Do you think job search is funny? No, neither do I. Nothing about the situation of needing work tickles my funny bone. That’s unfortunate, since evidence seems to indicate that laughter can cure all kinds of medical and emotional ills. But it can’t replace a lost job, so what good is it?
According to Orapat Sivatanpisit, a certified Laughter Yoga instructor, the value of laughter isn’t in solving problems, but in putting things into a fresh perspective. It’s not the job search that brings people down, it’s the stress related to the search. If you can relieve that stress even momentarily, the respite can reinvigorate you.
To see the theory tested, I participated in a Monday morning job club meeting hosted by Bonnie Bakkum in a St. Paul coffee shop. Bakkum, who had earlier sponsored Sivatanpisit to speak to a group of seniors in a residential complex, thought she might have an uplifting effect on people in career transition.
Sivatanpisit’s message to the job seekers in attendance was simple: The more you laugh, the better. As she explained, children laugh hundreds of times in a single day, while adults might not exceed the smile limit more than a few times. She went on to say that laughing deeply can mimic aerobic exercise, while also triggering endorphins and serotonin release. All of those effects combine to energize the laughter, release tension and provide a new outlook.
Which sounds great, except for one thing. As noted earlier, very few people find job search amusing. No problem, according to Sivatanpisit: Just laugh anyway, even if you have to fake it. And then she set about proving the point, leading this group of somewhat taciturn Midwesterners in a series of exercises and skits mimicking situations in a typical search: experiencing fear, dealing with mounting bills, dressing for an interview, handling with traffic on the way to the meeting, etc.
In each case, she described the scenario, then instructed us in deep breathing, laughing and clapping as a response to the imagined frustration. Maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but by the end of the 45-minute session, I felt as if the mood in the room had shifted noticeably. People were laughing more freely without prompting, and holding their heads a little higher.
Sivatanpisit told me later that she frequently uses her Laughter Yoga training in helping teens and young adults with disabilities, and their families. In that setting, including a session she has led for three years with the same group, she sees real change. “There were some who had no eye contact at all,” she noted. “They just walked around the room and didn’t pay us any attention. Now they know my name and greet me.”
If you want to learn more about Laughter Yoga and its practitioners in 65 countries, go to www.laughteryoga.org. In the meantime, if you’d like to insert a little humor into your job search process, here are five tips:
1. Take a ten-minute YouTube break every two hours. Type in “humor” or “funny skit” in the search engine and see what the random harvest brings you.
2. Imagine dressing as a cartoon character for your next interview. What response do you think you’d get if you arrived dressed as Bugs Bunny or Big Bird? If you have the time to kill, make out a corresponding resume for your character.
3. Go to www.ducksters.com/jokesforkids/ and binge on the Knock-Knock jokes. Yes, they’re stupid – that’s the point.
4. Find just about anything with John Cleese in it and watch it. He’s a seriously funny person.
5. Dig up one of the frequent lists of dumb interview mistakes circulating on the web (try putting “interview blunders” into the search engine) and congratulate yourself for not taking off your shoes and socks while talking to a potential employer.
And if none of these ideas work? Go to bed and try again tomorrow. Things have a way of looking better in the morning.
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