Laughter is one of the greatest gifts given to humanity. Science has proven that laughter can reduce your stress and strengthen your immune system. Laughter can make a tough situation bearable, and it is one of the most powerful things to live a happy life. No doubt why the famous saying goes like- laughter is the best medicine.
A day without laughter is a day wasted.
-Charlie Chaplin.
Okay, laughter is magic but do you know what the best thing/person to laugh at is? Bingo! You. Why? Because if you laugh at your boss in front of him, you may be jobless. I mean, laughing at yourself has many benefits- it helps you be happy even when you are alone, reduces your fears, makes you cool and attractive, and improves your sense of humor. Not only this, if you know how to laugh at yourself, you won’t get hurt when people make fun of you.
Laugh loudly, laugh often, and most important, laugh at yourself.
-Chelsea Handler
According to a study in the journal Emotion, people who are really able to laugh at themselves are happier and less serious than those who cannot do so. It is also said that if you can laugh at yourself, you can be a good leader. So how do you laugh at yourself? No problem, I got your back. Here are five ways to learn how to laugh at yourself-
1. Control your ego
The main reason people don’t laugh at themselves is their ego. An overconfident and stubborn person can never laugh at him/herself. These kinds of people are so much involved in themselves and so proud of their abilities that they can hardly chuckle at themselves.
Ego is the biggest enemy to not let you laugh at yourself. If the sun is your flaws, then your ego is the clouds. The dense clouds cover the sky so that you won’t be able to see the sun. In simple words- your ego makes you blind to your flaws. And if you don’t know your flaws, how would you laugh at yourself?
Also, understand that ego is just like your fears- a little bit is necessary, but too much of it can be destruction. Hence you should first analyze yourself if you have a big ego. If you have a big ego, then control it. Once you lower your ego, you would feel free to laugh at yourself.
Dissolve your ego before it dissolves your self.
-Maxime Lagacé
2. Be aware of yourself
People who are aware of themselves can laugh at their weaknesses more easily than those who are not aware. If you are not aware of yourself, how can you know your weaknesses, flaws, and mistakes? And laughing at yourself means laughing at your weaknesses and mistakes.
Be aware of the mistakes you made in the past and the mistakes you make in the present. You also need to know your weaknesses. You may already know them, but if you don’t, you can do the following.
Take a pen and paper, sit down in a quiet place, and think deeply about your weaknesses. Analyze your failures in the past, see if you can identify any flaws and mistakes which led you to your failure. Talk to your friends who know you well, ask them what they think is your weakness. Note down everything you discover. All the answer lies in the past, so keep searching.
3. Accept your flaws
Now that you know your weaknesses and mistakes, what you have to do now is to accept them. This can be hard for many people because most of us have a strong habit of blaming others. We blame our luck for our failure; we blame the traffic for our frustration; we blame the weather for our bad mood…
If you also have this habit of blaming others, then you have to change it. No other way! Understand that you are the only person responsible for your life situations. There is no one to blame. You may not be able to control everything which is happening to you but can always control how you react to it. Hence you are responsible for everything, and you have to accept your mistakes and weaknesses.
If your weakness is public speaking and you have an experience of the same- trembling and stammering while speaking in front of a large audience- then accept that you are not a good public speaker. Once you accept it, you would be able to see it funnily and laugh at it.
4. Stop worrying
I have realized from my personal experience that I become serious and dejected when I worry about any situation. But in the same situation, if I somehow let go of everything and make myself ready to face whatever happens, I feel relieved. Then I imagine my fears becoming real and laugh at them. This is strange, but when you laugh at your fears, they tend to lose their value.
You have no control over your future. Worrying about your future or your fears getting real will not give you any solution; it is a waste of time. Instead, you should accept your fears and laugh at them. If you fear losing money and becoming poor, imagine the worst that can happen- Your bank balance is zero, you lose your house, and you are in debt. Accept it, and laugh at it. Stop worrying. Laugh wholeheartedly. Believe that if that happens, you can find a way to solve the problem. But now that you don’t have that problem, you can laugh.
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
– Elbert Hubbard
5. Be funny
This is the final requirement to laugh at yourself. You need to have a basic sense of humor to find the fun in day-to-day life. Some of us already have a pretty good sense of humor. But if you don’t have, you can develop it. Humor is not a talent; it is a skill, that means it can be learned.
To develop a sense of humor and get some idea about making fun of yourself, you can watch stand-up comedies, read funny novels, read memes on Instagram, etc. There are many ways of developing your sense of humor, but this is the easiest one. When you regularly read jokes, you would realize you are also getting funnier. Being funny would help you to laugh at yourself.
Conclusion
Let’s recap what we have learned. Laughing at yourself is one of the best qualities that can help you live a happier and stress-free life. If you want to laugh at yourself, you need to control your ego, be aware of your weaknesses and mistakes, accept your flaws, avoid worrying and watch stand-ups comedies. When you laugh at yourself, you will find yourself to be an interesting person to live with. So, what you are waiting for, laugh!
Life is too short to be serious all the time. So if you can’t laugh at yourself, call me, I’ll laugh at you.
-Anonymous
This is all about how to laugh at yourself; I hope it helped you. Thank you for reading. Keep visiting Expords.com and follow us on Instagram- the_expords for extreme life-hacks.
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Knowing the benefits of laughing at ourself,seems really intresting.
Thanks, Piyush! Happy to know that you liked it.