Life is messy. Humor helps us meet it better.

Stuff happens all day long—plans fall through, people are late, there’s traffic, coffee spills… and more. These moments can bring up all kinds of emotions. Pausing to find the humor in a situation can help us respond more effectively—or at least put things in perspective—instead of getting stuck in frustration.

Humor doesn’t mean making a joke out of the situation. It’s about noticing the lighter or slightly funny angle within it, and simply naming it:

• “Ah, another episode of Lost Keys.”
• “This is clearly a three-coffee kind of morning.”
• “Looks like the printer needed a vacation, too.”