how to wring humor out of troubling times

bamboo

"The human capacity for burden is like bamboo,
far more flexible than you'd believe
at first glance."
~Jodi Picoult~

It shouldn't surprise any of us that people are responding to the Covid-19 crisis the way they are...with worry, fear, sorrow, resentment, and anger. Some have suffered through the illness themselves, while others have watched loved ones suffer and die because of it. People have lost their jobs, and therefore, their income. Some are stuck at home with an abuser. The kids are starting to get on their nerves. They've had enough.

"There is nothing worse

than thinking you are well enough.

Don't turn your head.

Keep looking at the bandaged place.

That's where the light enters you.

And don't believe for a moment that

you are healing yourself."

~Jelaluddin Rumi~

What might come as a surprise is the fact that some people have found ways to wring humor out of these troubling times. It may seem inappropriate to trivialize the tragedy unfolding around us by making jokes about it, but this is another example of the duality that keeps our heads on straight. Some of us are well, some are ill. Some are scared, others are unconcerned. Some look on the bright side, others are stuck in the dark. 

I had to smile at a few posts that appeared this week.

.

If you're not ready to entertain humor yet, maybe you can appreciate something of beauty, or sweetness. 

If it's still too soon for that, you could simply go to the window and inhale the fragrance of honeysuckle, or check out the tender new growth down in the woods, or listen to the birds singing their little hearts out. 

If you simply can't muster a smile right now, don't worry. It will come. You will get through this. You'll know it the next time--or the first time, if it hasn't already happened for you--someone or something brings a smile to your lips. 

"It is both a blessing and a curse

to feel everything so very deeply."

~David Jones~

jan