What areas of your life are you taking too seriously? What areas of your interactions and relationships could benefit from turning down the formality and seriousness and increase the fun?

In Learning and Development, there's a well-worn adage: “to increase retention, you must reduce tension.” 

Fast Company in 2019 published an article called “Why silliness is the perfect antidote to workplace stress.” Yes, in 2019. 
 
Psychology Today published “4 Reasons Why Being Silly Is So Good for Relationships” in 2021.

And the Harvard Business Review published “The Benefits of Laughing in the Office” in 2018, citing research that said humor can boost performance by 10%

OK, so silliness can help us learn easier, reduce stress, build stronger relationships, and be part of higher performing teams. Maybe there’s something to this – and maybe we all would benefit from removing that stick up our tailpipes sometimes. 

This episode is with Marge Kastner, my mom, and it’s about her superhero power of “Silliness”.

I took the opportunity of her 80th birthday party to ask her about her superhero power, and it was no surprise that her extraordinary talent was “silliness.”

My mom has three college degrees, raised two outstanding, super intelligent, and well-behaved (and handsome) men, and volunteers countless hours knitting hats for cancer patients and doing environmental clean-up in the post-work chapter of her life. 

What does she know about silliness?

It's the path to learning more, being more resilient, creating better relationships, and higher performing teams…it’s also just more fun. 

From driving around in ‘80s with a bumper sticker that said “I’d rather be mud wrestling,” to her recent passion for literally wrestling in the mud removing trash from the marshlands near her home, my mom still embodies a deep belief in the value of silliness.

In this episode, Marge answers the following questions:
 - What is the value of being silly?
 - Is silliness a good thing?
 - When not be silly?
 - What are those people flinging at each other at that other table in this restaurant?

My favorite quote from the episode: “Life's too short to wait for others to recognize you.” 

Lately I’ve realized just how much I have needed to be recognized by others, to have my worth validated by others. I don’t want to give that power to the masses any longer and this quote came at the right time.

What I know to be true about the episode: I’m excited to be able to share this episode with my mom, with family, and with my kids’ children.   

What I learned from the episode: My mom has put a lot of thought into the benefits of silliness. I shouldn’t be surprised, since she has degrees in economics, sociology, and anthropology, she would have good evidence and arguments in favor of humor.

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose. 

For more information about the podcast or to check out more episodes, go to: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/ 

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/