07.19.10
Looking Both Ways
- Image via Wikipedia
“Know how you can tell a dog that’s been dropped off? He looks both ways and doesn’t know which way to go.” That’s what my neighbor told me, as we were talking about a recently found Cocker Spaniel.
This week’s Comedy Around the World goes—somewhere. Unknown. Into the reaches of the change process. The way that dog acted is also how we humans tend to react during times of transition and change.
We can’t focus, because we don’t know WHAt to focus on. Just like the lost dog, we don’t know who or where our new “owner” is—our new identity. The house where we’ll stay, where we’ll feel and be safe. We just don’t know.
One of the themes I culled from my original research on transitions was the need for belonging. This sense of community helps us to move through changing times and come out on the other side—being our true self.
The good news is that humor helps us to foster this sense of belonging. When you “get” the joke, when you collaborate with others to generate laughter, when you feel that lightness that characterizes good humor—you know you have emerged from your trying time.
“Will I ever laugh again?” asked Carrie in the first Sex and the City movie, after being jilted by Mr. Big. Her friend Miranda said, “Yes, when something is really really funny.”
And so will you, once you move through your own personal trial. When you can laugh, you’ll know not only which way to look, you’ll know which way to go next!
