To find irony, you need to look at the relationship of how something started out and how it wound up. For example, one woman went to the head of a line of students registering for classes and loudly proclaimed, "I want to ask a question." (No irony here.) The registrar asked her to wait, but the woman persisted, "But I don't want to wait in line for nothing." (Still no irony.) Finally, the registrar stopped for a minute to handle the woman's question. "What time does the course start and who's teaching it?" the woman demanded. "What course?" asked the registrar. "Assertiveness training," replied the woman. (Ah ha!)
As a preliminary step to finding the ironies in your life, look for what I call "nutty news" in today's newspaper. Then, as you go through your day, stop from time to time and see if you can find some incident in which the relationship of what was intended and what resulted created some irony. See if you are able to see any absurdity in that relationship and if you can laugh (or at least chuckle) about it.
Reprinted, by permission, from The Healing Power of Humor by Allen Klein (Penguin Putnam Inc., 2002). The book can be obtained here. Klein is an award-winning professional speaker and best-selling author. For more information about him and his other books go to: www.allenklein.com
