Message of the Day - Taking Yourself Unseriously

Good Morning,

 

My current read is Og Mandino's "A Better Way to Live" (http://www.amazon.com/Better-Way-Live-Og-Mandino/dp/0553057170). This is my fourth Og Mandino book and like the rest, it is personable and easy to read. This book contains 17 rules or lessons, each giving us a better way to life.

 

My favorite rule is Rule Eleven. Let me share it with you.

 

Rule Eleven is to "Laugh at yourself and life...Never take yourself too seriously." This rule is about reducing stress and tension in our lives by not getting so caught up in life that we see only seriousness and rigidity.

 

Every now and then we should stop and look at life around us, and if we can, laugh about the funny stuff. And please realize that there is a lot of funny stuff out there. It could be seeing yourself in the morning to noticing the way everyone in a meeting or conference call introduces themselves.

 

There is a lot of silliness in our world, and when we take time away from trying to hide it or ignore it, we can find that the humor in it all can be a great reliever of stress.

 

I used to strive for perfection in all the things I did. I had a particular way of dressing, a way of presenting reports and setting up presentations. Every facet of these was important to me. So important that anyone who put a note out of place or did not follow the patterns I had set up would irritate me. It was as if everything I did had to perfect or something horrible would happen to me.

 

When I realized that I am not perfect, and in most cases, not even close, I was able to lighten up a bit and even laugh at myself. Nowadays I laugh at myself often. It is not that I am comedian, no, just ask my coworkers about my jokes and timing..... nope, not a comedian. But, I am pretty funny when you look at the silly things I do from time to time.

 

Taking a look at ourselves in this light drops a lot of stress from our lives. It is okay to not be perfect and it is okay to laugh at yourself. It is even okay to laugh with others, so long as it is not in a mean-spirited way.

 

When you take look, you might find that you too are pretty funny.

 

And that is a good thing.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
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