By Danny Maddox
I've always been one of those to say "live and let live". Right now, I just don't take myself so seriously.
One should not take life too seriously, because in the process of taking it easy and loosening up, it makes one flexible and adaptive to the ever-changing scenarios of life, thereby bringing more happiness and well-being.
One good thing about being light in our approach is that there is much greater humor and play. When we become too serious, we can be rigid and not flexible enough, which results in missing great experiences in life. Freeing oneself from the constraint of needing to be perfect and in control invariably leads to opportunities to try new experiences and adventures.
It would also enable you to handle most of the situations much better if you would not take yourself too seriously. We become prickly and more reactive when we are tied to our sense of self-importance and ego, and we attach ourselves to being right and in control. This starts us on the development of stress and anxiety, which has adverse effects on the mental and physiological state of our health. Doing away with the need of always being right or in control sets our minds free to take challenges in a more open and relaxed frame, rendering them easy to handle.
What's more, maintaining this relaxed approach gives us the chance to be more empathetic and understand others better. If we are overly engrossed in our concerns, we can definitely expect to be egoistic, making it difficult to understand others and subsequently leading to arguments and disagreements. Letting go of the ego and the need to be in the limelight automatically makes one start noticing the feelings and the needs of others, thus forming proper and strong relationships. If you cannot look at yourself and laugh, then others will—part of your growth will demand it. This time it would not be in a good way because you won't be part of it. It is tantamount to not taking yourself too seriously and finding delight in the imperfections of life and laughing at your own mistakes.