Spread a Sense of Humour

Having a sense of humour is no laughing matter – it's a serious topic for discussion. A sense of humour should not be mistaken for buffoonery or jokes in low taste. Rather, a sense of humour is meaningful only if it spreads a sense of well being without hurting anyone's feelings.

According to ancient theory in human physiology, our body has four fluids, namely blood, humour (also spelt as humor) phlegm and bile. Humour is supposed to spread a sense of well being wherever it flows in the body. Whenever a person is happy, he or she is supposed to have sensed the flow of humour. Hence the term "a sense of humour". So, how do you spread this sense of humour?

Steps

  1. Create a sense of humour. A sense of humour can be created by the narration of funny incidents, interesting anecdotes, and memorable guffaws. Depending on the oratory skills of the speaker, perfectly normal, everyday incidents can also become a source for the sense of humour. You can also make it more effective with the help of gesticulations and funny mannerisms.
    • The communication to create a sense of humour should be periodic and not sporadic. Cultivate a sense of humour as a way of being every day of your life. Have people come to expect your sense of humour and to seek to be influenced for the better by your upbeat nature.
  2. Sustain the sense of humour. Sustaining a sense of humor is much more difficult than creating it. Sustaining the interest of the audience is difficult unless there is novelty in each communication.
    • Refresh your humor around an audience you know well and see often. Look for the extraordinary in the ordinary and always be a alert for new ways to explain things with humour.
    • Look for common ground or common experiences. Things understood without explanation can provide the most fertile ground for sharing a sense of humour.
    • Look at life as a child does, with awe and also a willingness to question what you see. There is much to feed a sense of humour in seeing the world through a child's eyes. (And it helps to listen to children too; they say the most humorous things without even trying.)
  3. Ensure that the quantum and quantity of the message delivery are appropriate. Overdoing the humour can dilute the main subject, while being slow to catch the Improve Your Mood and share your humor can fail to communicate effectively once the appropriate moment for the sense of humor has passed. In other words, keep it brief and timely.
  4. Consider the mood of the audience (or listener). It is very important to keep gauging the mood of the audience and their receptiveness to your sense of humour. Ensure that their mood remains receptive and does not turn antagonistic. Ill-timed or non-apt uses of your sense of humor can lose friends and upset people.
    • Before communicating humour, it is essential to ensure that the audience is habituated to your mannerisms and forms of gesticulation to avoid the potential for offence or misunderstandings. Additionally, the audience needs to be comfortable with your pronunciations and language flow. However, if you do think they might struggle, explain this aspect of your delivery... with a good sense of humour!
    • Before indulging in sharing your sense of humour, gauge the IQ level of the audience. No purpose will be served if the communication is beyond or beneath their IQ level or age group. Indeed, the effect will be detrimental if the level of delivery of the sense of humour fails to account for the IQ or age group of the listener.
  5. Keep your humour targeted on creating Emotional Health and Well Being and avoiding hurting anyone's feelings. Your sense of humour should not be directed against anyone in the audience, or outside it, living or dead. Equally, while a little self-deprecation can be light relief from time to time, the majority of your sense of humor should not be directed against yourself.

    Continuously berating oneself, if not handled properly, can result in loss of respect for you from the audience and can lead the listener to feel sorry for you rather than amused.
  6. Use smiles and laughter to spread a sense of humour. Smiles are fairly universal and are a form of self-cheering even when we don't feel happy. And laughter is contagious, so once you evoke it through your sense of humour, it's likely to spread quickly.
  7. Last but definitely not least, encourage other people's sense of humour, especially that of the young. When you like someone's sense of humour and can see that they have a skill in deflecting tension and making others feel good about themselves, let them know that you appreciate them and their sense of humour.

    Nurturing a sense of humour in another person is a definite way of spreading it because you've acknowledged something wonderful in that person. In particular, encourage children to expand and keep their sense of humour while helping them to understand when it is and isn't appropriate to share it.



Tips

  • A body in a neutral state when impacted by an external stimulus reacts in a particular way that depends on the nature of the stimulus. This reaction is due to the flow of juices or hormones, which can either inhibit or instigate a reaction. The reaction could be anger, fear, happiness, or irritation. A sense of humour takes the body from a neutral state to the positive state, whereby the impact of the negative stimulus could be comparatively less, and so also the reaction because the curve has to travel back to normal and then negative.
  • When an audience is tired, it is suggested that sense of humour should be handled carefully. The effect is unpredictable and the reaction to humour could be negative or positive. Use your instincts and common sense coupled with your experience of the listener's usual reactions.
  • The communication of a sense of humour should be part of the main and subject and related to it. It should flow with the communication and should be an aberration that appears unexpectedly and sums up the situation in a succinct and understandable way.

Warnings

  • A sense of humour ceases to be sense of humour if it lacks quality and honesty. Remain honest but tactful.
  • The timing of the communication should be correct, otherwise it could have the opposite effect than that intended.
  • Too much humour can make the listener wary. In particular, people are often suspicious of someone who uses humour to cover up for a lack of self-esteem or knowledge about something they purported to understand.

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