One day, a man went to see a therapist because he was feeling overwhelmed with stress. The therapist asked the man to tell him about his day.
"Well," the man started, "this morning I woke up to my alarm clock going off and I accidentally hit snooze three times before finally getting out of bed. Then, I rushed to get dressed and spilled coffee all over my shirt. As I was running late, I grabbed a granola bar for breakfast but ended up choking on it and had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on myself. Finally, I made it to work only to realize I forgot my laptop at home."
The therapist nodded sympathetically and said, "That does sound like a rough morning. But tell me, have you tried meditation or deep breathing exercises to help manage your stress?"
The man chuckled and replied, "Oh, I tried meditating once. But it didn't go so well. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and immediately fell asleep. I woke up half an hour later with drool on my chin and my cat staring at me like I was a weirdo."
The therapist couldn't help but laugh at the image of a man falling asleep during meditation, and the man joined in, realizing how ridiculous the situation was.
After a few minutes of laughter, the therapist said, "Well, it looks like you have a great sense of humor. Maybe that's the key to managing your stress – finding the humor in life's chaos."
The man nodded thoughtfully and left the therapist's office feeling lighter and more optimistic about facing his challenges with a smile. And from that day on, whenever things got tough, he would remember to laugh at the absurdity of it all.