True or false

Clip a cartoon

Lay it on the line

Pick a safe subject

Ballooning

The Bart Simpson maneuver

6. How would your favourite cartoon character or comedian react to the situation? “Imagining what would happen can give you a chuckle, making the situation less annoying. You can even pretend you’re the star of a TV comedy, and this frustrating episode is tonight’s plot,” says Steve Allen Jr., M.D., an assistant professor of a family medicine at SUNY Health Science Center, Syracuse (yes, he’s the son of well-known comedian Steve Allen).

7. In your mind, consciously exaggerate the situation: Blow it completely out of proportion and into absurdity – into a comedy routine. In that long, long checkout line, don’t say “This waiting is killing me; I hate this.” Say: “I’ll never get to the front of this [line]. The woman ahead of me is covered in cobwebs. The guy in front of her grew a beard standing in line. The cashier must be part snail. The continental drift moves faster.” This maneuver helps take the edge off the situation, redirects your tension, and helps you see things as not so impossible after all. Your running commentary, however, is probably best kept to yourself. If people stare at you because you seem to be laughing for no reason, pretend you’re reading the scandal sheets. You don’t have to be a master of one-liners to be funny. There are gentle forms of humor that can defuse anxiety in a group without making anyone feel like the butt of a joke.

8. Making fun of your own foibles can save face in an embarrassing situation – you’ll have people laughing with you, rather than at you. Inanimate sources of frustration, like computers and copying machines, are also safe objects of humor.

9. Sometimes just telling the truth or pointing out the obviuos can get a laugh. People are accustomed to exaggeration and truth bending (too many TV commercials, perhaps), so plain speaking can come as a refreshing shock. For example, after delivering a series of lengthy explanations during a question-and-answer period, some people have been known to put everyone in stitches by simply replying to the next question with “Gee, I don’t know.” This kind of humour is a way of fighting stress by accepting our short-comings, says Joel Goodman, Ed.D., director of the HUMOR Project in Saratoga Springs, New York.

10. Keep a file of jokes and cartoons that make you laugh. Paste a few up where you’re likely to need them – at work, on the refrigerator, wherever.

1. The author believes that humor may be the healthiest way to relieve stress.

2. During a good laugh, there is a slight rise in heart rate and blood pressure.

3. After a good laugh, blood pressure returns to its prelaugh level.

4. Our cave-dwelling ancestors were stressed by life-threatening situations.

5. The trick to stress busting is find ways to laugh at the situation after it has happened.

6. Getting a new perspective is what comedy is all about.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-24