers. It may even be instrumental in reducing the risk of heart disease. Research has linked heart disease to emotions such as depression, stress, anxiety, and anger. One significant research from the University of Maryland Medical Center shows that having a good sense of humor and being able to laugh even in the midst of stressful events can help reduce the effects of those damaging emotions.

In the study mentioned above, they also discovered that people diagnosed with heart disease are forty percent less likely to laugh compared with people without heart disease. Perhaps we should take to heart the advice of Voltaire who said, “The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease.”

“Humor is just another defense against the universe.” - Mel Brooks

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A Simple Word Thank You

I woke up this morning and knew that today, the sun would not be shining and the clouds would be gray. As I stepped outside, rain fell upon my head. My car wouldn't start so I walked to college instead.

I forgot all of my assignments, I failed all of my tests. I dropped my head in disgust and asked the Lord for one request: "Lord, why is it that things won't go my way?" He gently replied, "Dear child it is because you didn't thank me yesterday.

I woke you up and enabled you to see the sun again. I gave you shelter, protected your family, and even let you make a new friend.

I blessed you far greater than I ever had before. But you were too busy to thank me once more. You didn't feel sick because I maintained your health. You had money in your pocket because I maintained your wealth. You had shoes on your feet and clothes to wear, too. You had plenty of food to eat, and what did you do?

You ignored me and went about your tasks. But when you wanted something you never hesitated to ask. I was there when you needed me, and that wasn't too long ago. But when things started going your way, it was me you did not know.

As if that weren't enough, I provided your favorite luxuries. This was something I didn't have to do, they weren't even necessities.

And when it was time to get on your knees and show your gratitude, you decided that after such a fulfilling day, you weren't in the mood.

So I decided to give you just a little test. To show you how it would feel to stop being blessed."

I began to realize what the Lord was saying. And when I got home, I fell to my knees and started praying.

He said, "My child, you have learned and you know I do forgive. But remember to remember this day as long as you shall live. I love filling your life with joy, and your pain I'll alleviate it. But just a simple thank you would show how much you appreciate it."

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Humor Says It All

“Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.” - Leo Rosten

Whether you are speaking at a staff meeting, seminar, or conference, using humor can help communicate information more effectively to your audience. Humor makes your audience feel relaxed and comfortable.

Humor is a handy tool to keep their attention. If you notice the audience with their eyes glazed over, try throwing out a little unexpected humor and watch their reactions. Find a common denominator with those listening to you; just show your natural and human side and they will listen more to what you have to say.

Humor As A Way Of Reaching Out To Your Audience

Humor can also help you approach sensitive subjects without making your listeners uncomfortable. Watch your words and phrase things carefully. Realize that you can handle sensitive issues with good taste. Be extremely careful with humor when dealing with sensitive issues to avoid offending your listeners.

If you are speaking to a not-so-friendly group, humor can defuse the tension and make them less hostile towards you and your message. Believe me; you can effectively use humor if you find yourself in front of a group of people who dislikes the topic and/or you. Let us be realistic about this. There will be instances when your audience will not love you. There will be instances when people will show their dislike for your assigned topic.

When they enter a seminar room, they take with them some preconceived notions about you and the topic. These notions can affect their reactions. Your role as speaker is to break through these misconceived notions and win them to your side. Humor is one effective tool to break down those barriers and resistance. It is difficult for your audience to disagree when they are laughing and having fun. Spin it so they will realize that you are actually on their side and not against them.

Humor can also help you tackle a complicated topic. The more complicated your message, the more you need humor to help introduce the topic and make the audience more receptive and open. Humor sets the tone for your talk. It helps relax the audience. A relaxed setting makes learning fun and easier. It helps if you can simplify what you have to say and make it more comprehensible to your audience.

Acknowledge that the topic is complicated and assure them that you will do your best to make it simple and fun to learn. You want to identify with your audience and humor is the way to do just that. It is easier for them to connect with you if they can see you are human like them. Humor makes you more approachable.

Using Humor To Break The Ice

So you go ahead with your talk and at some point, you realize that your message is not being understood by your audience for whatever reason. It may be that the room is not comfortable or the crowd is too big and unmanageable. It is possible that the people in the audience cannot give you their one hundred percent attention, for they are worried because the company is in the midst of cutting the budget and benefits. It is also possible that they are cautious because the big boss is with them or simply because they exhibited extreme dislike and disinterest in your topic. Break the ice by using appropriate humor.

Assure your audience that you are working for a common cause, such as the survival of the organization. Remind your audience that they should not shoot the messenger. If you are part of top management whose responsibility is to look into creative ways of limiting benefits, you may have to learn to be very funny quickly!

Do not be too flippant about a topic, especially if it is a sensitive one or it involves the lives of people. In this situation, you can use humor to lighten the mood and make them receptive to what you have to say. A witty answer to an angry question is fine.

When you are trying to sell an idea, product, or service to a group, humor is even more important. If you make them laugh, they are more likely to listen to what you have to say. Humor can make some messages easier to accept.

Open your discussion with anecdotes or funny personal stories. The idea is to become witty and not come across as a boastful and know-it-all person. This will surely turn off people and it will be very difficult for you to sell whatever you are selling.

During tense moments, try using a comedic comparison to help your audience relate. Compare the awkward moment with say an ‘I Love Lucy’ episode. If you find yourself in a rush and trying to meet deadlines, think of the Candy Episode. The candies to be wrapped are coming down the assembly line faster and faster. Picture yourself cramming the candies in your pockets and your mouth. Then, if you remember, the supervisor yells, “You’re doing great, let’s speed the line up.”

Some people, whose job description includes public speaking as part of their work life, have apprehensions about using humor in their speeches. They think that if they joke a lot, their co-workers will not take them seriously. They think that this will severely affect their credibility.

Is this the same case with you? Maybe you think you are no good at telling jokes or unsure about injecting humor in your talks. Perhaps, you are afraid that you will look foolish and no one will laugh.

Before you start adding jokes to your speeches, consider carefully who will be your audience. Jokes and funny stories should be appropriate to your listeners and to the occasion itself. The old ‘farmer’s daughter’ joke will not go well at the Ladies’ Garden Club meeting.

Do you want to win them over and make them more receptive to your message? Involve the audience in your humor. I do not mean make fun of them or make a member of your audience the butt of jokes. Personalize your humor to fit your audience and the message you are attempting to relay.

Make them a part of the message. Take a lesson from the most successful comics. Involve your listeners and make them relate and understand what you are saying. Noel Coward once said, “Wit ought to be a glorious treat, like caviar. Never spread it about like marmalade.”

If you want to master this technique, study Bob Hope. He is the best example of a person who takes the time (and is always successful!) to relate to the audience by involving them in the message. He performed for enlisted men all over the world for several decades. He would make jokes about the food in the military, the officers, or anything else related to the lives of the soldiers that he was entertaining.

Before dropping humor into your public speaking engagements, ask about the type of gathering where you will be speaking. Is it a seminar, an industry convention, or a sales conference? Where is the venue? Will it be in your own hometown, in a resort city, or maybe some place like Las Vegas?

You can add some humorous remarks about the city itself or tourist hangouts, etc. If you are in an unfamiliar city, do a little research and find out what is happening in that city. What is on everyone’s mind or heart in that region? What is the main interest or preoccupation of the people in that city? That, my friend, is grist for the humor mill.

Adjust your humor to the industry, ethnic group, social group, or organization to which you are speaking. Avoid the faux pas of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he addressed the Daughters of the Revolution (DAR) with the words, “Fellow Immigrants…”

Another important variable to consider when planning a speech is the gender composition of your audience. According to Michael Iapoce, (Founder of Michael Iapoce Associates, a humor-consulting firm based in San Anselmo, CA), an all-male audience is the toughest to crack when it comes to humor.

Women tend to laugh more easily than men do. Our society has effectively conditioned men to avoid being silly or foolish. It is all part of the ‘big boys don’t cry’ syndrome. Apparently, big boys do not laugh either.

Brush up on your pop culture knowledge, keeping in mind that the broader your knowledge on the subject, the better your jokes will be. Bone up on the most popular funny television shows and movies. However, be careful of stealing someone else’s material.

Rather than stealing a joke from Ray Romano and passing it off as your own, acknowledge your source. After the audience has roared with laughter over the joke, tell them that you are glad they liked it and you will let Ray know that his material did well with the audience that evening.

Professional humor always does well at conventions. Lawyers, accountants, scientists, bankers, doctors, and even driving instructors provide humorous fodder for the public speaker. Here a little harmless poking of fun at a group rather than an individual will bring in the laughter.

An effective way of conveying information to your audience is the use of stories or parables. Great speakers use this technique with great success for centuries. Stories are useful for illustrating a point and making it more vivid. The more memorable your story is, the more persuasive your message will be.

When it comes to public speaking, it is more important to make your point, clarify your message humorously than to just tell jokes. The idea is to get and hold their attention, convey your message, and make it memorable. To make it memorable, jokes and parables must be directly related to the message you want to convey.

Another excellent way to convey information in a humorous manner is the ever-popular ‘good news, bad news’ kind of jokes. An example of that type of humor is as follows:

While flying over the Pacific Ocean, the pilot got on the intercom and said, “Attention passengers. I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we are totally lost and I have no idea where we are. The good news is that we’re way ahead of schedule.”

One important element about humor for any public speaker or performer is timing. Timing is everything. Too many speakers set up the joke well, tell the story, paint the picture for the audience, but then rush the ending. Always pause before the punch line.

The audience listens and sees in their mind’s eye the picture you have painted for them or they wrap their minds around the idea you have presented. Then you deliver the punch line. Jack Benny used to say that, “Timing is not so much knowing when to speak, but knowing when to pause.”

After you have delivered the joke, the hardest and the most nerve-wracking part comes -- waiting for the audience reaction and expecting laughter. Whatever you do, do not rush into the next item of your speech.

Comics call that “stepping on the joke”. This will ruin the joke. It will destroy the impact of the joke. Although there is a long pause before the laughter, do not be tempted to laugh at your own joke. Professional comics never join in the laughter.

The great comic Bob Hope taps his microphone and say, “Is this thing on?” George Burns would puff on his cigar while waiting for the audience to respond and for the laughter to die down.

Comedians Vs. Public Speakers

The biggest difference between professional comedians and regular public speakers is simple — the audience expects the comics to make them laugh and they can be tough if they do not get what they want. They paid to hear funny material and by golly, that is what they expect to hear.

However, no one expects the public speaker to be funny. The expectations are completely different. When the public speaker turns out to be amusing, the audience is pleasantly surprised and they normally react with appreciation.

Surprise your audience with your creative and humorous side. Follow this simple sequence of steps:

Learn to relax

Be playful

Set up your story or joke

Watch your timing

Pause for effect

Hit your audience the punch line

Stand-up comics and jesters all have their place in our world. Do not feel that you have to strive to be one of them. Just pepper your speeches with enough humor to get and keep your audience’s attention.

A great way to practice is by joining a Toastmaster’s Club. This club provides the opportunity to practice in front of an audience. This is also a chance to practice humor in your public speaking engagements and gauge the audience’s reaction on your material. The meetings will help you develop and hone your public speaking skills and give you a chance to practice some jokes and stories.

Be Prepared: Accidents Do Happen!

The key is to become more observant. Try to observe everything and everyone around you. It is a good idea to have some humorous material ready in case of unexpected circumstances.

If the equipment fails to operate or the lights go out suddenly, have some funny ad lib ready to lighten the mood. As crazy as it sounds, it is possible to be prepared for spontaneity. Audiences love it when you come up with something spontaneous about them or the occasion.

Even the best-prepared public speakers find themselves facing unforeseen difficulties. Lights refuse to switch on, sound equipment malfunctions, or presentation does not work just because of plain and simple human error. In such instances, it is better to have some ad-libs and be prepared just in case.

Let us say you are so nervous, you forgot your next line or lose your train of thought. Do not panic. These happen to people. Have you come across singers who forget their lyrics? It happens to even well-known performers and speakers.

How do you cover that long pause while recovering your train of thought? What ad lib can you use and still appear amusing? What do you do to avoid appearing nervous and be able to reconnect with the audience? How about this:

“Okay, I gave this speech last week. Does anyone remember what I said next?”

What happens if you become so nervous is that you slip into a confused state, give a garbled speech, and mess up a sentence. To remedy this, consider these:

“I’m so sorry, but I seem to have left my translator in the last city I visited.”

“Sorry, I just washed my lips and I can’t do a thing with them.”

Any public speaker has probably encountered problems with the microphone. It malfunctions just as you step up to the podium and greet your audience. Try these as ad-libs:

“That’s what I get for buying my sound equipment from the Salvation Army.”

“Actually, some people say my speeches are much better this way.”

Public speakers often have to deal with people in the audience chattering away while they are trying to give their speech. How do you handle the chatterboxes?

“Excuse me, I only have a few minutes here to make a fool of myself, you’ve got the rest of your life.”

“Sorry, but I work alone.”

While we are on this topic, let us talk about the simplest, most spontaneous, and contagious type of communication ever devised. It is so simple, even a child can do it! It requires no special lessons or instructions, but you should practice it every day without fail. It has the power to alter your day and attitude almost instantaneously. What is this most powerful device? Why, it is a Smile!

A smile can spread from person to person without a second thought. In fact, if you want to make a person’s day, smile at them and then tell them what a great smile they have. I guarantee you that they will smile for the rest of the day at everyone they meet.

Look in your mirror. Is that the way you look at others? Do you look tense and drawn? Now, smile at yourself. Do you see the difference? You probably even look younger. A bright smile can make you look younger, well rested, and friendlier. Who needs a facelift? Just smile more often!

“We are not amused!” - Queen Victoria of England

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Learn to Find the Funny Side of Work

“Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.” - Proverb

Every morning, millions of people get up, get dressed, and drag themselves to their respective offices. They sit on their desks; do their work until they are bored stiff because someone told them they had to be serious about their professions.

As adults, we are all told to be serious, keep our noses to the grindstone, and work hard. The trouble with this is that we get bored and tired with a sore nose to boot!

It is important to get the work done; otherwise, you could find yourself with no job at all. This is where humor can save you from the drudgery of work. Humor helps you deal with all kinds of stress and recover from misfortune or traumatic changes in your life. Without a sense of humor, the events in life would soon crush your spirit. With humor in your life, you can bounce back from adversity faster and easier.

As far as your job or career is concerned, humor is an absolute necessity. This does not mean that you should take your job lightly. It is okay to be passionate about your work and put in long hours if necessary, as long as you allow yourself to see the humorous side of whatever you are doing.

Remember that humor and laughter are contagious. Laughter releases tension in almost any situation. In situations requiring humor, it is important to make sure that your witticisms are appropriate to the situation. Embarrassing someone, using foul language, or trivializing things held valuable by others are not funny, not even a little bit. Making others look weak and ineffectual is not funny. Ostracizing others and using them as the butt of jokes is not funny.

Laughing at your self is a safe way to introduce humor at the workplace. It shows self-confidence in your skills, your ability to admit your mistakes, and that you can laugh about it and bounce right back.

Besides showing how secure you feel about yourself, it makes others feel comfortable working with you. Being light-hearted gives the signal to others that they can approach you and discuss important topics with ease.

By introducing humor into your workplace and keeping the humor appropriate, you are sending the message to others that it is okay to be funny, just not at someone else’s expense. You set the tone.

Winston Churchill once said, “I love my job, it’s the work I hate.” Humor makes the workplace more relaxed and comfortable. You may not be crazy about what you do, but it does not mean that you have to endure eight hours of discomfort in the workplace. People who are happy at work tend to be absent less often. They are less distracted and bored.

Some dull-witted person once said that if you are having fun, you are not working. This could not be further from the truth. When people enjoy their work, they are eager to go to the office each day, they cannot wait to get started. However, this does not refer to a workaholic. Working for the sake of it is not the same as loving what you do and enjoying the work.

When you enjoy what you do, your stress level is very low. You also become a better worker and take pride in doing an excellent job. Others love to be around you when you are light-hearted and full of laughter. People with enjoy working with you if you are energetic, creative, funny, and upbeat.

Surveys on humor in the workplace have shown that people with well-developed sense of humor simply do better at their jobs, as compared with those possessing little or no sense of humor at all.

Of the American executives surveyed, ninety-six percent agreed that humorous people just do better. The survey also stated that those with great sense of humor keep their jobs even during tough times. Some even climb up the corporate ladder faster than those people with limited sense of humor.

Many people feel that if they are upbeat and humorous at work, others will not take them seriously. Some people fear others will be easily offended. This may be true if your co-workers perceive you as the office clown, always joking around at inappropriate moments, or using humor not suited to the occasion. The trick is to find subtle ways at initiating humor in the workplace.

You do not need to be the Robin Williams of your office. Subtlety is more effective than pratfalls and practical jokes in the workplace. Initially, you may use moderation and learn to respect other people’s boundaries. It is possible that others fear that they will become the butt of your jokes, so proceed cautiously. When things occur in the office, try to put a spin on them and look at the humorous side of the situation.

If you can help relieve stress in the office without offending others, you can actually help boost their morale and improve communication between workers and the boss. Showing others how to be light-hearted in the workplace will build their self-confidence; eventually making them better workers.

Always remember that there is a time and place for everything. Pratfalls or practical jokes in the middle of a staff meeting is inappropriate, but a little gentle humor could lighten the occasion and help facilitate the proceedings. People think more clearly if they are happy and this makes everyone more efficient. A happy worker is a productive worker.

Humor can help solve many problems in the work place, especially when you:

1. Need to make a particular point in a meeting

2. Need to defuse a tense situation in the office

3. Need to find a way to connect with a co-worker

4. Need to find a suitable way to settle an argument

5. Need to resist aggressive or defensive responses

Want to avoid confrontations

Try a little humor to lighten serious moments. Humor is a motivating factor than criticism or accusations. You will discover that laughter in the office is a great management tool.

Teamwork is easier and more productive when humor is a part of the routine. Every good team has inside or private jokes. The team will connect and bond with one another. How do you come up with those inside jokes? They might laugh about difficult clients, impossible deadlines, long meetings, or computer problems. Each member of the team can help find the lighter side of office pressures, commiserating, and encouraging each other.

A study by Israeli psychologist Avner Ziv shows that the team that engages in playful and humorous fun, prior to a brainstorming session, will actually stimulate creative thinking.

However, there are a few types of humor to avoid altogether. These are inappropriate in the work place. One such type is ‘bathroom humor.’ This type of humor could send the wrong message to co-workers about who you are. It should be discouraged at all costs.

Avoid jokes about the boss, company, or its product or service. Making fun of people and their jobs is not funny. Likewise, you should avoid any jokes about religion, gender, or racial-related issues. Jokes that offend others are not humorous. Surely, you will not make friends and influence people with that kind of indelicate behavior.

Your sense of humor, however, offers a powerful means of establishing and maintaining your authority. It helps you set the tone, if you are the boss or supervisor. Humor is essential to help you deal with cranky co-workers or crabby clients.

One company creatively used humor when they had to send many reminders to a client about his bill:

“You’re an important client, but your bill is long overdue — we’ve carried you longer than your mother did!”

Attitude is the main ingredient in humor. Instead of seeing everyday problems, flip them around and find the funny side. Do not take everything so seriously. Truly confident people can laugh at themselves. It tells others that you are human like them and they can have the confidence to laugh at themselves, too.

In a rigid office, this may be a great way to inject a little humor into the workday. Even if you find yourself laughing all alone, do not worry. Your attitude is what counts. Go ahead and just be the happy and humorous person that you are. Laugh even if no one else does. Smile and the world will wonder about your next moves.

A sense of light-heartedness can help put people and their problems into a better perspective. Appropriate humor allows you to maintain your professionalism, while you concentrate on doing the important matters.

In ‘Laughter Prescription’, Lawrence J. Peter and Bill Dana wrote ”Realize that a sense of humor is deeper than laughter, more satisfying than comedy, and delivers more rewards than merely being entertaining. A sense of humor sees the fun in everyday experiences. It is more important to have fun than it is to be funny.”

Bear in mind that you may have to convince the naysayer in your office about the use of humor. Just because you are amusing, it does not mean that you are not getting the job done or you tolerate mediocre work. Humor is just a way of coping up with the dreariness of work. It is a way to make you more productive.

Start putting together a little library of humorous quotes and jokes, funny sayings, and old proverbs. Look through the local library for humorous literature. For office humor, you cannot beat Scott Adams and his hilarious “Dilbert” comic strips. It is now compiled and available in book form. Just watch out in comparing your boss to the ‘pointy-haired’ boss in the strip. Keep the humor in good taste at all times.

If you have an office of your own, or even just a cubicle, put up a bulletin board and tack funny cartoons, comic strips, photos, funny signs, and bumper stickers. See if your boss will let you set up a bulletin board in the break room, where everyone can contribute their favorites. It is a good conversation starter.

Do you want to become a good communicator in meetings? Try injecting a little humor into your discussions. Dull and dry get-togethers will put people to sleep. Get and keep their attention by showing your sense of humor. Bear in mind that it is your attitude not your circumstances that make you happy and humorous. Spread it around.

Do you think that your own life isn’t very funny? Think again!

Amusing things happen all the time. Maybe you just did not recognize them as funny because your sense of humor is not yet fully developed. Maybe you just did not see the funny side.

Picture your life as a sitcom rather than a soap opera and start looking for the funny happenings. You will be surprised and delighted and you will laugh a lot more. Write them down and retell them to friends and co-workers. You will soon have everyone, including yourself, laughing every day. You may notice that funny things begin to happen more frequently, once you are really paying attention to every humorous detail.

“Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end.” - Sid Caesar

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