How a smirk can save the day

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Imagine you are sitting at a red light and notice you somehow missed that the gas was low; you're running on fumes...

You are also late for an important appointment...

An appointment that you had already canceled & rescheduled because of a bad case of the flu...

And as you make your next turn, a pedestrian is in the crosswalk begins throwing every name in the book at you for nearly running him off the road...

You get to your appointment, only to realize you had the wrong time written down...

 It was actually two hours earlier...

So you now have to pay the office No-Show fee AND reschedule your appointment. 

B A D   D A Y

There are several ways to approach this scenario...here are two:

The first one ends with a blowout argument with your partner once you return home, leading to sleeping in separate rooms, and somehow finding your way to reconciliation during breakfast the next day, chalking it all up to "a really bad day."

OR

You consider for a moment the perfect storm that all started with a glance at your fuel gauge. How each piece of your experience set off another crisis, and then another, and it somehow turned into what could've been a lost episode of Seinfeld. At this point, you can just allow a slight turn of the outer-corners of your mouth, a smirk, so to speak; a way of saying to yourself, "Well, if any of this was going to happen, I might as well get it out of the way in one big chunk!" 

Imagine now how the conversation with your partner will go once you return home. Perhaps you'll commiserate about a similar experience in the past, or maybe both of you just shrug your shoulders. There may be a point when blame begins to get thrown around, but somehow one of you recall the thread of humor in this perfect storm, all involved are able to find a way to carry the frustration over into a "teachable moment in life", and you both grab a snack to sit and watch a re-run of Seinfeld.

 

THE PRACTICE:
As you "find the funny" as my best friend would say, you can then more readily notice how the interweaving of these experiences in life may actually be amusing in their own way (perhaps dark humor, but entertaining nonetheless). Maybe the pressure you're currently experiencing may not need to be taken as seriously...you can be playful with them or find ways to imagine the experience through the eyes of a child, or a fish, or a heckler in an audience.

Try it now - just lift up the corners of your mouth to a smirk. The act itself may trigger a funny thought, image or memory. And perhaps, you can experience your current state of mind shift, where you can encounter this moment with a more lighthearted approach: your very own "comedy of errors."

Practice this often. A smirk can save the day. You truly can re-write what was once considered "so serious" and bring it to a more manageable level, where the events are no longer in control and getting the better of you or your relationship. You smirk - you survived!