DAY 186-TAKING YOURSELF SERIOUSLY IS NO JOKING MATTER

Day 186

When I was sixteen years old, I fell in love with a poet.  Every time I was around him, he would recite Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Apollinaire… three French poets I much admired at the time.   I was completely under his spell.  He seemed so profound and mysterious to me.  He wore bohemian scarves and had an eccentricity that girls (not only me) found irresistible.  He was a real artist.  I’m sure you can picture the type!

When I think back of that time, I laugh at the adolescent I was.  That boy took himself very seriously and, with all my innocence and gullibility, I jumped right into his game, taking him seriously as well.  Today, when I meet those types, I find them very funny. 

Not taking yourself too seriously and being able to laugh at yourself is an essential part of a happy life.  If you don’t, people end up doing it for you.  In order to do so, you have to be able to look at yourself as an observer, come out of your body, so that you can perceive yourself as an outsider would.  We all have funny habits and quirks, so why not use them to get a good laugh?

People who take themselves seriously, as my poet did, are often narcissistic.  They view themselves as being the centre of the universe and are way too involved in themselves to be able to observe their behaviour objectively and see how comical it may seem.  

Learning to laugh at yourself can really have a wonderful liberating effect.  It could allow you to put into perspective situations that could otherwise take gigantic proportions.    

“Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.”

Dame Edna Everage (Australian Comedian)

“Life is too important to be taken seriously.”

 Oscar Wilde

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