The Power of Humor in Coping With Transition Situations
Humor, laughter, smiling-they've all been cited as helping improving our health and mental well-being.
And, they can be equally useful and powerful when we're going through transition situations like job changes, relationship changes, aging, and any surprise changes in our lives.
Authors Nancy Schlossberg and Susan Porter Robinson, in their book, "Going to Plan B: How you can cope, regroup, and start your life on a new path," talk of the transition situation of coping with non-events.
They define non-events as those events in our life that we expected to happen but that didn't.
The promotion that never materialized.
The kids who didn't become what we expected.
The children who weren't born.
The dreams that weren't realized.
Part of these authors' coping strategy involves a process of dream-reshaping.
In this four-part process, humor enters in at the second, "easing", stage.
Humor can not only ease us into the next phase of the transition process, it can also wake us up.
For example, some therapists have found that humorous metaphors can drive home a point more effectively.
Schlossberg and Robinson acknowledge that metaphors can help us acknowledge the futility of our situation and seek other options for ourselves.
Educator David Deshler suggests metaphor analysis as a vehicle for learning, reflection, and understanding the way we act upon our experience.
The book, "The Positive Power of Negative Thinking", by Julie Norem, PhD.
, highlights a strategy that is useful for some people, that of imagining the worst-case scenario.
From that imagining, we can devise coping strategies and form more effective plans.
Humor can be part of that imagining; as we exaggerate beyond reality, we can not only make better plans, but we may even get to the point of laughter.
Schlossberg and Robinson suggest that coping implies a continuum of strategies, each one allowing us more room for hope.
Humor can lead us toward hope by helping us to deflect our feelings of defeat.
In addition, humor allows us to distance ourselves from the problem, enabling us to increase our self-confidence.
Someone once said, everything is funny, given enough time.
Time to process and time to reflect.
Then--its' time to laugh! Until next time, "Get Your SHINE Together!"
And, they can be equally useful and powerful when we're going through transition situations like job changes, relationship changes, aging, and any surprise changes in our lives.
Authors Nancy Schlossberg and Susan Porter Robinson, in their book, "Going to Plan B: How you can cope, regroup, and start your life on a new path," talk of the transition situation of coping with non-events.
They define non-events as those events in our life that we expected to happen but that didn't.
The promotion that never materialized.
The kids who didn't become what we expected.
The children who weren't born.
The dreams that weren't realized.
Part of these authors' coping strategy involves a process of dream-reshaping.
In this four-part process, humor enters in at the second, "easing", stage.
Humor can not only ease us into the next phase of the transition process, it can also wake us up.
For example, some therapists have found that humorous metaphors can drive home a point more effectively.
Schlossberg and Robinson acknowledge that metaphors can help us acknowledge the futility of our situation and seek other options for ourselves.
Educator David Deshler suggests metaphor analysis as a vehicle for learning, reflection, and understanding the way we act upon our experience.
The book, "The Positive Power of Negative Thinking", by Julie Norem, PhD.
, highlights a strategy that is useful for some people, that of imagining the worst-case scenario.
From that imagining, we can devise coping strategies and form more effective plans.
Humor can be part of that imagining; as we exaggerate beyond reality, we can not only make better plans, but we may even get to the point of laughter.
Schlossberg and Robinson suggest that coping implies a continuum of strategies, each one allowing us more room for hope.
Humor can lead us toward hope by helping us to deflect our feelings of defeat.
In addition, humor allows us to distance ourselves from the problem, enabling us to increase our self-confidence.
Someone once said, everything is funny, given enough time.
Time to process and time to reflect.
Then--its' time to laugh! Until next time, "Get Your SHINE Together!"
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