Most people have a tendency to take life seriously. However, there are times when you just have to pause and reflect at the absurdity of you may have done. Sometimes, the best way to get over what just may have happened is realizing the mistake. Laughing at yourself only shows that you are being human.
Laughing at yourself is not only therapeutic for well-being, but helps your personal growth. Instead of letting guilt, anger or shame bog you down, admitting to that shortcoming through laugher shows that developed the capacity to forgive yourself. After all, forgiveness is essential to move past those stumbling blocks in life. Without the ability to forgive ourselves and others, we linger in our pain, anger or frustration, suffering in our own dark prisons. The only way to escape is using forgiveness for setting you free.
Think of it this way. Regardless of what just occurred, you see your part in one way while others perceive it in another. Our egos can be difficult, but the trick to laughing at yourself is looking at the situation through another’s eyes. That other perspective that you’re suddenly seeing can change your attitude.
Finding the humor in an uncomfortable situation may be embarrassing, but acknowledging it also gives you an advantage. It is better to make a joke out of what happened by laughing at yourself before others laugh harder at you.
Laughing at yourself is an appealing personality trait to have. It demonstrates that you’re only human and how likeable you are to others when you admit to slip ups. Feeling comfortable enough in your own skin doing what you’re doing without worrying about appearing ridiculous shows the inner confidence you have in yourself to live life on your terms instead of what others think.
As a matter of fact, there was an interesting research done by Ursula Beermann of the University of California, Berkeley, and Willibald Ruch of the University of Zurich involving 70 psychology students and how likely they were to laugh at themselves. What they observed were those likely to laugh at themselves typically have more cheerful, optimistic personalities than the others studied.
Deceased American writer, William Arthur Ward, summed it nicely: “To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.”
This is great advice. I always try to have fun and laugh at whatever even though sometimes I might not really feel like it. Life is short so…
I find that I laugh at myself a lot when I am alone or with certain people. But this is very good to tell yourself to do ever day
This is a very nice article. I do laugh often and recently at work with a co-worker when we both realized we made a silly mistake.