“It’s just a FEELING you have,” the Penguins' coach said after Monday’s win over the Detroit Redwings.  Was the coach talking about knowing when to put in certain players at certain times?  Or was he talking about putting more humor into your day??? 

The coach’s phrase also describes knowing when it’s ‘safe’ to joke around with someone.  I’m talking about using your sense of humor in a public situation, with strangers.  Everyone (or most anyone) can do this easily with family and friends.  And this is wonderful.  But in order to bring the connective aspect of comedy into a world-changing magnitude, we have to be brave enough to try it out on people we don’t know.  How do we know when it’s time?  “It’s just a feeling you have.” 

It's kind of like the alphabet game we played at Second City training in Cleveland.  We all sat cross-legged in a circle, eyes closed.  Whoever ‘felt’ it was ‘right’ to start, said, “A”, then another would add “B”.  We would continue until two or more people said a letter at the same time.  At that point we had to start the game all over again. 

Maybe those people felt they ‘should’ say a letter?  Maybe they felt rushed or worried that no one would say anything?  Maybe they wanted to show off?  Any of those self-centered reasons made the game stop, made our alphabet ineffective and unfinished. 

Similarly with humor.  Some people want to say things just to show off—their humor has nothing to do with the situation, and sometimes attacks the people in that situation.  But when you have a team-mindset, you can just ‘feel’ what is the right time, and you know what to say to complete the circle of connectivity of the group.  Then You can be the one to help everyone on year team to “Get Your SHINE Together!”