The power of humor and perspective

Have you experienced it? trauma, loss or BETRAYADoes it leave you feeling shattered?

What role do you have? humor Have you played with either your betrayal or your recovery?

Humor can be used for harm and healing

Humor is used by bullies and perpetrators to increase the pain of betrayal by strengthening stereotypes and existing power structures. nevertheless! Humor is a powerful tool of recovery, allowing you to challenge the narrative of hegemony, connect compassionately with others, and take a new perspective on pain.

Humor and recovery

Humor plays an important role in recovering from trauma, betrayal and loss. A study of 21,449 active US military soldiers on risk and Resilience Showed that its unique contribution to low use of humor (along with perceived unit cohesion and morale) PTSD Symptoms after considering deployment stressors (Ward, et al., 2024). In a study investigating 179 firefighters at two time points, coping with humor moderated the relationship between experiences of trauma; Burnout syndrome and PTSD (Struggle, Kale, & Yuan, 2014). Humorous Foster Psychological flexibility– Ability to adapt to life’s challenges Openness and resilience (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010).

But what kind of humor makes a difference?

Benign and harmful humor

Martin and Colleagues (2003) developed a humor-style questionnaire that has been used in multiple studies to explore the role of humor in mental health. They identified “benign humor” as humor that helps us to develop and deal with relationships stressand “harmful humor” as humor that expresses hostility and reduces oneself. Benign humor includes affiliate humor where the two share entertainment about their experiences together, while self-enhancing humor involves maintaining a hopeful outlook in times of adversity. Studies show that benign humor styles are associated with lower trauma-related symptoms in both survivors and their spouses, suggesting protective buffering effects (Besser, et al, 2015). In contrast, harmful humor styles are aggressive and self-destructive, and are generally associated with negative outcomes.

Self-developing humor with Alives from Zarna Garg models

Renowned comedian and storyteller Zarna Garg offers a powerful example of how humor can help you recover from catastrophic personal losses and betrayal. Zarna grew up in Mumbai, India. At the age of 14, she suddenly lost her mother. Shortly afterwards, her father gave her an ultimatum: marriage Or leave the house. Faced with a choice, Zarna left and made the courageous decision to find her own path (Garg, 2023). For two years she surfed couches and sometimes lived on the streets.

During this challenging time, Zarna discovered the power of humor as a survival strategy. She describes the development of subscriber humor, which is humor that affirms our shared human experiences. “When I was young TeenI quickly learned the value of being “fun.” Zarna Garg’s stand-up comedy involves jokes about raising children, stepmothers, Indian, American culture and other vulnerable human moments, and I opened my house to me because I made them laugh and lighten so that we could make us all look too serious and see more compassion, so I opened my house to me because I made them laugh and lighten them” (Garg, 2023).

Humor can be used to avoid, but self-reinforcement humor involves pain facing head-on. proverb Comedy is tragedy and time It can be applied here. As Zarna writes, “Comedy is rooted in discomfort, but it teaches you to maintain your perspective and change the pain. Treatment“(Garg, ND). In her comedy, Zarna Garg ignores her betrayal and names her betrayal, recognizes the effects of these betrayals, integrates these experiences into her life story, abandons the need for a complete closure, and gives us all the opportunity to give us the way that these difficulties have made her the lappaplapable powerhouse today.

Rise through humor

Partner and self-enhancing humor serves as an important internal resource that helps trauma survivors and their loved ones better manage their psychological distress. These types of humor are involved Thoughtfulness and psychological flexibility. Think about it rise Framework (Recognition, Integration, Suspension, Empower) To explore ways comedians can use humor to heal from betrayal:

• Recognize Name impact and betrayal. At Wanda Sykes The Now Famous Comedy Routine on Rapeshe takes our society home, holding us accountable for the ongoing violence against women.
• Integration Experience with the story of your life. Tig Notaro tackles a series of catastrophic events that all happened in a short period of time in her stand-up set, “Live” (2012). She jokes about the vulnerability of this human condition. Fraud myself. And I knew right after my mother passed away. “Oh, it’s okay, this is how life works. You think you’re at the bottom of the rock, and someone will give you a shovel.”
• Suspension The need for retaliation or complete closure. As John Mulany said in “The Gorgeous Kid in Radio City” (2018), “I grew up thinking that adults have all the answers. Then I grew older and realized, “Yeah, no one knows what they’re doing.” I wanted to go back and confront all the teachers and priests who made me feel strange or guilty.
• Give strength To move forward with a new purpose. Mel Brooks laughed at the whole world at the perpetrators of violence and dehumanization. He said, “If we can beat these people in comedy, they won’t have a chance.”

The rise of Zarna Garg

Zarna’s story embodies these rise principles. Her comedy, rich in personal anecdotes and cultural insight, invites audiences to stand up to their betrayal with integrity and humor, and with vulnerability and LOL Can coexist. She recognized her pain, integrated it into comedy and surrendered Fantasy Empower yourself by building a perfect resolution and new life, Career (including disposable toothbrush companies and matchmaking business after 18 different failed businesses). Zarna’s comedy lenses allowed her to handle betrayal without being troubled by responsiveness. By sharing her stories on stage, she has eased her burden and created spaces for others to laugh, reflect and heal. Women all over the world are now listening to their stories in Zarna, and they too are finding hope that they may be able to advance their betrayal in a lighter, smarter, and more powerful way.

Reflect

How did humor deal with difficult experiences in your life?

Which parts of your story might benefit from a re-story or a new perspective?