Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Hi, I’m Erin, an spiritual adventurer, tech marketer, and wife and mom of 2. I’m here to share the insights I learn, the joy I find, and hope to help others find a way to seek more magic in every day.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;39;25
Unknown
Hello, this is Erin. Welcome to Seek the Magic, where we find the enchanting and the beautiful things in every day. Today I want to talk about my daughter. The comedian where my daughter is has just turned a year old in June, and she's been laughing. Smiling since, you know, 4 or 5 months. But as of late, my observations have been that her favorite joke is almost putting something she knows she can have in her mouth, and then looking at me, pausing and smiling and laughing.
00;00;39;25 - 00;01;04;01
Unknown
And it's so funny because of course, one of her favorite things to do is grab my phone when I'm not looking, and she knows that that will get a reaction. But then sometimes I let her scroll through it for a second, especially if it will mean a moment of silence for me to do something else. But then she will bring it up to her mouth and I'm like, absolutely not.
00;01;04;01 - 00;01;32;01
Unknown
That can go close to your mouth. Gross. And she will. We'll do it for the joke of it, even though that means that I will then immediately take the phone away because she can't have it in your mouth, but she will bring it close to your mouth and or you know, something else, like a toy or something. She finds and she is becoming aware enough, and she learns very quickly that, you know, when I say no, then she knows she's not supposed to.
00;01;32;01 - 00;02;04;24
Unknown
But instead of completely defying me, she seems to understand. I know not supposed to do this. I'm going to try to get your attention by attempting this, and then look at you and we'll share a moment. And it's an amazing and beautiful form of communication first, because obviously she doesn't have the language development yet. But, you know, she's obviously having this complex, you know, sort of thought process of, okay, we're we're sharing a moment.
00;02;04;27 - 00;02;26;19
Unknown
I know I'm not supposed to do something. I know you know, I'm not supposed to do something. You don't want me to do something. And I'm going to almost go there, and we're going to share a moment, and then I get a laugh and say, oh, just kidding, mom. And I think, you know, humor is something that's obviously complex and different for every individual.
00;02;26;19 - 00;02;56;25
Unknown
And there's a myriad of ways to convey humor and think about it and use it as a device. But I think it's just beautiful that my of my little daughter, who's one year old, is expressing humor and doing it on a regular basis. And, you know, obviously very much getting my attention, which I'm sure is one of her primary motivations, but also the fact that that is something she wants to share and that humor is something that we seek from a very young age.
00;02;56;25 - 00;03;26;04
Unknown
And I think that that's a beautiful thing and something to remember and a way to continuously inject levity into our lives. Inject. I think I consider humor a form of magic because it lifts your spirits, it brings perspective. It can change the mood of a situation. And, you know it's an amazing device. I think about it and want to include it in my life as much as I can.
00;03;26;04 - 00;03;59;14
Unknown
You know, if there's a serious situation or a situation at work where there's like tense moment, it's a way to artfully bring in a another point of view or create space between maybe something that will be a consequential decision or a tense situation that helps create connection. And I think that that is a really key thing. So I use it quite often, not necessarily intentionally, like intentionally, always thinking about it in my brain, but it's more of an intuitive sort of thing.
00;03;59;14 - 00;04;25;27
Unknown
Like this situation. It feels like it calls for something that will change your mood, make it a little lighter. So that's how I use it, and I think it absolutely magical. I would say that it's one of the things that certainly attracted me to my husband, that his sense of humor, and he has a very dry sense of humor and sort of like it can sneak into conversations, very subtle.
00;04;25;27 - 00;04;53;12
Unknown
And I appreciate that. And, you know, I think a lot of my friends are quite humorous, too, in their own way. So it's certainly something that I completely value and I think can be a magical part of life. And as I have, you know, evolved as a mother, I'm recognizing how fundamental it is in our lives because, you know, a young child will seek to be funny and see, you know, find the laughter.
00;04;53;12 - 00;05;22;07
Unknown
And that that's a very fundamental part of how we evolve and grow up from a young age, but not only laugh at things that are funny, but also, you know, try to create humor. I mean, I think that that's amazing. So I wanted to speak about that and just reflect on it a little bit. And, you know, really what what makes something a joke is the unexpected nature, the timing and the shared understanding of it.
00;05;22;10 - 00;05;56;05
Unknown
So obviously in this situation with my daughter, she's like, I know I'm not supposed to do this. I'm going to, you know, create a situation in which I'm about to do something I'm not supposed to do, and in a way, for you to realize it and then we'll have a connection about it. And so, you know, she's doing that so much, and she will do so at the, at the sacrifice of, you know, she obviously enjoys the entertainment of, you know, looking at a cell phone mainly, you know, for the for the video functionality.
00;05;56;05 - 00;06;21;25
Unknown
She, you know, can look at herself and see herself moving in the camera, but she wants to sacrifice that because she will have that in the moment. A shared connection by saying, I'm about to put this in my mouth. And then she knows she's going to get the phone taken away, and maybe she's not thinking about the consequences quite at that level, but her her preference is go for the shared connection and let's make the joke of that.
00;06;22;03 - 00;06;47;11
Unknown
And that's a great, you know, reflection point. And I think that obviously part of this is her recognizing the social roles that I'm establishing or that we're establishing as a family and testing boundaries and seeking reactions. But there's certainly that element of the shared moment of connections, which I absolutely love. So and I think about this, what can we learn from this?
00;06;47;11 - 00;07;10;08
Unknown
And I think, And I'm sorry if you hear my daughter in the background, maybe right now she thinks not everything is quite so funny, but this is a way that we can bring a moment of joy, levity into situations that we're in on a daily basis. And it's a way to create connection. Obviously, there's an art to this.
00;07;10;08 - 00;07;39;28
Unknown
People can be try to be humorous and can do so in ways that can be annoying. It's not at the right moment. So, you know, certainly a skill to develop and test, much like is test their boundaries in humor and things like that. So certainly something to do artfully and understand. But I would say using your intuition is a good way to start and a guiding point to listen to.
00;07;39;29 - 00;08;06;03
Unknown
Maybe not what your mind is concentrating on a goal or something like that, but you know, just what is this moment call for? And you know what emotions or point of connection would be helpful in this moment. And that can be a beautiful thing. I would say, just in breaking down the the elements of a joke, you know, thinking about or moments, what what could, you know, support these moments.
00;08;06;03 - 00;08;32;19
Unknown
Just the element of surprise. And what can you bring into a situation that is maybe a contrast or slightly different than what the topic is called for at the moment. It might, you know, provide a different perspective. Also, contrast the juxtaposition of one thing with something else creating or releasing a moment of tension. And then, you know, obviously the the levity and or connection that can help with that.
00;08;32;19 - 00;09;05;12
Unknown
So I think the things we can learn, obviously, this is another way to find joy in everyday moments. This is a way to provide connection and or widen the aperture about different ways to think about situations. And it's also a reminder not to take ourselves too seriously. So thank you for listening to the moment of magic in the toddler humor that I have discovered, and I hope that you can find the magic in your day to day.
00;09;05;12 - 00;09;06;18
Unknown
Thank you. Bye.