Start An Online Business - Success

 How to Laugh at Your “Horror Movie” Memories

If you have a memory or two like that, you are not alone. We all have a few. What if you could take the sting out this “horror movie of the mind” and have a laugh at the same time?

Here’s an idea I’ve used with wonderful success. Replay this story in your mind as a parody. Poke fun at this memory and it will never “haunt” you again.

I got this idea from someone who learned to laugh at “The Exorcist.” At a party, I overheard someone talking about William Friedkin’s 1973 scary masterpiece. This guy said that the first time he saw “The Exorcist,” he was frightened out his wits.

Then he saw the “Saturday Night Live” parody. He said it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. He said, “The next time start an online retail business ‘The Exorcist,’ all I could think of was ‘Saturday Night Live.’ I laughed through the whole thing! My girlfriend kept asking “What’s so funny? I still can’t see it without laughing!”

I’ve yet to see this skit so I still don’t know what he found so funny. Whatever it was, it “ruined” a really scary movie!

What if we apply the same principle to one of our own “scary movies” like getting fired, jilted, or otherwise rejected? If you have a memory that still makes you cringe, groan, or cover your eyes, let your imagination lampoon it!

Suppose any of the following turned your “horror movie” into a parody? How might they lampoon your memory and make you laugh instead of shudder if it was written by the writers of “Saturday Night Live,” starting up an online business guys and ghouls behind the “Scary Movie” movies, the editorial staff of “The Onion,” Alfred E. Newman and the mad folks at Mad Magazine, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Mel Brooks, Dave Chappelle, “Weird Al” Yankovic, or many others that I’m sure come to mind.

All you need is a little imagination and the healthy ability to laugh at yourself. Here’s a technique I designed to help you do this.

Take a deep breath. Elevate your gaze as if looking at an imaginary point just above a distant horizon.

Call to mind the “scary” memory you want to spoof. See yourself as if watching the scene on a movie screen. As the producer and director of this parody, ask “How would _____________ (insert any of the above suggestions or one of you own) spoof this?”

Trust your imagination and let your creative mind work some comical wonders. All you need is a chuckle or two and this memory will never haunt you again.

In effect, you are retelling an otherwise dismal event with benefit of humor and the passage of time. Your parody fits the time-honored definition, “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” In other words, “It wasn’t funny then, but it’s funny now.”