When you want people to learn from and listen to you, you do it with humor, not lectures, said Barbara Barrington Jones, public speaker CEO of the HBJ Foundation in a class during Education Week at BYU-Idaho on Thursday, July 30.

Jones' favorite topic is humor.

"She who laughs, lasts," Jones said.

Jones said there are three rules to follow in order to put humor in life.



1. "Look for the humor in your life." She said every humorist needs to have a humor first aid kit.

She told a story when her granddaughter decided to pour milk on the floor and drink it with the cat at 2 a.m. The girl's mother found her in this state, and instead of lecturing her 3-year-old daughter, she took a picture of this "Polaroid moment."

The next necessity for a humor first aid kit is props.

Jones said she likes to make dinner and take it to the table with a clown nose on. She said she loves to see the surprised faces, or even the annoyed faces on her teenagers as she walks in.

"You are the climate controllers. Wouldn't you like the climate in your home to be humor?" Jones said.

2. "Be able to laugh at yourself."

Jones said a great example of one who always laughed at herself was Marjorie Hinckley.

Jones showed a video of Sister Hinckley at a fireside with her daughters where she laughed and made jokes throughout the whole evening.

At one point in the evening, her daughter said through tears of laughter, "We've got to get serious here."

Sister Hinckley responded, "I can't. I don't know how."

3. "Be able to find the humor in unpleasant situations and make the most of it."

Jones told a story of another granddaughter who was acting up during sacrament meeting. The child's father scooped her up,and was heading out the door when the girl turned to the congregation and said, "Hey everybody, pray for me."

Jones quoted her favorite scripture -- Mormon 9:14: "he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still."

Jones believes humor is the key to happiness.

Jones ended her talk by saying as she looks at the world around her, she believes that even Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. She said she can imagine the twinkle in his eye when he created the hippopotamus, the monkey, and even man and woman.