Scene: Lights dim as I am seen scurrying from place to place in my home, looking under, around and behind things.
I am mumbling as I hunt around, “Where IT go?”, “Where did I leave IT?”, “I thought IT was right here ….”, “I just had IT a little while ago!”
Voice from off stage: “What ARE you looking for … what is IT?”
Light focuses on my face, my facial expression is deadly serious as I look up and say in my most troubled tone, “My Sense of Humor, for Gawd’s sake!”
I have a little litmus test that really effectively proves that I have dipped into some Lack-of-Freedom-Void: my sense of humor is GONE! I have lost it! Misplaced! Missing! Poof! Can’t find it! I start rechecking the normal places I may have placed it. Ahhhhhhhh, Yep … there it is, RIGHT where I left it … just got buried under a bunch of brain induced stuff!
My sense of humor being gone, for me, is one of the keys to me knowing I am taking life WAY TOO Seriously and I am not experiencing Freedom. When it is missing there are a series of other things that aren’t and are there too. For example: I have forgotten how awesome it is to be ALIVE. I have lost my GRATITUDE. No happiness is present. Definitely no JOY is present. My physical energy goes missing and I feel tired/exhausted. My shoulders are up around my ears and the flexibility in my neck is limited (often accompanied by everything, across my shoulders and upper back, being tight and feeling like a rock).
Not only that but, I am probably jumpy, edgy, and stressed feeling with an underlying frustration or irritation usually (Warning: watch out anyone or anything that comes in my path). I move from being open and accepting of myself and others to judging myself and others. My whole experience of life is of being Constrained, Restricted and Limited in some way. Bottom Line: Ain’t NO Freedom present at ALL.
Having a Sense of Humor, to me, is distinct from being funny. I can be funny (actually reallllly funny) but that is separate from my having a sense of humor. A sense of humor, to me, is a lightness about life, myself and myself in life. For me, it is not being a ridiculous joker and it definitely is not about having fun at other’s expense. It is also not about belittling the importance of people, things and situations. It is certainly not self-deprecating. My equation looks more like this: Sense of Humor = Lightness of Being.
Some outward signs of my sense of humor being present include various things at various times. It could be some of the following experiences or feelings, for me in the moment: Feeling Freed up, Smiling just for the sake of Smiling or Laughing just coz’, Being Joyful, Amused , Curious, Seeing things from a Positive perspective, Giggling at something I just did, my Creativity is soaring, I have more Clarity, etc.
What I do know is that when I am experiencing FREEDOM my sense of humor is present along with it and when I am not experiencing Freedom … well … Good Luck finding my sense of humor. Get out the search party and flashlights!
What’s the point in me knowing that my missing sense of humor is an indicator that I have gotten off the Freedom train? Wellllll … my theory at play is: If you can see it you can move it! We want to catch the Freedom going out as soon as possible vs. letting all of the other stuff, that shows up instead, run us on auto-pilot. The faster the better to reign our Freedom back in and hop back on that Freedom train! So, me noticing my sense of humor is missing is one of the ways I “see” that FREEDOM is Gone so I can reign it back in.
What has you know you are not FREED up in general or in certain situations or with certain people? What is your indicator? Where do you feel it in your body (tightness somewhere, heart racing, stomach in knots, etc.)? What kind of things do you begin to say or do (get grumpy with people, repeat things over and over, panic, etc.)? What thoughts do you begin to have, maybe even obsessively (I gotta’ get outa’ here, Here we go again, I hate ______________, etc.)? What feelings start escalating (fear, anger, frustration, etc)?
I am grinning at myself, at the moment, realizing that every time I write a blog post that about 3 seconds after I publish it my brain will try to have me second guessing everything I just wrote and now published. LOL. Yep, ALL IS GOOD!! Sense of humor in place. Gonna’ hit that send button and giggle some now!
Please feel free to share or ask questions or give feedback! I absolutely love the thought of hearing from YOU! I think of these blog posts as a way to connect and share with you and I love when YOU connect and share back with me!
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