Experiencing Humor in the Mundane

I enjoy a “good” laugh. Laughing keeps me from taking life too seriously. Laughing reminds me that there is always a lighter side to any circumstance. Laughing reminds me that even though we may experience an awful day, tomorrow is a fresh start. 

We’ve all been created with the necessary physiological parts needed to laugh such as facial and belly muscles. But, we can’t talk ourselves into a good belly laugh. Fake laughter is just that, fake. 

So, how do we experience humor in the regular, ordinary and mundane days of our lives? 

By definition, humor is our capacity for recognizing something funny. We can recognize something as being funny when someone shares their witty perspective, their true humanity or a simple observation. By not taking others too seriously, we can experience a moment of humor with them.

For instance, a few days ago I went into a big box store to look for a yoga chimer, a little chime yoga instructors use to signal the end of a class. 

The thing I hate about big box stores is that they are so big. There is way too much merchandise and I don’t want to waste time looking in vain for something that might not even be there in the first place.

Thankfully, big box stores cater to people just like me. They have customer service folks standing at the entrance with a little hand held device that helps them help you find something.

 Approaching the customer service lady, I told her what I was looking for. I am tall, the customer service woman was short. Her eyes were at my chest level. Before I could tell her what I was looking for, she said, “You’ve got a button unbutton.”

Looking down at my shirt, I noticed she was right. Then I thanked her for being the fashion police.

Together we experienced a humorous moment in the mundane.

Another example of experiencing humor in the ordinary comes from my early morning solo runs. I’ve had motorists stop and tell me, “You’ve got a skunk following you.” Other times a motorist will warn me, “I just saw a moose about two blocks ahead of you.” 

Early one Sunday morning, while jogging through our downtown area, a woman stopped me and asked, “I lost my car, can you help me find it?” It must have been a wild and crazy night for her, but together, we found humor in her situation and cracked up.

You gotta know that when I encounter a dog on my running route, I yell, “Getta outa here you flea bag!” before they have the chance to nip at my ankles or chomp on my thigh.

For some reason, when a huge dalmatian started running toward me one morning, I only yelled, “Go on home!” instead of my usual salutation. Then I heard a man’s voice, “Come here Reepicheep.”

“Reepicheep? Isn’t that the mouse in one of the books in the Narnia series?” 

The man smiled, sharing with me the humorous moment. His dog looked nothing like Reepicheep.  

I was glad I’d refrained from calling Reepicheep a flea bag. 

Why Bother?

Why bother experiencing humor in the mundane? When we are willing to believe that we can experience humor in the mundane, we’ll experience it.