Mary Kay Morrison’s lifelong work as a speaker, author, and educator includes integrating what we know about applying cognitive research on both the emotions (particularity humor) and movement to learning, stress reduction, and maximizing life. Mary Kay is founder and director of Humor Quest and serves as Past President of the Board of Directors for the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH).
After reading her book Using Humor to Maximize Learning, I was dying to have her on the podcast, and she agreed. She talks to us about joy-flow, humergy, healthy humor vs the not-so-healthy kind, impact and intent, other aspects of her work, and gives us advice (on, for example, what to do if you are on the receiving end of “bully” humor.)
Here is a passage from her book that I alluded to on the podcast, noting how beautifully put it was.
“…Humergy is extraordinary optimism and passionate energy for life combined with a gentle understanding of others. It describes the energy that radiates the optimistic joy of our inner spirit, reflects our unique personality and nourishes a health mind/body balance. Joy-flow is the degree to which we have accomplished optimal growth and self-discovery. This peak experience exemplifies the capacity to view challenges with optimistic amusement…”
Her challenge to us is to:
- PLAY! Find time each day to play! Not sure what to do? Think about what you loved to do as a child.
–AND/OR–
- When something challenging comes up, try to see the funnier side of the situation, or play a game of “it could’ve been worse.”
You can find her and her work online at:
Meet Mary Kay Morrison in person:
Visit her at ChiTag, Nov 21-24 2019. Visit her at the AATH booth!
And be sure to check out the AATH Conference 2020 in NewOrleans, May 14-17.
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