Carl Massy

Wet, cold, hungry and tired

Let’s change courses for a bit, and head into the jungle region of South East Queensland (Australia). 

To a particularly knarly spot, originally called the Land Headquarters Training Centre (Jungle Warfare). 

It was 1988 (I believe), and we were Officer Cadets in the Army, doing a jungle warfare exercise. 

Navigating through the jungle was intense, stifling, tiring (especially extracting yourself from overly friendly vines), and that did not even include the leeches who seemed to lurch for you whenever you stopped for a breather. 

Or the fact that you could not see your hand in front of you at night. 

And THEN there was the rain that bucketed down, and continued to drip unabated for the next few days, leaving a muddy quagmire in its wake. 

In summary…it was a sh#t-hole. 

But you know what? 

The thing most able to get you through this unpleasant experience – aside from physical fitness and mental grit – was having a good SENSE OF HUMOUR. 

To laugh in the face of adversity, or challenge, or hardship, is the thing that interrupts a downward spiral of misery. 

Have you ever been wound so tightly, and then the dam burst when you recognize the absurdity of the thing you are facing, and maybe the recognition of your inability to actually change it, and you laughed your pants off? 

And after you stopped laughing, and dried your eyes, the “thing” you thought was SOOOOOO bad was lessened from a lion-like problem, to a pesky rat-like problem. 

It was still there – sort of – but no longer has the debilitating strangle hold on you. 

The POWER of laughter. 

You know. I know it. We all know it. 

The theory I have been pondering

So here is the crux my most recent pondering. 

Has a world, that is more “politically-correct” and uptight about what you can say or not (even of it is true), made it harder for humour and therefore laughter to unfold? 

Of course we want compassion and empathy with others to be a part of the Virtues we live by. 

But I think, we (as a people – especially in “developed countries”) have lost a bit of our sense of humour. 

Being able to laugh at the nonsensical.

Making fun of someone being stupid. 

Making fun of someone in a position of “authority”. 

In the military, as an officer, as much as the “Platoon joker”, was a pain-in-the-butt at times, you knew they were essential for morale when it came to dealing with adversity. 

They would be the one to crack the ridiculous (and generally very UN-politically correct) gag that would have everyone laughing, and break the tension. 

A sense of humour is not only important for navigating tough stuff, in my opinion it is ESSENTIAL. 

It is like that old saying: “I can either laugh at it or cry”. 

And quite often that is a personal choice.

The main point

My point being; a sense of humour is extremely important for the anti-fragility of our mental health, and is not helped by extreme or excessive rules and regulations on what we can and cannot say. 

Walking on eggshells does not encourage impromptu and authentic humour or wit. 

And my hypothesis is whether a societal influence on what “P’s” & “Q’s” we can say, has increased our general level of ‘seriousness’, and lowered our general sense of humour, thus having a potential influence on our mental health; since we have less easy access to the release valve humour provides. 

Regardless of whether my hypothesis on contributing causes is in any way close to the mark, I am certain from personal and professional experience that having a good sense of humour is highly beneficial when operating in uncertain situations and times.

In Summary

Quite often it is laughter that is the thing which comes after you reach a breaking point – you either laugh or cry. 

Laughing reduces feelings of despair you may experience, because it triggers a different bio-chemical and neurological response in the brain and body. 

Being overly “PC” can/may restrict the fertile soil for the soothing nature of humour to be expressed. 

Laughter is one of the best tonics for more effectively dealing with adversity, uncertainty, and internal doubts.

My Parting Words

I do ponder often. 

As I am sure you have figured out. 

And this thought would not let go of me last week. 

Is there any relationship between sense of humour, political correctness (and woke-ness), and our access to anti-fragility when it comes to adversity? 

I know from being in the military (which included being the “class clown” at times), that having a good sense of humour was essential to make it through the physical and psychological elements of the profession. 

And I think the same can be said for any of the emergency services (police, fire fighters, first responders, and the likes). 

I caught up with a Pommie mate the other week who is a police officer in England, who I hadn’t seen for ages. 

He has a wicked and whacky sense of humour, and I am sure it has helped him deal with all sorts of ugly stuff over his 20+ years in the force.

Do we need to tune up our own sense of humour – and take ourselves less seriously – if we want to maintain optimum levels of mental health? 

And also – I chuckle as I write this – do we need to hang out with our friend with the “inappropriate” sense of humour a little more, to see the lighter side of life?

I have to admit, I do love catching up with my army buddies (and my siblings), where you can goof off, crack bad gags, and drop F-bombs, and then walk away feeling lighter on your feet and less heavy in the heart. 

What is your humour relief? 

And then, are you getting enough? 

Have a superb day, and maybe a week of testing chuckling at the absurdity of your greatest life challenge. 

Take care. 

Carl  

Quotable QUOTE: 

“Laughter is one of the best tonics for more effectively dealing with adversity, uncertainty, and internal doubts.” Carl Massy

(Author of 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be)

PS: Have you read or listened to this book yet? 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be

Today’s article is inspired by Gundi. 

He is the dog we adopted in December 2020, who had been rescued off the streets of Bali, and was totally messed up when they found him. 

I personally didn’t think he would have made it back to health; given the state he was found in. 

Further down there are some pictures “before and after“, but I will hold back on worse pictures, as they are pretty rough. 

Gundi’s transformation from almost dead, to vibrant health, and radiant coat (plus super cuteness), happened pretty quickly. 

Even at a psychological level – given that he was abused while living on the streets – he was playful from the first day we got him. 

And here is the thing. 

Apart from some obvious anatomical differences, there are a lot of similarities at the biological level between our pets and us. 

They have bones, tissues, skin, hair. 

They have a cardiovascular system that works on the same principles as us. 

I wasn’t sure whether to write “Delusion” or “Illusion” in the title. 

But I figured they would both end me in the same place, so I just rolled with illusion. 

This illusion is merely a thought. 

And if it is repetitive enough, it probably creates its own neural pathway in the brain, which leads to all sorts of mischief. 

You know that our thoughts influence our emotions, which influence our behaviours, which influences our results, which influences our thoughts and so the cycle goes.

I am a fan of the three-pronged approach when it comes to getting the Results I want. 

Change your thoughts (1), change how you manage your emotional state (2), and adjust your behaviour (3) to align with the Results you want. 

With a particular focus on the “thoughts and stories” piece of our personal psychology. 

And illusions and delusions sort of fit into that space. 

So, let’s see what “illusion” I am focusing on today, to bring it into your conscious awareness, so you can make a better choice or two. 

What follows is THE EASIEST way to increase the flow of abundance. 

It creates more love, more opportunities, more joy, more connection, more money, more adventure, more surprises (of the good kind), more presents, and a bunch of other stuff that I am too lazy to write. 

I could actually make a generalization and say “more of everything” and I might not be too far from the truth. 

This is also not a gimmick. 

If you do it, you will see actual real-world RESULTS, which are undeniable. 

But…

Yes, there is often a but. 

Sorry.

This “but”, is highlighted nicely by Jim Rohn’s statement that “What is easy to do, is also easy not to do“. 

Doh!!

I also think this “thing” I am soon to talk about is made easier – i.e. not to do – as a result of our technological world, and the introduction of all things AI; especially when it comes to digital communication (which is something we are doing more and more of these days). 

So, let’s do the big reveal and I will share with you one of the things I have CONSISTENTLY found increases mine – and other peoples –abundance in all areas of their life. 

Once a month I will record a short 3-5 min video with a practical Tip, Tool, or Strategy. Today is the first edition, and is one of the most important (and simple) STRATEGIES that I teach all my private Coaching clients. It will improve your decision-making “RESULTS” by about 200%!

Enjoy. 

To clear things up from the get-go, this is not meant to be derogatory or judgmental to people of low or no means. 

This is a topic of “generalizations”, and not about pointing my finger at anyone, and calling them “poor”. 

In my mind EVERYONE has HUGE inherent personal potential. 

Having said that, I have lived for almost 2 decades in a developing country (Indonesia), and travelled to over 50 countries around the world (including most of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America), where I have observed – first hand – poverty. 

I am also a fan of the work of Margatte Wade an entrepreneur born in Senegal, who wrote an excellent book – ‘The Heart of a Cheetah‘ – and is very clear about why there is so much poverty in Africa. She believes the way out of poverty for many Africans, is free markets and economic freedom (i.e. ease of creating and doing business), to unlock the vast amount of entrepreneurial talent bubbling away throughout Africa. 

The first point I want to make is that this “case study” is a VERY common one. 

In fact, working on someone’s Belief Systems is the Number 1 thing I do with ALL of my clients.

Meaning, ALL of us have beliefs which are not serving us. 

Some are clear to us, and others, are so subtly invasive, and enmeshed into our identity and stories, they wreak havoc without us understanding why.

So what follows is a great example of a client I recently worked with. 

They were in their early 30’s, highly capable, intelligent, driven and what we might call a high-performer. 

However, they had this annoying little belief, planted when they were about 5 or 6 years of age, which made their life WAY harder than it needed to be.