We are all familiar with that frustrating moment when you’ve been staring at the same idea or concept for a long time, or have been trying to solve the same problem for what seems like forever.

Libera describes humor as a break that allows our brains to work in a different way when we use it.  She says that at its most basic, a joke is about reconciling two different stories that are both true yet seem to be disparate.  What makes people laugh is that moment of incongruence – two things that should not be together are together.  Being able to stand back and joke about the situation or problem allows us to see it with a different perspective and make a discovery about it.

Leonard goes on to explain that we tend to work in patterns, which can become rote:

In fact, a 2013 study by Westwood & Johnson showed that humor can help reframe a problem, add perspective, or add distance.1

Up Next: Humor Creates Connections