Waking up in Chicago, jet-lagged from a late arrival, I hear my 11 month old granddaughter screeching and crawling to her sister’s room. I jump out of bed fearing my daughter and son-in-law were overwhelmed and run upstairs to find the kids playing a game the 11 month old invented. She was screeching and crawling from one room to the other while the 3 year old was laughing and egging her on. I just had to sit on the floor and laugh with them.
That night the baby started the game all over again, and I heard my daughter belly laughing as she played with the kids after a really tough day at work. How often do you laugh with that kind of joy?
All of the scientific data shows that laughter is really good for your health yet most people don’t cultivate it as a practice. Much of the “humor” we experience on social media or streaming is mean or belittling. That is not the kind of humor I’m talking about. Laughing “at” somebody drives us apart. Laughing “with” someone brings us together.
When my kids were in middle school, I started a practice at the dinner table of everyone sharing something funny that happened in their day. If you have or had middle schoolers, you know their lives are often dramatic and difficult. Coming up with something funny was not always easy. As adults, we, too, have to dig deeper or think differently to come up with a funny interpretation of our very serious and challenging work days. Knowing in advance that we had to share at dinner changed how we all looked at our daily lives.
How can you create more joyful humor in your team and/or family? Waiting for it to just show up is not enough unless you have a toddler in the house.
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*Updated with photo