Ms Congeniality - VII

Crowns and Roses
~Yuri~
MS CONGENIALITY : THE FINAL CHALLENGE OF BEING CONGENIAL
Being Too Serious Can Drive You Crazy
My favorite question to my friends is, “Are you having fun yet ?” The reason I ask this is that most of the world is not having fun yet, and it is unlikely that they would be having fun anytime in the near future ! My definition of fun would probably be the same as yours. I would just add a new perspective.
The first thing about having fun is the ability to laugh at yourself.
Show me a human being who has never done a silly mistake and I’ll show you a monkey that doesn’t eat bananas. Everyone has fallen on a slippery floor, dropped a glass in a party, or made a social faux pas sometimes in their lives but they would never admit it. They didn’t laugh at that wonderfully funny thing because they were too embarrassed about it. They were embarrassed about it because it happened to them. Had it happened to someone else, they would have enjoyed it !
Similarly, most people get teased very easily. If someone makes fun of them, they don’t take too kindly to it and immediately start thinking of a counter retort or revenge.
The importance that you give to yourself and your image is good, but being too serious about yourself will bog you down. Approaching your life with a non-serious attitude gives you a clearheaded view of difficulties and the energy to deal with them. Problems are easier to solve, people are more cooperative and you feel more relaxed.

To learn how to laugh at yourself, do this exercise. Every once in a while sit down with friends and narrate to each other your most embarrassing moments in life. Don’t stop yourself. Come out with experiences where you felt like total idiots, and when your friends laugh at you, join in the laughter. This exercise liberates you from the excessive self importance that is restricting your self confidence. When you accept yourself as an ordinary mortal who makes mistakes but is also capable of achieving many things, your self esteem and confidence shoots up.
There are some other aspects of having fun in life.
Be creative, stop following all the rules. If you obey all the rules you will miss out on all the fun. Now, this does not mean that you break the rules that the pageant management has laid down for you. Interpret this advice in a fun, non-rebellious way and you will find that there is a lot of opportunity in life to have fun while staying within accepted norms.
Another favorite question that I ask is, “When was the last time you did something for the first time ?” Seek out and get some adventure in life. Try new things once in a while. Don’t say no to something just because you have never tried it or experienced it earlier.
Here’s another tip. Whenever you face a situation where someone does something to make you angry, try and wait for 10 seconds before you react. I’m not asking you to count up to 10 in these seconds. Instead, I will ask you to remind yourself of a magic mantra. And the mantra is that ‘Five years later, that incident will no longer seem important to you, in fact, you will not even remember it.” Remind yourself of this mantra in those 10 seconds and see how your reaction to any potentially explosive situation changes for the better.
And finally, the biggest myth of all: "People will think I'm important if I act serious all the time." Yet getting serious creates problems: stress, worry, anxiety, emotional pain, drudgery and failure. Resolving problems by getting more serious is like fixing a computer with a hammer. The harder you try, the worse the problem becomes.
So lighten up, get yourself a sense of humor, learn to laugh at yourself, and get a life. You will find that you are suddenly more acceptable by those around you and will score high on the Ms Congeniality vote.
These along with the six in previous issues were the Seven Challenges of Congeniality.

Next issue we shall talk of more stuff to get you ready for that Miss India crown. In the mean time, answer this month’s simple question and win yourself 3 free one-on-one training sessions with me. It’ll help you on your way to the crown. Plus it’s easy because the answer to the question lies somewhere in this article.

The Question : If someone makes fun of you, immediately say something equally harsh, otherwise he will think that you are a weak person. (True or False ?)

Shoot off your answer to yuriyuriyuri@gmail.com. The lucky winner will be notified by e mail.

Till next month then.