| Humor, laughter, smiling-they've all been cited as helping | | | | situation and seek other options for ourselves. |
| improving our health and mental well-being. And, they | | | | Educator David Deshler suggests metaphor analysis |
| can be equally useful and powerful when we're going | | | | as a vehicle for learning, reflection, and understanding |
| through transition situations like job changes, relationship | | | | the way we act upon our experience. |
| changes, aging, and any surprise changes in our lives. | | | | The book, "The Positive Power of Negative Thinking", |
| Authors Nancy Schlossberg and Susan Porter | | | | by Julie Norem, PhD., highlights a strategy that is useful |
| Robinson, in their book, "Going to Plan B: How you can | | | | for some people, that of imagining the worst-case |
| cope, regroup, and start your life on a new path," talk | | | | scenario. From that imagining, we can devise coping |
| of the transition situation of coping with non-events. | | | | strategies and form more effective plans. Humor can |
| They define non-events as those events in our life that | | | | be part of that imagining; as we exaggerate beyond |
| we expected to happen but that didn't. The promotion | | | | reality, we can not only make better plans, but we |
| that never materialized. The kids who didn't become | | | | may even get to the point of laughter. |
| what we expected. The children who weren't born. | | | | Schlossberg and Robinson suggest that coping implies |
| The dreams that weren't realized. Part of these | | | | a continuum of strategies, each one allowing us more |
| authors' coping strategy involves a process of | | | | room for hope. Humor can lead us toward hope by |
| dream-reshaping. In this four-part process, humor | | | | helping us to deflect our feelings of defeat. In addition, |
| enters in at the second, "easing", stage. | | | | humor allows us to distance ourselves from the |
| Humor can not only ease us into the next phase of | | | | problem, enabling us to increase our self-confidence. |
| the transition process, it can also wake us up. For | | | | Someone once said, everything is funny, given enough |
| example, some therapists have found that humorous | | | | time. Time to process and time to reflect. Then--its' |
| metaphors can drive home a point more effectively. | | | | time to laugh! Until next time, "Get Your SHINE |
| Schlossberg and Robinson acknowledge that | | | | Together! |
| metaphors can help us acknowledge the futility of our | | | | |