Laughter and Inclusion
Inclusion – now there is a word of the moment. For some people the idea of inclusion is warm and embracing, encompassing all walks of humanity coming together in one harmonious mass of diversity and acceptance. For others, it can feel like homogony or a scary move into the unfamiliar, because we may be comfortable with what we know and are used to. At Laughter Lab we think of inclusion in its purest term. Getting together with others, connecting, joining in and inviting others. The easy act of doing your best to reach out to others, who may, or may not want to connect with you. It’s about openness. What we love about our work is the diverse people we get to meet and connect with. Our work takes us into schools, organisations, universities, and hospitals, connecting with people from different backgrounds and ages. We come together to discuss our understanding of the power of laughter, and what we find is people connecting through laughter.
Anna and I watch and learn every day – studying the research on laughter and observing how people use it in different environments. We talk a lot about how laughter is an opportunity for people across different tiers of an organisation to come together and how that laughter can be the bridge between cultures as it transcends language and social norms. People know what laughter represents and it gives us an opportunity to include others by opening ourselves up. Laughter can make us feel and behave in a vulnerable way – something that can be hard to do. So often sharing our vulnerabilities can make us feel weak or even ashamed, but laughter is a behaviour that we employ to do this in a more positive and confident way.
When we laugh, we usually do this with an absence of humour, we are connecting as we talk and laughter is evident in all our conversations, very often used subconsciously by the speaker. We are connecting all the time using this invisible laughter to include others. There are no jokes or humour at play here. We are not working to make another person laugh by using their unique humour trigger – you may get lucky, but if you don’t know someone and they seem ‘different’ to you – just being yourself, being open and using laughter liberally throughout your conversation, will demonstrate warmth and openness.
If the word inclusion makes you feel nervous, then reclaim it to be that innate human behaviour that we all have. It is not about being woke nor is it a toxic mandate to fear – it is a natural human behaviour that is innate within us and gives us opportunity to build empathy with others and widen our own network of understanding. Inclusivity drives co-operation, innovation and personal growth and we do it every day.
Jane