Today I want to get more specific about how you would grow in the ability to find something comic or a reason for at least some interior laughter in times of stress. I am drawing upon the work of Judy Carter, whose two books, The Comedy Bible and The Message of You I would highly recommend if you want to explore the area of comedy in more depth. Her most recent book, The Message of You is an excellent guide to converting experiences of pain, even those in your personal history, to opportunities to explore the comedic. http://judycarter.com . I would emphasize that this is not to make light of suffering, yours or that of others, but to find ways to create some distance so that you are not consumed by the pain.
If you pay attention to the good comedians, they don’t avoid the pain of the world. In fact they draw your attention to it, but then they convert the problem into a punch line. The reason for you to reach for the comedic in your situation is to allow you to step back and get a little perspective. In a theological sense, discovering the comedy in the challenges of life is a brief Sabbath that allows you to step back, breathe, and gain a little perspective.
For a slightly sarcastic example, consider the demands on you as a minister.
A pastor should be spiritually sensitive to the needs of a parishioner.
Some can be helped by quoting the proper scripture
Others by a powerful prayer.
And some just need a kick in the butt.
One form of comedy that you might play with falls into the category of “That’s what I should have said.” There are many situations where you wish you had both the quickness of thought and the nerve to have said something clever in a tight situation. As an experiment, make a list of six difficult situations that you have faced in the last couple of months. Then pick one of two and play with some funny statements that you might have made. These are not statements to make out loud, but simply experiencing the pleasure of thinking about a clever rejoinder. Just playing with it will likely give you some relief from the stress of the situation.
We’ll continue exploring this in the next blog.
Don’t forget to tune into the serial story each Monday: “Truth &: Consequences.”
