SOH

SOH - Sense of Humor

Gandhi said - "if I did not have a sense of humor, I would have committed suicide."

Such a thing coming from someone like Gandhi, says something about the second most important sense - sense of humor.

You may ask what is the first most important sense. I would say 'common sense'. No wonder they say - wisdom is nothing but common sense in uncommon quantity. So true. So true.

Read somewhere someone praying - God, feel free to take away all my senses but bless me with two senses. One, common sense and second, sense of humor.

Sense of humor is a delicate topic. Many of us have, what we proudly (many times wrongly) call, 'our' sense of humor. Many times, it only hurts others and may provide some sort of vicarious pleasure to us. That's not SOH (Sense of humor) at all. That's pure sadism at its worst and 'perverted SOH' at its best.

I dare you to have a sense of humor so that you can make fun of yourself. I will stop right here. I do not want to take it any further to the extent of letting others make fun of you especially if it hurts you. That's not SOH at all. That's letting others walk all over you. Don't let that beyond some limits. Honor yourself by drawing right boundaries.

But can you make fun of yourself with your near and dear ones? Can you eat the crow from time to time? If you can, accept my congratulations. You are on your way to make yourself happy.

If something does not go your way, can you make fun of the situation and how it affected you and be done with it? If yes, pat yourself on the back. Good job!

You see...someone said it for a reason - it takes same amount of energy to do anything. So choice is - make yourself happy or sad. 

I know. I know. When you are hit with a tragedy or a loss, it's hard to find humor in it. But, what's the alternative? Sit and mourn? For how long? After sometime, you have to cheer yourself up and move on. What better way to cheer oneself up than making fun of the situation or your own predicament? Is there a better way? Tell me. I am all ears.

They say - if you do not feel good, look good. How you look good? Smile. Laugh. Give a smile to others who may not have one of their own at that time. What you have to lose, I say.

A few years back, I had blogged on a related topic and you may find it interesting - http://maheshuh.blogspot.com/2008/12/laughing-at-mistakes.html 

My very talented cousin Vikas Hegde had adopted the theme from the above blog entry and had written a beautiful piece in Kannada. You can read that here - http://vikasavada.blogspot.com/2008/12/laughing-at-our-own-mistakes.html

Cheers!