Love and Humor Mindset

Love, Humor & Your Higher Self: The Dynamic Trio Mindset! 

Let’s talk about the love and humor mindset. Love, humor, and your higher self are intertwined forces that provide a psychological and spiritual buffer against life’s hardships. Together, they create a higher meaning by fostering deep emotional safety, allowing you to transcend your ego, reduce relational tension, and connect through your shared human vulnerability. In this post I will explain the power of all 3 individually and how they work together as a Dynamic Trio.

Love is the most powerful force in the universe.

Love is the best way to get to know God, your Higher Self, the Force within, or whatever you choose. It’s what God is and who God is. And because you are God’s creation, Love is what you are and who you are. Do you understand what I mean when I say Love? Allow me to explain.

I have found that there is more to Love than what we’ve been led to believe. Contrary to what most people think, Love is more than a feeling. It’s a full state of being. Love is our true nature, but because we are programmed by the stuff of the world, we can only define ourselves by what we do and how much we have, and not who we truly are. In other words, we can never be more like God than when we first Love ourselves, all human beings, and when we enjoy and truly Love the process of whatever we are trying to achieve – unconditionally – regardless of our circumstances. Let’s talk more about the love and humor mindset.

Unconditional Love

In other words, Love is the key ingredient to life, but you can’t force Love. You can’t manipulate it to get something. You Love for Love’s sake. True Love is its own reward. The word unconditional is key.

Imagine yourself at the foot of a beautiful mountain range. You’re captivated by its splendor. You feel the warmth of the sun, smell the fragrance of the pine and array of flowers. You seek shade under a tree or shelter in a cave and quench your thirst from a mountain stream. Notice how nature offers all of its magnificence indiscriminately to every living thing.

In other words, imagine the sun as being biased and thinking it will offer its warmth and energy only to those who are worthy even though it has never met you. Or a flower, deciding it will reveal its fragrance only to those who praise and respect its beauty. By its very nature, a tree or a cave will always offer its shade and protection to all people, animals and living things. Oceans, rivers, lakes and mountain streams will offer their essence to even those who contaminate and destroy them.

If you can contemplate and comprehend the ways in which nature is always offering itself unconditionally to all living things, without judgment, without asking for anything in return, you will have a profound understanding of what true Love is.

To Love is to live. To live is to Love. So, whenever you’re praying and trying to create the life you desire, you should first and foremost come from a foundation of Love. Everything should evolve and revolve around a state of Love. Whether you’re having a bad day, experiencing a broken heart, or a life-long struggle, Love has the unparalleled power to heal.

Love = Manifestation

At this point in my life, I am certain that when my thoughts and beliefs come from the foundation of Love, I am super-charging my connection to a higher energy field. When I visualize my desire with Love, and when my goals are motivated by Love, I have the highest chance of manifestation. Always remember, you are always in co-creation with the universe. Therefore, Love is the single most valuable thing you can give that is in harmony with God.  Once again, John and Paul were right. (No, not the Apostles, the Beatles.) ‘All you need is Love!’

The key is to be vigilant about keeping your Love light burning. Your success, your happiness, your relationship with others and with life in general are determined by the relationship you have with yourself in any given moment. In other words, the relationship you have with yourself steers the course of your life in every situation, event and circumstance. You have to Love yourself before you can ever expect to Love anyone or anything else.

Right now, you might be thinking, “But Steve, how do I keep my Love light burning, especially when times are tough? Some people have a lot to deal with.”

Love and Humor Mindset: Gratitude and Kindness

Here is my answer…By being eternally grateful for what you have. Every day, throughout the day, bless the things life has given you, rather than cursing what life hasn’t given you, or what life is currently throwing at you. Continually ask yourself, ‘How can I serve? What can I do today to make the world a better place?’ Display acts of kindness to everyone and everything, including yourself. Learn to forgive others as well as yourself, regardless of the circumstances. Practice loving those who have intentionally hurt you.

Try to walk a mile in their shoes. Respect others’ points of view. Try not to view arguments and disagreements simply as being right or wrong, but rather as a matter of advantages and disadvantages for all involved. Treat life as a game. Unleash the child within you and have fun. Know that your sense of humor is your sense of perspective. Every day, throughout the day, find laughter within and around you.

All these things and so much more encompass Love and are fundamental qualities of your Humor Being. When you can instill these qualities into yourself, in all people and in all things, you not only attract Love, but you also become Love, and Love becomes you.

Humor: A Sign of Intelligence

Having said all that…I believe that love and humor are profoundly linked, in that they are both components of your Higher-Self, and both have powerful healing qualities that always bring out the very best in you, especially when times are tough.

Humor is a demonstration of cognitive flexibility and emotional intelligence. It shows an ability to step back from rigid frameworks and perceive the world from a lighter, more creative and higher perspective.

As with love, humor is something you must choose to let into your life.  If you choose to make the shift and view your problems, challenges and even your tragedies with even a touch of humor, you will ignite the power of love within you. And you will release an energy that can knock down the walls of fear and other negative emotions. I call all negative emotions “The Destroyers of the Spirit.” Because they knock the life right out of you. When you choose to confront adversity with Love and Humor, you can face any challenge. Even the impossible takes on a magical, healing quality. From the energy of love and humor comes faith, hope, inner peace, joy, compassion, happiness and so many other powerful qualities.

Love and Humor Mindset: What Pulled Us Through

Like many other families, my family has had its share of difficult times, sadness and heartache.  But somehow, we always managed to pull through.  I asked myself how we were able to survive so many of life’s calamities.  The answer was obvious—-LOVE!  It was always the spirit of Love that pulled us through.  But… it was our sense of humor and the power of laughter that kept us from falling apart. And it was indeed these two forces that always ignited the Higher part of us, which in turn enabled us to flourish and to move on with our lives. In short, when this Dynamic Trio, Love, Humor and your Higher self are in sync, you can overcome insurmountable obstacles.

I believe one of the greatest qualities of this Dynamic Trio is that they make us all realize we are all the same in the universal scheme of things.  We all have fears, concerns, pain, heartaches and problems to deal with.  We just have our own unique stories to tell. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or how much money you make. We all make mistakes. We all have our successes and failures.  And we all have good times and hard times.  Love and humor simply help us embrace who we really are and gives us enough peace to live with it.   

The Willpower to Survive

Although I mentioned Viktor Frankl in an earlier article about how he chose to use humor to survive the horrific conditions in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II; I believe his experience about the spirit of love warrants mentioning.

Amid pain, hunger, torture, disease and utter desolation, it was the image of his wife’s face in the sky and the conversations he had with her image that gave Viktor Frankl the willpower to survive.

Dr. Frankl says that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. In the middle of utter desolation, he clung to the image of his wife. He didn’t know if she was alive or not. He only knew one thing, which he learned so well, “Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in the spiritual being…the inner self.” Whether or not she was alive, somehow ceased to be important.

Viktor Frankl’s Words

‘’I did not know whether my wife was alive, and I had no means of finding out; but at that moment it ceased to matter. There was no need for me to know, nothing could touch the strength of my love, my thoughts and the image of my beloved. Had I known that my wife was dead, I think that I would still have given myself undisturbed by that knowledge, to the contemplation of her image, and that my mental conversation with her would have been just as vivid and just as satisfying.”

“Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death.” These words unequivocally show the true power of the spirit of love. You can feel it long after the person is gone.

Having said that, I would like to share a particular experience I had when humor and the power of laughter rekindled the spirit of love and hope that Viktor Frankl so eloquently described.

Love and Humor Mindset: A Smile from Within

Years ago, I attended the wake and funeral services of a friend who was killed in a car crash. He was loved by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him. I have been to many wakes, viewings, funeral services and memorials throughout the course of my life, but there was something special about this one in particular. Awareness came over me that caused me to view the losses in my life from a different perspective. It made me realize that both Love and Humor derive from my Higher Self.

When the funeral service was over, a group of us met at a relative’s house. As you can imagine, people were wiping away tears and consoling one another. Some were understandably having difficulty accepting the unfair twist of fate that life had thrust upon him.

From across the room, I overheard an acquaintance telling part of a story that I was familiar with about our friend when he was in high school. I noticed that a few people were laughing along with it. Then someone else joined in the conversation and offered an anecdote about the dearly departed’s affinity for football. Before long, everyone in the room was laughing and reminiscing about the good times they had. Amid all the laughter, I had a strange, uplifting feeling come to me. This feeling can best be described as a smile from within. This is the love and humor mindset.

The Only Thing That Mattered

I realized I was no longer grieving over my friend. My energy immediately shifted, and I was temporarily relieved from my pain.  I think we all felt a special connection to him that evening. In fact, his wife said, “You know I miss him and always will, but right now, I feel like a part of him is with us and always will be.” Then her brother said, “I agree…It’s strange but, it’s as if he’s saying to all of us, it’s okay. I’m okay. Everything is as it should be, and I will always be with you.”

At that given moment his death was not the point of focus. The only thing that mattered was the powerful feeling we were all experiencing. We were celebrating and embracing the spirit of our love for him. It was our ability to laugh and reminisce about the good times that ignited that powerful sense of his spirit. At that moment, I realized that love goes beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in the spiritual being, the inner higher self.

You Have a Choice

In such a short time, our Humor Beings took us from a place of pain and uncertainty to a place of inner peace and hope. Laughter made us realize that, throughout our journey, there really are no goodbyes, only good memories. The spirit moves on, and we all move on, in turn, in life.

It truly is the wise person who knows that they have a choice on how to respond with life’s challenges. Your smile from within is of the spirit of Love…your higher self. It can’t be taken away. You need only be aware of its presence and choose to embrace its magical healing qualities. When you do, miracles will blossom within you and around you.

Love and Humor Mindset: Laughter is Magical

We all felt the smile from within that day.  I believe laughter derives from the spirit. It has a magical way of breaking down barriers and constantly reminds us that somehow, we are all connected and never alone in times of grief.

Suffering may be unavoidable, in fact it’s necessary in order to heal, but just plain suffering can be avoided. Finding the laughter in between and even during the tough times is essential to living a happier life. It’s your Humor Being, urging you and reminding you that life still goes on, regardless of whether you like the way it goes or not. There will be good times and bad times, but in the end, all you’ll really leave behind are memories. So, you might as well attempt to enjoy them all!!!

Steve Rizzo is a Hall of Fame motivational keynote speaker, former national headline comedian, and author of the bestselling books “Get Your Shift Together” and “Motivate This!” He helps business professionals and organizations shift their mindset from failure to success through the power of humor, practical strategies, and unstoppable attitude. Learn more at steverizzo.com.