If you have doubts about someone, lay on a couple of jokes. If he doesn't find anything funny, your radar should be screaming. Then I would say be patient with people who are negative, because they're really having a hard time.
Interpretation
Using humor can be a way to gauge someone's character, especially when they're struggling.
In this quote, Michael J. Fox suggests that humor can be a litmus test for assessing the positivity or negativity of a person's attitude. If someone cannot appreciate jest, it may indicate they are dealing with deeper issues, thus reminding us to exercise patience and understanding towards individuals who may be experiencing tough times.
In practice
During a team building event, to lighten the mood when tensions rise.
I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility.
My whole life, meeting people is like a blind date, because I feel like they've already seen the video on me.
There are no moments you have frozen in amber. It's moving, it's changing, so appreciate what's good about right now and be ready for what's next.
There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums.
Certainly people have a lot tougher situations than I've had to deal with. But I will say we are all dying from the moment we are born. This is not just rehearsal.
I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.
You got to let the people know while they're here how much they're appreciated and how much you love them.
Social acceptance, 'being liked,' has so much power because it holds the feelings of loneliness at bay.
But here's the worst part: the trick to life lies in hiding from those we hold most dear how much they mean to is; if not, we'd lose them.
However good or bad you feel about your relationship, the person you are with at this moment is the "right" person, because he or she is the mirror of who you are inside.
We're more than friends and neighbors and allies; we are kin, who together have built the most productive relationship between any two countries in the world today.
I'm a good son, a good father, a good husband - I've been married to the same woman for 30 years. I'm a good friend. I finished college, I have my education, I donate money anonymously. So when people criticize the kind of characters that I play on screen, I go, 'You know, that's part of history.'
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