Adding a bit of fun to dull days.

Last year, a man briefly joined a writing site I belonged to and introduced the notion of 'absurdity therapy'. I don't know if it's a term he coined or if he'd found it somewhere else, but the idea was that if you think of something really absurd every day, then you'll find you grow happier and more content. Imagining something absurd whilst undertaking an onerous task would make it more palatable. So, for example, you might imagine (whilst doing the ironing) a five-legged elephant like this one Sausage drew so beautifully a few months ago (I didn't point out the extra leg - I just snuck the drawing away before someone ruined it).

I was feeling a bit down at the time this man appeared, so I decided to try his idea when I went shopping. I hate grocery shopping. It's such a boring, thankless and endless task. My plan was to imagine that everyone I met had a big red nose and clown's shoes. It worked a treat. Suddenly that old couple tottering side by side down the aisle (so that I couldn't get past with my trolley) were endearing with their floppy shoes, rather than annoying. I could smile at that child screaming at its mother with its big red nose flashing on and off. And the woman I know who insists on snubbing me for reasons I have yet to fathom, just made me smile when she turned and waddled away, her big shoes flapping. She even wore a silly hat with a flower that constantly tickled her nose. I can honestly say it was the most fun shopping had ever been.

Try it. What absurd things are happening in your world?