Too often our life is tied to seriousness. Duties, obligations, precepts, whether they are of a social nature or self-produced, they absorb our attention, our tension to live the time of our stay on our planet. Even when we have fun (from the Latin de-vertere = think of something else), we do it out of social obligation, out of habit, to unload ourselves, that is, to be absorbed by some other interest. It is always a escape from, think about other things.

Our experience, that is how we perceive the passing of our life, often shows a situation of profit and loss deficient, a balance of negative days that exceeds that of positive days, which moreover are often experienced with a sense of guilt ("I'm here laughing and starving in the third world") or with resigned attitude ("Tomorrow we go back to the usual routine").

Mistakes to avoid:

1) Seeing others only in terms of possessions and material achievements

This creeping process towards the seriousness (not to be confused with the seriousness which is instead an indispensable and sacrosanct attitude to carry out all our tasks and projects with commitment and determination ... otherwise how would Gandhi have done to bring India to independence from the British Empire?), that is to have shaken off the child who we have been and lying in the depths of our hearts, is one of the dark evils of our age.

We are often educated to suffer in order to win a place in life; education to joy, on the other hand, is lacking. And this lack of joy, this decay from gladness to gloom is the consequence of the blows inflicted by secular but also religious ethics that have followed one another in the various eras.

And it is paradoxical that it is precisely religions, whose purpose is that of endless happiness and bliss, at times have transmitted precisely the gloom of seriousness, far away from the perfect joy of a Saint Francis, with the spirit of humor of which the Jewish tradition is full or the sweetness and poetry of a Rumi, the great mystic of Islam. It is clear that it is not so much a question of individual religions in their essence, but of how groups of men exponents of these religions, for reasons more or less veiled of power, have influenced other men by giving false interpretations and therefore a bad example.

We often relate to others in terms of possessions and material achievements. In modern life and in this competitive world we can feel like losers even if we are winners. This puts the person in a state of considerable stress due to the fear of losing his position.

2) Getting overwhelmed by the anxiety of competition

If someone overtakes us it can produce a sense of shame and depression or negative feelings of inferiority and envy. Drugs, alcoholism, gambling, violence and psychosomatic disorders can be the direct results of depression and frustration.

In my experience and personal history, despite having lived in an environment that favored the great values of moral rectitude and solidarity, I must admit that the dominant culture of competitiveness, accustomed to measuring everything in tangible terms, conditioned me heavily. It is a culture that has most rewarded a rational type of intelligence, to the detriment of a more reflective, analogical, intuitive one. I lived in this conflictual situation for decades, at first feeling like a loser and gradually becoming more and more aware of the opposite. And this thanks also to the help of what I call the "gardeners" of the soul, people who know how to see reality and existence from other points of view, knowing how to make fun of themselves with a good dose of healthy humor. . It is from here that the idea of building performances and humorous shows that would help this process of becoming aware was born.

The whole world prefers "seriousness". We often hear from educators since we were children: "But when will you get serious?"

There is a lot of "seriousness" in the world, in hospitals, in religious places, in workplaces.

3) Avoid exposing ourselves to an excessive bombardment of negative news by the mass media

Newspapers and television programs continually bombard us with negative news and opinions that make us more and more insecure and make us feel more and more alone. Our laughter disappears day after day. Due to our "seriousness" our sense of humor is deteriorating. In Western custom, satirical and aggressive laughter reigns, which has become physiological, thanks also to the work of television, which in the middle of our lunch bowls cadavers of various origins, to suddenly pass with indifference to the beauty cream. The aggressiveness and cynicism that characterize our chronicles besiege us: in such a climate it is necessary to neglect the other side of laughter, the joyful, fine one, that of the body, paradoxical and hyperbolic… that of our inner child.

4) Avoid excessive shyness and nervousness

Very often people who show a perpetually serious face to others have only fear, and an austere and inscrutable expression often masks shyness and nervousness.

It is above all shyness that prevents an easy relationship with others, while laughter and a smile are signs of a generous, outgoing and cordial personality.

Although these manifestations are sometimes associated with frivolity, little frivolous changes occur when we smile and openly express our physical and cerebral happiness; the whole body awakens and the mind clears up.