Laugh like an Optimist

Laugh like an Optimist
By Victor Perton, Author of "Optimism: The How and Why"

Life brings difficulty, uncertainty and frustration. It also brings absurdity, surprise, playfulness and moments that make us laugh.

To laugh like an optimist is to keep a sense of humour alive, especially when life feels heavy. Laughter does not remove the challenge. It helps us breathe, reconnect, restore perspective and find the energy to take the next good step.

At The Centre for Optimism, laughter is one of our favourite habits. In serious workshops, leadership conversations and optimism gatherings, we often end with laughter. It changes the energy in the room. People relax. Faces soften. The conversation opens.

A simple practice

Today, try one of these:

• Tell someone a gentle joke.

• Watch something that makes you laugh out loud.

• Share a funny memory.

• Laugh with a child.

• Smile at the absurdity of something small.

• When tension rises, ask, “What is the funny side of this?”

A question

What makes you laugh? And what does laughter do for your optimism?

Laughter Yoga International 

"Laughter helps to create a positive mental state to deal with negative situations and negative people. It creates hope and optimism to cope with difficult times."

Arthur Brooks in The Link Between Happiness and a Sense of Humor

"Positive humor is associated with self-esteem, optimism, and life satisfaction, and with decreases in depression, anxiety, and stress. Negative humor follows the exact opposite pattern: While it can feel good in the moment, it exacerbates unhappiness."

Charlie Brooker

“A lot of satire is optimistic about the human condition. It’s pointing out where things have gone wrong, so you have to believe that things could go right.”

Laurent Saurisseau (Riss) in the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo ten years after the terrorist attack on its offices and staff.

"Satire has one virtue that has got us through these tragic years – optimism. If people want to laugh, it is because they want to live."

Have I told you about the Russian optimist and the Riussian pessimist?

The pessimist says, "Things could not get worse."

The optimist says, " Oh yes they can."

An optimist is someone who brings a book to read for an eye dilation test. 

A psychiatrist has one son who is a total pessimist, and another who is a complete optimist.  He decides on an experiment.  For Christmas he fills the pessimist’s room with hundreds of beautifully wrapped gifts, and dumps a heap of horse manure in the optimist’s room. On Christmas morning he sees the pessimist boy sitting motionless at the center of his room, eyeing his gifts suspiciously. But over in the optimist’s room he sees his boy filled with joy, digging happily in the odorous pile. He asks the kid what he’s doing and he answers:  "Daddy, with all this horse dung, there’s gotta be a pony in there someplace.” 

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The communist says the glass is too full, and needs to be redistributed among the other glasses.

The pessimist says "The glass is half-empty!"

The Optimist says "The glass is half-full!"

The Proactive person says "Actually, the glass is full. I refilled it while you were arguing. You're welcome."

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The engineer says the glass is over-designed for the quantity of water.

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The inquisitive troublemaker wants to know what's in the glass anyhow...

The optimist says the glass is half full.    

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by morning.

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The project manager says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential.

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The Marketer says "Your glass needs re-sizing"

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The physicist says that the glass is not empty at all - it is half-filled with water and half-filled with air - hence, fully filled on the whole!

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The seminar presenter does not care if the glass is half full or half empty, he just knows that starting the discussion will give him ten minutes to figure out why his PowerPoint presentation is not working.

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The quantum physicist would say that the water could be inside the glass, or outside the glass, or both, or neither … simultaneously.  It could actual water or a mere wet vector.

(Shared by Nick Ryan who concluded "We need quantum optimism.")

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The pedant says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The journalist/broadcaster "asks" how can we all share your glass and smile for the camera, please?

(From Donagh McKeown)

Miz Feiler, Blogger

"My mother is an optimistic. She taught me to be one too. But now that I am a mother, also juggling a business and a multitude of daily tasks, I understand that it is not always enough for one’s glass to be half full. Sometimes you need to fill that wine glass right to the top."

“I put my application in for the Optimist Club.......but I don’t think I’m going to get accepted.”

Attributed to Steven Wright

Read inspiring quotable quotes in "Optimism: The How and Why" by Victor Perton, CEO of The Centre for Optimism.

Kay Clancy, Transformation Specialist

"I am a contagious optimist Victor Perton. Just like laughter is contagious and hearing someone laugh can break you through even the darkest of times and make you laugh, I believe that each of us has within us the resources to find a brighter outlook, we just sometimes need someone to help us unlock that. "

“Our thoughts create our feelings and our feelings influence our actions and our words. The words we use and the actions we take have an impact long after the words are spoken or the action taken. This becomes our ripple. We have the opportunity to choose our ripple. In the moment of choice choosing optimism creates a space where you step into a positive frame of mind creating positive words and actions and a lasting positive ripple.”

Rita Wirtz 

Project Optimism has produced "The Optimist's Gratitude Journal: 100 days to share and develop your gratitude" which is very helpful.

See https://www.amazon.com/Optimists-Gratitude-Journal-develop-gratitude/dp/B09MC5ZNPX