You sit in the car, caught in the middle of the morning traffic. You took a day off work and what you see when you look out of the window is a grey sky with rain threatening to fall any moment – or it’s just one of those days when you feel blue without any apparent reason.
Do you know how to support yourself during such moments? – preventing your thoughts from spiraling further and further down and encouraging them in the opposite direction, where there are funny, uplifting experiences and thoughts waiting to be brought back to life for you to enjoy and laugh about once again?
Some experiences are never really forgotten but have been buried in an abandoned corner of our mind, while others are easy to recall by looking at pictures, reading notes we scribbled into our notebooks or watching videos. The trick is to try creating a space in your mind and in your drawer dedicated to those funny moments that made you laugh and feel good. A resource you can draw on when you need some good cheering up.
Most of my funny experiences are kept in my head and might not appear funny to you but never fail to bring a wide grin to MY face. These memories don’t need to be especially grand moments of entertainment but can be rather simple. For instance – I once saw a bird attempting to land gracefully on a frozen puddle, when upon touchdown his legs and feet suddenly seemed to run backwards on the spot, until eventually he landed on his rear end with one wing on the ground and the other waving helplessly in mid air – his feet stretched out in front of his beak. I witnessed this scene while traveling on a bus in wintry Paris. It lasted only a few seconds and the bird got up again and flew off, but this little funny scene is forever stored in my mind ready to be remembered when I need some cheering up.
So, give these grey cells some exercise and try to remember all those funny moments, put them in your mental funny drawer or jot them down ready for you to access when needed.