Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Practice Of Being Happy Is The Best Workout (Part 4) An open letter to a friend

Humour displays an honesty about you, and people will know the difference. Having it and you can get a way with a lot. Self deprecating humour is a great way to lower barriers. For a start it shows that you do not take yourself serious and people by their nature worry about things like that. If you practise this type of humour, mean it. Listen rather than talking and people will actually remember what a great conversationist you were  as well even though you hardly said anything at all. Put it another way, people are more interested in what they are saying rather than what you said, and will remember strongly long afterwards on how you made them feel too. There is a lot of work to be done here but with all things, the more you practise….well you know the rest.

There is an old, and I mean old, Chinese saying for living life to the full: ‘Having something to do, having someone to love and having something to look forward to.’ If you have all three then you are away in a hat. But if you have just one of these things going on in your life this is a good thing, and by that benchmark too there is a good chance that the other one or two goals will come in time. In fewer word, get busy !!

Humour or laughter has shown conclusively that it builds the immune system against illness and disease. It has medicinal power of the best out there whether it is of the conventional or non-conventional kind, and is a legal high (and free) and better than any hash or whatever else you fancy.

Dammit, humour is the best medicine. So aside from all the other social taboos and no go areas that you are currently wrestling with it that is stopping humour running wild in your head, let us look at some of those in other people. You may be surprised how they apply to you. You are not that different and most of this ‘important’ stuff is really just garden variety bacon and cabbage dinners anyway. Lets set about setting you ‘free’ or at least trying.

In a study recently it was asked of men and women what bothered them the most beyond making a living. The answer that came back at number one place in that study was what other people thought of them. Of course all life being local in one way or another, this applied to family, extended relations and friends. Keeping up with the ‘Joneses’ it seemed was more than a state of mind. 

When the Celtic tiger rolled into Ireland, (and it could have been anywhere else too!!) on borrowed money and time for little over a decade, and left afterwards with a wimper and its tale between its legs, the ‘what will people think of me’ psychosis  (WWPTOM for short) practically had become a national disease with no known cure, at least then. 

Wife's bought brand new range rover jeeps just to pop down to the local shop, well, really to be seen, setting themselves back around 40,000 euros just for that kick of, ‘I’ve got one over on you feeling.’

Developers and solicitors, and other lesser known species bought ever bigger jeeps and considered it a privilege for you that they would even take time out just to take your phone call. Come to think of it, we considered it one too if they did, and if you got paid for all the work that you did for them, that would have been considered a blessing on top as well.

WWPTOM back then created all sorts of heightened secondary mental illnesses as well like arrogance, narcissism and plain downright bullying in tandem with so much corruption that to be truthful or straight was considered a mental decease in itself.

To be continued…… 


Barry Clifford

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