Laughter as Truth-Delivery

I had the pleasure of attending the 2019 Applied Improv Network International Conference in Stony Brook, New York last month. I attended my first AIN Conference back in 2012 as a presenter, and it was great to circle back and see how AIN has grown and expanded and to meet so many applied improv colleagues.

One thing that was a common thread throughout the sessions was the idea of helping people achieve, in whatever venue / format / application, through laughter. Laughter is so powerful. Comedy is the way that we reframe things, and it is often the anchor in our minds to remember something -- a moment, a person, a statement, a truism.

There was a really interesting quote shared by one of the keynote speakers that I have been rolling around in my mind, and it is by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Close-up of a beautiful acrylic sculpture in the building at Stony Brook. It has nothing to do with the quote, I just really liked it and took a lot of pictures of it.

“It is often necessary to laugh in order to survive. You’ve got to have the ability to engage in creative laughter in order to live amid difficulties and tension. If you can’t laugh in life, you’re a very miserable human being. A great deal of truth often comes through laughter. Some people have developed the ability to get this truth over to many people by laughing the truth into them and out of them. I think humor is most important at getting at truth, getting people to understand, and often to rise above the despair which can surround them.” -- Martin Luther King Jr.

I've been thinking about places where we still have room to add laughter. How are you using humor in your life? In your tasks and work? Could you do it more?