In the early days of lockdown, I managed to retain a grateful outlook on life, enjoying walking and cycling with my husband in the beautiful Hampshire countryside where we live. When we did bump into people we knew whilst we were out, everyone was so pleased to stop and talk, it was easy to see the positives in our situation, particularly bearing in mind we were all very conscious of the war against Covid being fought by the NHS in intensive care units up and down the land. I was very grateful that my family and most of my friends had not been adversely affected.

Eight months down the line, however, with the nights drawing in and the number of Covid cases rising, it’s getting harder to stay positive. I’m still focussing on gratitude, enjoying the glorious autumn colours of the trees, and appreciating the contact with family and friends that is still (for the moment) allowed, but there are times when I’m struggling that I need something more to lift my mood. The answer for me in the last few weeks has been Brooklyn Nine-nine – not normally mentioned as a Positive Psychology intervention, but for me it has been very effective.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine as a Positive Psychology Intervention

For those readers who are not aware of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I should explain it’s a comedy series available on Netflix, – a cop show set in the fictional 99^th Precinct in Brooklyn. It’s a brilliant ensemble piece of wacky, over the top characters who start to grow on you the more you watch. It’s also a great feel-good show that emphasises values of friendship and tolerance and as the show progressed they have increasingly tackled real-life issues such as ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the ‘Me Too’ movement with great sensitivity, insight and of course humour.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but one of the underlying reasons that it works as a PP Intervention for me is because it makes me laugh, and laughter is good for us.

The benefits of laughter and humour

Laughter is good for us for a number of reasons. Physically speaking, laughter releases tension in our body and leaves us feeling more relaxed. Research has shown laughter produces endorphins which give us a natural high and can alleviate pain. There’s also evidence that these short term physical effects can add up and produce longer-term benefits, helping the body deal with stress and boosting our immune system.

In addition to the physical effects, humour can help us communicate and bond with others, strengthening our social resources. When people laugh together, the experience is amplified – laughter is contagious – and it becomes a bonding mechanism, promoting feelings of togetherness and strengthening group ties.

The dark side of humour

A shared group response to humour is not always a good thing – it’s easy to get carried away joking with the crowd at someone else’s expense. Bullying can easily start from the point of in-group humour which gets out of hand, then someone’s upset response is dismissed with the phrase “They’ve got no sense of humour” – an excuse which attempts to diminish the harm caused and to refuse to take responsibility for the bullying which has occurred.

Even if we intend no harm, we need to be aware of who is listening when we share a joke, as we all have different ideas about what is a suitable subject for joking, and which issues are too serious to joke about. This was exactly the scenario that caught me out at the beginning of the pandemic just before lockdown in the UK.

When out at a restaurant I posted a picture of a bottle of Corona beer on my FaceBook account with the caption “Beer of the day”. I had calculated that most of my friends would see this as humorous (which they did) but had failed no realise that by tagging my husband on the post, it was visible to his friends too. One of his ex-colleagues was Italian and at that time in Italy the first wave of Coronavirus was rapidly spreading with a mounting death toll, decimating some small communities.  He commented on my posting that we weren’t taking this seriously enough. I could understand his reaction given his circumstances at the time and I also realised that there might be a cultural difference in when humour is deemed acceptable.  I hastily apologised if I had caused offence and explained that we British had a rather gallows sense of humour – our making light of the issue was a coping mechanism to minimise the sense of threat.

Humour as a defence mechanism

Bearing in mind then, that we need to use humour responsibly, it can still be enormously beneficially as a defence mechanism at times of stress, by enabling ourselves to step out of a serious situation and to see a lighter side if only for a moment.

Laughter can also be particularly powerful in releasing nervous tension. Some years ago when I worked in IT I was working with a colleague, trying to set up some software for some sort of demonstration that we were doing. We kept hitting problems and set-backs, we were tight for time, and the tension was building. At some point, something happened or someone said something, and we started laughing. Once we started, we couldn’t stop. I kept trying to breathe, to stay calm, but then I would catch my colleague’s eye and we were off again. The ridiculousness of the situation was exacerbated by our other colleagues in the office wanting to know what was so funny, but we really couldn’t explain. Eventually, I was forced to leave the room to regain my composure as I simply couldn’t stop laughing. Once I had finally stopped laughing, I realised what a wonderful catharsis the laughter had been, the tension was released and we could get back onto the job in hand.

Seeking out and sharing humour in a positive way

So, if we recognise that laughter is good for us and that sharing things that we find funny with an appropriate audience is good for us socially, we can understand the proliferation of funny cat memes on social media – they have a universal appeal and are not likely to offend and are easily shared with our friends.

During the last few months I have also discovered other comedy delights such as Janey Godley’s voiceovers of Nicola Sturgeon on YouTube  and the exploits of the labradors  Olive and Mabel and other video clips which have also made me laugh.  I felt connected to my oldest son whilst he was in Lockdown in Cornwall by following his cartoon project, Quarantine Dave on Instagram, which again drew chuckles from me.

Going forward into the next few months and expecting that Covid will continue to restrict our lives in the short term, I will be seeking out and making the most of whatever I can find to keep me laughing, and sharing it with my friends as much as possible, to keep my spirits up and hopefully my immune system functioning well too.  I only have one small problem to overcome – having recently finished all 6 seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine I am now looking for something new to make me laugh – any suggestions gratefully received.

Read more about Sarah Cramoysan and read her other articles HERE

‘We Are The Positive Psychology People’

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In some organizations, leaders often mistakenly believe there is no room for humor at work. That couldn’t be further from the truth.  Humor, laughter, and improv skills help employees:

·       Practice and perfect their listening skills

·       Remove the walls of judgment

·       Learn to accept each other’s differences

·       Create a more understanding and cohesive environment

What a lighthearted and playful atmosphere can do for an organization:

Improve Communication

While technology allows teams to stay connected, it is also often the cause of disconnection. Teams use tools like instant messaging, WebEx meetings, and email to stay in touch others across the office or around the globe.

But, fewer face-to-face interactions can have a significantly negative impact on a team. Improv skills can lead to reconnection. When conducting workshops with teams, improv is an easy way to demonstrate effective communication and the ramifications of miscommunication. Improv is also a fun way to practice the new skills.

Build Up Staff Morale and Increases Confidence

The general rules around improve include agreeing with one another, saying YES AND, and that there are NO mistakes only OPPORTUNITIES. These rules can have a positive impact on morale and employee confidence when used in the workplace. Improvisation teaches participants to be vulnerable, open, and real. Because there is no plan or script in improv, players rely on their own imagination and the trust they have for the other players to create a scene.

Team members can also learn how essential it is to be there—truly be there—for their “other players” or coworkers. By being present, they are building their trustworthiness.  In addition to learning the art of improvisation, employees learn to trust themselves and their creativity, which builds confidence and self-assurance. They also experience the benefits of having strong listening skills, which are vital to effective communication and teamwork.

Diffuse Negative Attitudes

With a dose of healthy humor, team members can “find the funny” in the stressful moments and learn to laugh—with a giggle or a guffaw—at their gaffs. Most importantly, they will learn how to recalibrate their stressed out minds and bodies so that they can continue to move forward in a positive, cohesive, and productive way.

Laughter has been referred to as “the best medicine” and can be the catalyst for creating and maintaining a healthy and positive work environment.

Reduce Turnover and Increases Productivity

The art of play fosters creativity, helps reduce stress, and builds communication.

When there is humor (healthy humor) in the workplace, staff members, employees, and managers build rapport and connection among them.

Here’s the truth…when a work environment is stressful and absent of humor, employees’ morale decreases. How does that affect turnover? When people are miserable, they want to jump ship and find another job. This, in turn, affects a company’s expenses and bottom line. More money spent on turnover. And, before an employee gets to the point of leaving, if they are unhappy, they will do the minimum work required of them. They are no longer invested in that company. They are no longer doing their best work. This attitude can be contagious to the rest of the team or, at a minimum, reduce the team bond and morale of the whole.

As a result, productivity is decreased. Improvisation will not only be a fun experience but participants have the added benefit of gaining new skills and tools that can be applied to making their work environments and relationships more effective.

Positivity leads to productivity.

About the Author: Julie Ostrow

‘We Are The Positive Psychology People’

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Humour and well-being

Research tells us that having a sense of humour is correlated to well-being. To move people from languishing to flourishing is a key part of positive psychology’s ambition. Humour is one of the character strengths within the VIA strengths indicator, yet there has only more recently been an interest across the research field in understanding how humour can play an active role in well-being.

Those who naturally have a sense of humour don’t take themselves too seriously, and are better at rebounding back from challenges. It appears to be a part of a resilient personality. This makes sense when we think of humour as a strength that is defined as someone who is a positive influence on others and likes to joke and bring a smile to other people’s faces. Studies have already identified that those people have more positive emotions and tend to have a more positive mindset. There’s no room for lots of worry and anxiety when you see the world as your playground.

There is also evidence that for some people at least, humour is a coping mechanism. Research suggests some people are actually rather anxious inside, but hide it through light hearted banter and jokes. This is no doubt is true, but what is positive about these people is the way they use humour to cope by finding effective mechanisms to bring themselves out of a state of fear. They use humour to regulate their emotions, in the same way another person might use meditation to calm and regulate their emotions. Humour is simply another intervention type that can help a person manage their reaction to the world.

But can humour really be a trainable skill?

There is growing and exciting research that has found personality trait is changeable. This means we are not fixed in our ways and can learn to alter our natural tendencies when they are not serving us well. So if you are a natural pessimist, maybe even scoring high on neuroticism in the ‘Big 5’ personality score, then you can start to shift your focus to seeing the world in a less fearful way, which will help you regulate those thoughts and emotions.

For instance, I have a tendency to look for risks, making me someone who can be a worrier and needs to plan for everything. It usually serves me well as I like to be prepared and always do the best job I can do. But there are times when I wish I could just be less serious about the things I do. On my journey towards developing a humour trait to balance out my conscientiousness I have created a concept I call ‘playful curiosity’. Using cognitive re-evaluation I notice when I am feeling overwhelmed or behaving with too much seriousness over a challenge. When this occurs I take some time out to bring myself to a neutral state and use the phrase ‘playful curiosity’ to remind myself to be playful and lighten up about the things I do each day, to look around me and simply notice and observe the world. I am naturally curious so it is quite easy for me to start using my curiosity to look at myself, my surroundings and my responsibilities. By injecting humour and playfulness into it I can often move from a stuck state to one that sees many possibilities to overcoming the challenges.

Humour interventions to try

If you want to inject some humour into your behaviour, here are some interventions I have come across that you might want to try!

1.    Laughter yoga

This is a popular intervention where the benefits of laughing are cultivated in group settings. We all know how laughter can be infectious, and laughter yoga taps into that by applying a number of exercises that encourage laughter to release tension and raise endorphins.

2.    Three funny things

This is a modification on the ‘three good things’ intervention. Instead of writing three good things that happened during the day, note down three things that made you laugh or funny things that happened to you in the day.

3.    Solving problems with humour

This encourages you to think about a situation in the past that was problematic and write down in as much detail as possible what you could have done to have solved it with humour. Alternatively you could take a current problem and think about how to solve it with humour.

4.    Tell a joke in a meeting or in public

This might be one for the more extraverted out there, or those that are very comfortable with their work colleagues! Meetings can be a bit boring, so during a meeting tell a joke or tell a humorous ditty. You could also do this to when out shopping, although you might get some uncomfortable looks if you don’t also assess whether the people around you are likely to be receptive! At the very least smile and put a spring in your step as that certainly helps lighten the mood!

5.    Prompt yourself to laugh during the day

Similar to what I have been doing, this is about stopping and remembering to lighten up. Whether laughing, smiling, joking or playing the fool, create a prompt for you to check in to the humour within. I use a phrase ‘anchor’ to prompt my mindset, or you could even set your phone to go off intermittently during the day and give yourself a few minutes of light heartedness.

6.    Come up with one of your own! 

This is quite a new area for interventions and there are not that many out there yet. So come out from below that desk, ignore that pile of ‘to do’ papers for a little while, and come up with your own humour intervention to kick start that light hearted look on life.

As the Monty Python team once sang….”If life seems jolly rotten, There’s something you’ve forgotten, And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing”!

About the author: Lisa Jones

‘We Are The Positive Psychology People’

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