How to develop a sense of humor: 6 tips

A sense of humor is one of the most positive and generally appreciated psychological characteristics. After all, those who have it highly developed are capable of finding reasons to laugh in almost any context, simply because of the ease with which they see that funny side of life. In addition, fortunately it is something that can be acquired throughout life.

In this article we will focus on the topic of how to develop a sense of humor and apply it in our way of seeing life.

• Related article: "The 9 benefits of having a sense of humor"

How to develop a sense of humor?

The ease with which we come to develop a sense of humor depends in part on the context in which we grow up. If extreme poverty and other forms of misery reign around us, it is more difficult, although not impossible or infrequent.

Knowing this is important because otherwise we can come to blame ourselves for not smiling constantly before the events that we are observing. Our mental processes do not depend only on oneself, but are linked to the stimuli that we are receiving.

That said, let's see a series of tips to develop a sense of humor applying small changes to our habits and our philosophy of life.

1. Get used to adopting a distanced perspective

It may sound paradoxical, but to enhance the sense of humor, a previous step is necessary in which we distance ourselves from ourselves, we adopt a neutral (or relatively neutral) perspective, and we observe what happens around us as if all that were not part of the reality in which one lives.

What's the point of that? so what know how to find cracks of humor in the most varied situations it is partly knowing how to break reality into parts to be able to draw connections between ideas in a way that breaks the schemes.

If we omit this analytical vision of reality, it costs more to lose the fear of not blindly following the social conventions and carry out some other act or comment that leads to exposing oneself to a risk to appear eccentric. Which brings us to the next tip.

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2. Learn not to be afraid of what they will say

Anyone who displays a good sense of humor assumes the risk of not being funny and looking like a weird person or who says nonsense things. It is inevitable, for example, to meet people who they will not understand a reference necessary to understand an impromptu joke. To achieve this, it does not hurt to work on maintaining good self-esteem and correct social skills.

Having a sense of humor and keeping it to oneself is fine, but it is better, and it develops faster, if it leads us to relate to others in a different way, externalizing it.

3. Learn to laugh at yourself

This is possibly the most important rule to enhance your sense of humor. Know how to joke about yourself It is fundamental, because it shows commitment and consistency with a philosophy of life based on the idea of that practically nothing is solemn enough not to be laughed at at certain circumstances.

4. culture yourself

This is an aspect that many people overlook, but the quality of our sense of humor can greatly benefit if we get used to reading and learning about different fields. Because? because it's much easier that way create funny and interesting connections between seemingly far apart concepts each other.

It should be remembered that one of the pillars of humor consists of breaking expectations, going beyond what is considered normal and return having created associations that would not be expected at first but that we can understand at instant. For this reason, culture allows us to navigate in a sea of ​​knowledge in which if you know enough it is possible to create jokes and funny comments from the most varied ideas.

5. don't learn jokes

This is the seemingly easy path that some people choose, believing that it will allow them to access a sense of humor through memorization. But there is no sense of humor that is based on memorizing things: by definition, this quality is based on spontaneity and in the way we react to our context in real time.

It is clear that learning a few jokes does not hurt anyone and can serve to have a laugh, but it should not be confuse this with a sense of humor, although this last element will probably influence our ability to count one.

On the other hand, linking a sense of humor to jokes can lead us to exactly the opposite, to foster a way of understanding The funny thing based on the "technical" application of jokes, something that is very rigid and can even become boring for everyone.

6. Learn to differentiate when it is appropriate to use it and when it is not

There are situations in which joking is unnecessary. Not because the situation itself doesn't have a funny component for us (if it didn't, we wouldn't have thought of any comment) funny, in the first place), but basically so as not to harm other people who are having a bad time or for whom it is important that the moment be solemn. It is convenient to respect their will and let them have those spaces free of comments that would be inappropriate for them.