From the author: I would like to share with you excerpts from a very life-affirming book filled with subtle humor by Lenny Ravitch. Lenny Ravitch, Humor as Psychotherapy. Funny incidents on the path to enlightenment.” Somehow my eyes stopped on this book. And the hand itself reached out to her. And I noticed that I now do not have enough strength to calmly overcome the difficulties that arise one after another. I’m just trying to get used to one difficulty and digest it in order to look for opportunities to solve it, when a new one arises and like an avalanche - a third, a fourth... Well, it’s true that there are good things too, besides this. And this gives strength to cope with difficulties. And yet I don’t have enough strength, so my perception grabbed this particular book, in which I always find strength for myself when I read. And I get inspired. Lenny Ravitch’s book, when I read it for the first time, made an indelible impression on me. I haven’t laughed so heartily in a long time as I did while reading it. At the same time, Lenny wrote about rather sad and tragic events. And I was delighted by the way he described it with humor. It shocked me. And it encouraged and inspired me to follow his example. But at first I was very surprised that he offered to laugh at even the most tragic and painful situations. I was perplexed: “How so? After all, laughing and laughing at your feelings is protection. And why specifically create this defense instead of living your real feelings?” And at the same time, I thought about why not use this method of coping with difficulties, and gain more strength for this through laughter? The way Lenny approaches his life is interesting and inspirational. I want to quote almost the entire book, so much in full of funny situations that Lenny skillfully describes. And I was faced with the fact that I couldn’t retype the whole book, and I would have to choose something. And to begin with, I stopped at these two passages. I liked this first passage that I quoted because it shows the value of humor in life. And it describes the approach to problems as opportunities. Any difficulties can be seen as opportunities for growth. And that's great! Both the first and second quotes show a clear situation in which a person perceives difficulties as opportunities. Viktor Frankl in the concentration camp and the insurance agent are just transforming a problem into an opportunity. I really liked this look at problems and their transformation, which, in my opinion, greatly makes life easier and simpler. And I really want to learn this! How do you like this attitude to problems? And here are the quotes themselves." Viktor Frankl, a victim of the Holocaust and author of the book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” wrote that the Nazis could have taken absolutely anything from him, except for one thing - his freedom to react to what was happening as he pleased. He chose to view the concentration camp as an opportunity rather than a tragedy, and was able to develop and become stronger as a result, rather than consider himself a victim and give up. life, and lived to tell about it. If we look at life and at ourselves in this light, then no matter what happens to us, good or bad, all these are new opportunities for growth and development Frankl considered a sense of humor as part of. human capacity for self-transcendence. I shared this wisdom with a doctor who studied with me at the Gestalt Institute “Anthony,” I said, “if you replace the word “problem” with the word “opportunity”, everything will become much easier. problems, only opportunities." At that moment, a message arrived on his pager. “I have to go,” he exclaimed, “there's suddenly a whole lot of opportunity in the ER.” The Oscar-winning film Life is Beautiful tells the story of a father protecting his son in a Nazi camp by making the whole situation seem like a game. He explains to his son that the game is based on getting points and that the most diligent and fastest gets more points, and at the end of the game the winner will get a tank as a prize. Of course, baby".