Much of our daily activities are conducted in a serious way.  We believe they matter and demand careful consideration before acting.  While being funny gives more behavioural flexibility and is, well “fun” it is often considered inappropriate for “serious” subjects.

Humour arises from a genial mood, it is very unlike the serious approach.  Being funny, as a general rule feels good both to the comedian and the audience.

Why Serious

If humerous behaviour is more relaxed and pleasant why do most of us spend the majority of our time in serious mode.  Most of what we deal with day in and day out is just routine.

That is not to say everything we do is not meaningful in some way, or why would we do it.  This is more about the way we go about getting things done.

In general any message or action can be couched in humour and as a rule this allows the recipients to be more relaxed and receptive.  This is not to say the humourous approach always succeeds but certainly success is more likely.

The key here is how the all parties feel.  When actions are relaxed and genial (the basic principle  of the humerous approach) everyone is more likely to feel good, this helps grease the wheels.

I prefer the lighthearted approach and work hard to make this my behavioural standard whenever possible.  Many view this approach as frivilous but then, overall, they probably don’t have as much fun as I do.