Library:A Valid Question
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| Author: | Unknown |
| Publication: | Official |
| Publish Date: | Release 20
|
A Valid Question
A wise old man sat in the audience and cracked a joke. Everyone laughed like crazy. After a moment, he cracked the same joke again. This time, less people laughed. He cracked the same joke over and over again.
When there was no more laughter in the crowd, he said, "You can't laugh at the same joke over and over again, but why do you keep crying over the same things over and over again?" He said the reason people stop laughing at the same jokes is because the novelty of jokes is in the element of surprise. The element of surprise meets our need for uncertainty.
Crying, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. It is the element of predictability, or certainty, that drives many of us to cry over the same things. But that aside, the more important question is how can we meet those same needs in healthier ways?
He concluded that the best thing to do is to replace rather than refrain. Instead of refraining from crying over the same things, the healthier approach is to replace that mechanism with something else that will meet the same need. Sounds complex? But once you understand it, you wield the power to control your emotions, rather than let them control you.