Magical Inner Child
“Today isn’t Monday. It’s a moment. A field of moments like a meadow of daisies. Every moment offers another chance to get present and choose love instead of fear. As you answer emails, go to the doctor, pick up the children: practice breathing in a new moment with new and infinite possibilities that exceed your mind’s limitations. It’s not Monday. It’s a stream of chances to be alive.” ~ Tama Kieves. This is the playful mindset from which our Magical Inner Child sees and lives life! Take a moment, and connect to the Magical Inner Child in You! Imagine allowing your Magical Inner Child to take the lead on this Monday. Imagine she held the reins. What would she direct you to do? How would she respond to your […]
The Disappearance of Play ~ 7 Reasons We Play Less Than Ever
“Some of the secret joys of living are not found by rushing from point A to point B, but by inventing some imaginary letters along the way.” ~Douglas Pagels, These Are the Gifts I’d Like to Give to You. Play is slowly fading away from our lives. Once a natural part of our existence, play is becoming the shadow of a world increasingly governed by unyielding complexity, technology and expectations. Society is increasingly trying to compartmentalize play and push it to the side. Just look at how we structure our week. We have weekdays and weekends. Five days are dedicated to work and only two for family and playtime. We have academic learning and play based learning. We have separated play from learning despite the […]
Don’t Decide, Discover ~ 4 Steps for Spontaneous Living
“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” ~ Agnes de Mille. “Don’t Decide, Discover” were the words repeatedly spoken by international dance teacher and choreographer, Margie Gillis, at her Dancing from the Inside Out workshop I just took at Hollyhock. Her point was that we must learn to allow the body to show the way instead of the mind; to allow its inner wisdom to move us versus making a mental decision that then drives the body forward. Like the universal body of Life, the physical body […]
15 Ways to Play with Taxes ~ Bringing Play into the Mundane
A question I often get asked is, “How can I make something I do not enjoy playful, like doing my taxes?” While I agree there are many things we would rather not be doing, there are an infinite number of ways to make even the most mundane a playful experience. Let’s start by remembering that on a primary level play is who you are. It is a state of being ~ I am Playful. On a secondary level play is something that you do ~ I play tennis, build a sandcastle or go for a bike ride. On the secondary level, play is dependent on time, space and money. It requires getting somewhere and often at some financial expense. Play on a primary level, however, […]
Flour Play ~ Creating Memories through Simple, Spontaneous Fun
“Please excuse the mess. Children are making memories.” ~ Anonymous What if play is less to do with obtaining new gadgets or traveling to new places, and more to do with creating fun with what’s right in front of us? And what if play is less dependent on time, and more dependent on our capacity to use the time we have spontaneously and joyfully? Then play is not so much about having or reaching what is “out there”, but rather our capacity to create from this very moment, see play possibilities everywhere, and be open, flexible and authentic in responding to the infinite opportunities always inviting us to “come out and play”! The picture you see above is of two children (daughters of two friends […]
Play Begins with Permission ~ Freeing Your Self through Simple Play
Play is not dependent on anything except our willingness. The very first play principle I teach in my playshops is Permission. Permission is recognizing we have the play instinct within, and allowing it to be expressed in every moment. When we allow ourselves to let go and be care-free just a little, play emerges naturally, and we surprise ourselves in how playful we actually are. Adults asks “How?” Children just play. When we assume we are not playful, we tend to ask “How do I play?” It is a question I hear quite often from adults. The fact that we ask How is a statement of how difficult play has become for so many of us. It is a sign we have lost touch with […]
From Work to Play
“As more humans awaken, the word work is going to disappear from our vocabulary, and perhaps a new word will be created to replace it.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, from The Power of Now When you identify yourself as a human doing, life becomes work. When you identify yourself as a human being, life becomes play. For us to feel truly fulfilled in our careers, and life as a whole, we need to express who we are at an authentic level into whatever it is we do. Society recognizes and rewards performance before well-being – ie, how well or how much one does versus how one feels in whatever it is they are doing. Performance appraisals and our school system are good examples of this. When […]
Benefits of Play
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~ Apple Computers In this rapidly changing world we live in, the wisdom of play has a lot to offer. Play invites a new kind […]
Dreaming with Your Inner Child
“A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.” ~ J. R. R. Tolkien. When you begin clarifying goals, intentions and dreams, your inner child wants to actively participate in the creative process. Imagine that your inner child is taking you for a walk…yes, taking you, not you taking her. She is leading now, supporting your dreaming process. Picture her holding your hand as you walk side by side. She has much to say, much to guide you on, for her voice is the voice of possibility. Children dwell in an eternally abundant world. Their innocence is a gift of purity of mind, an openness of spirit, an attitude of Yes! Nothing is impossible in their reality until we tell them so, until we […]
14 Play Values
Play Value #1 ~ Permission To truly enjoy the playground of life, the first place to start is giving yourself permission to be playful. Permission is an affirmation that it is safe for our inner child to come out and play. For many of us this was not the case growing up, and so the path of remembering to play may not be easy at first. Compounded with many years of being a serious adult with responsibilities, it’s no wonder play has lost its place in our heart. But it’s still there, and with our permission we can allow our inner child to have a voice once again. Play Value #2 ~ Presence Play is a practice of being present. Have you ever noticed how […]