Altar
Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter
Albritton
May
15, 2016
Stop taking yourself so seriously and live a
little
It is healthy to believe that you have
value as a person, that you are important to several, perhaps many people. You
make a difference in significant ways. Having confidence in your worth as a
human being is a good thing.
It
is, however, unhealthy to value yourself too highly, to suppose that you are
the most important person on the block. The secret is to not take yourself too
seriously which tends to make you uptight and miserable.
Now
and then I run into people who talk incessantly, as though everybody is dying
to hear what they have to say. These talkers seem full of themselves. And they hate
silence so they fill the air with words, their words.
I listen as patiently as possible while
wishing Scottie would beam me up to another planet. I resist the temptation to
jump into the conversation with some good advice – relax and live a little; you
are not the center of the universe. Stop taking yourself so seriously and have
fun listening to someone else talk awhile.
It
helps to remember that the world does not revolve around me. That does not
diminish me in any way. I am still a person of worth. I am even unique; there
is no one else quite like me.
That thought is worth a good laugh. My
friends are surely thankful there is no one else like me. They would hate to
have to put up with two of me.
A healthy sense of humor helps you to
laugh at yourself when you make silly mistakes. Without such a disposition you
can never enjoy other people or be fun to live with. Nobody enjoys being around
straitlaced people who are unable to laugh at themselves.
The
humorless life is one of misery filled with tension, friction, anxiety and restlessness.
Those who live with such people are thirsty for laughter. They are always
looking for an oasis – a caring, smiling person genuinely interested in other
people.
Once we throw away visions of grandeur
about ourselves, we can enjoy being an ordinary person who is both flawed and
gifted. We don’t have to be the smartest person in the universe. We can just be
glad we are smarter than a rock and enjoy this brief life before time runs out.
When you do something dumb, you can
laugh at yourself instead of beating yourself up. You can be thankful for the brains
you do have. There is a good chance you have not worn them out yet. So you can
use what you have instead of wishing you had more.
A great way to get a good laugh is to
take a look in the mirror. Notice how much a smile does for your face. Instead
of fretting that you are not more beautiful or handsome, just be thankful you
don’t look any worse. Enjoy the way you look. After all, what you see is all
you’ve got so you might as well enjoy it.
One of my great challenges is to resist
getting uptight about uptight people. I try to remember that I am not in charge
of the behavior of other people; I have a full-time job trying to control my
own. It is best to respond with laughter than anger when someone else makes a
stupid mistake. Laughing with others can reduce the tension in the air and it
is good therapy for the soul. And when it comes to laughing, we ought not be
content with a giggle and a smile. It is good for the soul to throw your head
back and enjoy a belly laugh now and then.
I love the story of the origin of “Rule
63.” In the early days of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), Bill and Bob met with a
hundred recovering alcoholics to develop a charter for the organization.
Eagerly,
almost addictively, the group formulated rule after rule until they had 62
rules and regulations. Suddenly they realized what they had done. Their
compulsiveness and addictiveness had run rampant. So, with good humor amid
healthy laughter, they created Rule 63: "We will not take ourselves too
seriously."
They
scrapped the other rules and began the movement without the excess baggage of
many rules. The great success of AA teaches us how helpful “Rule 63” can be in
all our lives. If you are "the Boss" where you work, Rule 63 will
help you become a better leader. People will enjoy you more. If, however, you
constantly have to remind everyone that you are "the Boss," you are
simply taking yourself too seriously.
The
strings on a guitar or violin must be tightened in order to play well, but they
will break if they remain tight all the time. The lesson of the strings –
relax, loosen up, laugh a little and enjoy being alive.
True
freedom is the great reward for not taking yourself too seriously. Hard work must
be mixed with humor or it becomes drudgery. When the balance is right, life is rich
and enjoyable. At the end of the day the losers are those who took themselves
too seriously. The winners are those who were fun to be with. + + +