12.29.08
Friendly Reminder!
I saw a lot of funny things today at the zoo. Although the animals probably weren’t trying to be funny, they were! Whether it was the smile on the face of the mother elephant, or one of the new baby elephants as he grasped his mother’s trunk fighting to get water out of the spigot in the wall, everyone around us was laughing. From the orangutan picking his nose, to the sea otters swimming upside-down, all the animals were wonderfully hilarious!
We are what made the animals funny–or, more specifically, our perspective and point of view about the animals. We can do this in our human interactions, too. By taking that small pause to realize, “Maybe he or she didn’t mean to hurt my feelings. Maybe he was trying to be funny. Maybe that was her best shot at humor.” Sure, we can usually feel or sense hateful speech when it comes at us. But doesn’t it feel a lot better to give the person a second chance, as we pause to reflect on their possible humorous intention? Our mood will instantly be uplifted. There will be plenty of time to sort out the real meaning behind their words. But our pause will prevent hurtful feelings in us, and prevent any hurtful remarks we may conjure up.
I’m sure there was some scientific reason the elephants twisted their trunks to bring the hay to their mouths. And it was probably simply animal nature, the way the penguins screamed at each other. The bats weren’t really trying to get laughs as they ate apples while hanging upside-down (the bats, not the apples). But as long as we believed they were funny–they were! And we felt a lot less stress today, we laughed a lot more, and we have a fun time.
“Get Your SHINE Together!” no matter what your species.
