Humor

In today's session with David Gandelman, we're going to be working on using humor as a tool to release energy and to learn how to not take ourselves too seriously! Sometimes the experience of being a human being carries a lot of heaviness, seriousness and pain with it. We often put too much expectation, perfection, and demand on ourselves, on others, and on life. In this practice with David, you'll focus on bringing a more light-hearted and open energy to your day, because there is so much beauty and love to enjoy while we're on this planet. We hope this session leaves you smiling.

Transcript

Welcome to day nine of Establish a Positive Mindset,

A challenge here on Insight Timer crafted to help you break free from negative thought patterns,

Overcome self-limiting beliefs,

And embrace a mindset of abundance and possibility.

Let's jump into today's session.

Hey friend,

Welcome to Insight Timer's Positivity Challenge.

My name is David Gandelman,

And today we're going to be working on using humor as a tool to release energy and to learn how to not take ourselves too seriously.

And to start,

I've got a couple of really bad dad jokes.

The first one is,

What is a rabbit's favorite kind of music?

And the answer,

Hip hop.

And the second joke,

Why couldn't the skeleton go to the party?

Because he had no body to go with.

But you do have a body,

And you use this body to go to work,

To exercise,

To enjoy being outside,

To being with your family,

And just the experience of being a human being.

And sometimes the experience of being a human being carries a lot of heaviness and seriousness and pain with it.

And so in today's meditation,

We're going to release some of that heaviness and seriousness that really doesn't serve us,

That makes us overthink and anxious and stressed,

Maybe has us focus too much on the future.

And as we release it,

We'll bring ourselves slowly,

Deeply,

And easily into this moment.

And before we jump in,

I just want to share that there have been a number of studies on the use of humor,

And they've shown some incredible results.

Everything from increasing endorphins,

Reducing stress,

Enhancing mood and immune system.

It even can increase your tolerance to pain and facilitates emotional release,

Which you might do some of in today's meditation.

I remember when I was living in India,

I was hiking up the mountains in the Himalayas,

And I turned a corner in the mountain,

And I remember there was a beautiful Indian couple,

And they were just laughing out loud hysterically over and over and over at nothing,

At seemingly nothing.

And I asked them,

What are you laughing at?

And they said,

Oh,

We're just doing a laughing meditation where we just make ourselves laugh forcefully until it happens naturally.

I thought that was so silly at first,

But their energy was so good.

It was so high.

It was so open.

So let's consider this a form of laughing meditation.

And before we step into it,

I want to say one more piece here,

Which is there are two types of seriousness.

There's one type of seriousness that helps us focus and accomplish tasks that we need when we're in a really dire situation.

And there's the other type of seriousness,

Where it just makes things heavy,

Where we put too much expectation,

Perfection,

Demand on ourselves,

On others,

And on life.

And that's the kind that we really don't need.

It doesn't serve us.

So in this meditation,

We're going to focus on releasing that kind of seriousness around a topic.

So I'll have you choose one.

And really step into being more lighthearted,

Open,

And having a higher energy.

So I think I've talked enough.

Go ahead and close your eyes.

Let your back be relatively straight.

Allow your shoulders to drop and relax.

If you feel like you've been holding the world up on your shoulders,

It's a great moment to just let them drop.

And take a few deep breaths into your belly.

Relax your nerve endings in the stomach.

I read that on average,

Kids laugh three to four hundred times a day.

Four hundred times a day,

And adults,

Fifteen to twenty.

Wow,

What a difference when we're kids versus when we grow up and start taking everything so seriously.

So even right now,

As you're here meditating with me,

Put a light smile on your face.

If you want to even release a light giggle out,

Just give it like a,

God,

I've been taking myself really seriously.

And then I'd like you to just draw your awareness and attention behind your eyes into the center of your head,

Into what we might call our mind's eye.

And what I'd like you to do from here is allow one area of your life,

One energy that you've been struggling with and taking maybe too seriously,

That's been stuck,

To arise in your awareness.

You might see an image of it.

You might just get a sense,

Ah,

Work,

This relationship,

An emotion I'm stuck on,

A creative project.

So just take a moment,

Let one thing arise in your awareness and just center it in your mind's eye.

And as we meditate,

It's important to feel and sense the energy of whatever we're working on.

So if you were to almost touch this energy with your hand,

What would it feel like?

Would it be heavy,

Coarse,

Sharp,

Fast,

Slow?

And then what I'd like you to do is create a gauge from zero to 100 next to whatever this is,

Almost like a temperature gauge.

I want you to get a sense from zero to 100,

How seriously do you take this?

100 being really,

Really seriously.

Where your face starts to look constipated and your smile turns into a frown,

Where your eyebrows kind of come closer together and you get wrinkles in your forehead.

Like you're gonna solve it by thinking as hard as possible.

We've all found ourselves there.

So zero to 100,

How seriously have you been taking this issue?

And there's no right answer here.

We're just gauging our own energy.

And then we're gonna be pretty silly here.

So bear with me.

If the gauge seems or feels a little too high,

If you've gone this far with me,

Then it might,

Because you've chosen this topic.

Just give it a little animal sound.

I like to use a cat sound just like,

Meow,

Meow,

Just to loosen up any of the heaviness or seriousness.

You know,

Like when you're deeply in thought and your dog or cat look at you like,

Hey,

It's no big deal.

Be in the moment with me and allow some of the energy to drain off of this gauge,

Some of the seriousness and heaviness.

Notice that it's very likely that whatever this is in your life,

It's not the end of the world.

I always tell my students,

Only the actual end of the world is the end of the world.

So almost like when you pull the plug in a fish tank or in the shower,

In the bath and the water drains,

Let some of the seriousness,

Some of the heaviness drain.

Just feel it.

Maybe it even comes out of your body.

And we're not looking for a solution here.

We're not thinking ourselves into an answer.

We're just reorienting ourselves and our energy in relationship to this topic.

Allow yourself the flexibility to find some clarity by letting your body,

Your energy,

Your mind,

Just to be in this moment.

We don't find clarity in the future.

We always find it in the moment.

And see if you can appreciate whatever this energy,

This topic is teaching you.

Maybe it's teaching you about patience or forgiveness.

Or love.

And take a nice big deep breath in.

And when you breathe out,

Just give me like a,

Uh,

Uh.

Notice if your energy and attitude have started to shift towards this.

Have a light smile on your face.

And maybe you can realize that meditation doesn't always have to be so heavy,

So serious,

So stiff.

You don't have to hold your body hostage or a topic hostage until you figure it out.

And for now,

You can let go of whatever you've been looking at.

Just be here in this moment.

Enjoy your life from this moment.

And when you're ready,

You can slowly open your eyes and stretch.

And if you like,

You can take some time and reflect on what you felt,

What you saw,

What you experienced.

You can also take some time in the discussion section here and share your experience or any questions.

And I hope you start to bring more humor into your meditations,

Into your life.

Have a wonderful life.

Have a positive attitude towards life because there is so much beauty and love to enjoy while we're on this planet.

Thank you for meditating with me.

And hopefully I'll see you next time.

Be well.

Reviews

The dad jokes are my favorite part of your meditations 🧍‍♂️so good, as always!

One of my favorites!!!
Lighten up, don't take it all so serious. You can't laugh without smiling. Meow! 😂

Love your humour and the gentle tone of your voice, the occasional chuckle always helps 😊
Namaste 🙏

Thank you, David! You always put a smile on my face.

Wonderful and lifting as your meditations are always for me thank you. (giggle :o)

Lighthearted and uplifting. Made me giggle and realize the stress I create for myself has much to teach me. Really enjoyed this one 😃🙏🏼

I laughed and smiled during the meditation. When it was over, I felt light and released. Thank you for this wonderful meditation💓

Great medicine to take life a little more lightly 😄🥳

🥰🙌 hits the nail on the head every time… Ha ha ha🫶👏💞🌈🤸‍♀️💛

This was wonderful David. I needed to hear your sweet voice tonight and this was perfect. Thank you.
🐾🌼🪶🌹🦋🌲🌻🌸🌻🌸🌿😉💐🌷🪷🙏🏽

A wonderful reminder that it is NOT the end of the world! This meditation reminded me of the benefit of resilience and being open to new ways of looking at problems and seeing them as opportunities not problems that weigh me down. Thank you so much 😊

I know that some people think that humor is a defense. But to me it is a relief that life doesn't always have to have such a serious undertone. Even in serious situations it can add a sense of understanding, and in some cases familiarity that brings a sense of calm with those who have a shared sense of being. An inside joke of cosmic experience. 💕💫

I so often think things will be hard. This was a great reminder to let myself think of them as easy.

What a gentle way to look at the "problems " in our life. Definitely will use this more often.

Very much enjoyed. What a simple way to lighten up and laugh at how serious we are being. Thank you for sharing 🙏

I love your energy and would like to hear more of your meditations. Thank you.

Thank you David, for this new meditation idea. I’m happy I found you.
With gratitude,
Dirce

Thank you David for another great meditation. I needed to hear that. I’ve been in a rut of being too serious lately and it doesn’t make me feel very good. Your humor always brings me out of it. Love your dad jokes😂🙏❣️

Wow, I realized I took many things too seriously. Thank you David for making me aware of this.

Never looked at meditation this way
Humor is a great way to open up to life! Thank you 🌺