We're not here to lose our sense of humor. --Richie Berlin
Being too serious is habit forming. However, many aspects of our lives are serious and need to be addressed. Our disease, for one, is very serious. Working the Twelve Step program to the best of our ability is serious too. So are being honest and loving with friends, taking responsibility for all of our behavior, and being willing to change. But we can get in the habit of being too serious in many areas of our lives where a lighter touch is called for.
Cultivating laughter, so it too can become habit forming, benefits us immeasurably; however, this may not be easy. Our family of origin taught us that some things were funny and other things weren't. If we were laughed at rather than encouraged to see the humor in situations affecting us, we may find it hard to be comfortable with anyone's laughter. But we can work on this. We can begin by spending time with people who laugh and see the humor in situations that affect them. Our families were our earliest teachers; we can pick some new teachers now.
The more often I laugh today, the lighter my spirit will feel and the healthier my emotional life will become.
Humour has helped me enormously in sobriety. I have had to laugh at the sheer insanity of my behaviour - in sobriety too that is !
I know the seriousness of my disease and how badly my behaviour has affected others while I was drinking but the program gives me freedom to be happy, joyous and free. I have made amends in the best/most appropriate way I could.
I had people in meetings get mad if you showed to much humor. "This is a very serious disease! " That I know. At first my laughing and giggling was a sign of nerves and immaturity. Now my laughter is a sign of JOY! I love my sober life!
This hits home. I was one of those that would cringe while watching embarassing scenes in movies or tv shows while everyone laughed. Super serious and overly sensitive made me damn near anti-social. Lots of reasons stemming from my childhood for that. I first had to learn to laugh at myself, instead of beating my self up. Then I was able to take a joke and laugh along. Now it's me making the joke about myself, which is the greatest relief from this malady.
I laugh so hard at times just thinking about certain things.If you caught me ,you would think I needed a straight jacket and some "away time"Been there ,done that..I am so blessed to be able to laugh because for 25 years "it was not funny!!!!! I truly believe God's grace and mercy was not offered for me to spend rest of my life as "serious as a heart attack"!!! My whole family thinks I have a very strange humor,,I like it!!!!!!
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Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
