A Shot for Stress-Free Learning:
Humor and Laughter
By Nupur Srivastava, Ph. D.
Can you understand the key ideas at play in the dialogue above? For me it is very obvious. The talk is all about how cheerful and good-humored people are more appreciated than ill-tempered ones.
Son: Mommy, I don’ t know why, but somehow literature lessons don’ t seem to be interesting any longer, and I feel so bored and sleepy while attending Mrs. Goldsmith’ s literature classes. I think this dozing off has got me lower grades. But at the same time, I love listening to Mr. Jones’ s mathematic sessions; he is always so eager and excited, and I just love his funny examples.
Mother: Oh … you must pay attention to literature as well, dear.
Son: Mrs. Goldsmith is always grumpy and serious, while Mr. Jones always has such a friendly smile, and is an easy person to get along with. I secured my highest grades in Mathematics only because he makes lessons so interesting with his crazy stories that concepts become easy for us to grasp and understand. He makes the learning process interesting. Yesterday, when he was teaching trigonometry, his joke about Pythagoras’ Theorem still tickles me! Strange, I seem to have understood the Pythagorean formula so well.
38 | ZEALOUSNESS MAGAZINE | Winter / Spring 2017
Let’ s discuss below how laughter and smiling can improve your well-being and keep you relaxed. This article gives insight into how education mixed with a bit of humor can also lead to an improved learning process for students.
“ Laugh as much as possible, always laugh. It’ s the sweetest thing one can do for oneself & one’ s fellow human beings.”- Maya Angelou.