Creative Play is essential to helping our spirits grow. I am a firm believer that play is not limited to just when we are children – that sometimes as adults in order to let our souls, bodies, spirit blossom we need to make room for play. So much of our adult life –especially if we are parents and multi-tasking work, home and parenthood is spent in organizing, teaching, coordinating, and trying to be that “good parent.” We want to do the best for our children and often get consumed into the duties of “parenthood’ that we forget that being a little silly at times is okay. If we are not parents, we can get ourselves totally absorbed in our work, other duties, and relationships and forget about playing a little bit. We as adults take ourselves a little too seriously sometimes and when we give ourselves permission to play – our perspective changes.
What does play look like to you? Do you find yourself thinking twice about doing something that is considered “childlike?” Do you make time for play? I remember an incident one time, when my son came up to me and said – “mommy can we go to the playground?” In my usual sense, I figured it would be a situation where I watch him play and I get to hang out on the bench. As an adult – I get to relax while he plays. But when I got there, I was in for a surprise – There is a mini spinner where you can either sit or stand on it, and with the body of your weight, you spin yourself around – almost similar to your own private mini merry go round. He wanted me to join him in this – and of course my first impulse was “are you serious.” My husband had no problem getting on it – and I decided to try it – and I felt like a kid again – it was fun. Those five minutes on there did something for me and did something for him – we were both present together – it wasn’t about “should and must and have and not’ –it was simply a moment of togetherness between us where we all were on the same page having fun. Yes, we have had many of those moments as a family – but often we get lost in our mundane events of life and moments like this wake us up – and make us treasure that moment.
What are some ways you can make that inner child come out? Think of something that you can do for yourself even if it is just five minutes a day or a week for your soul. My latest obsession has been using pastel crayons and sketching/coloring for 5-10 minutes. It adds “color” to my day especially in the middle of a work day.
Books were magcal to me as a chld. to be able to be transported to a new world was and still is amzing. So much so, I recently picked up the copy of The Little Prince. I remember reading it as a child and loving it. I decided to re-read it again. What I found interesting was because my perspective has changed as an adult – I understood it differently. As a child – it was magical to read about this little prince who travels from planet to planet and meet all these interesting characters. I am glad I still had the same feeling as I read the book although the message this time reading was quite different.
Reading it again it got me thinking about things I must continue to do for myself that can make me feel that child-like wonder no matter what. Think of some of your favorite activities as a child. What where they? Pick one and just do it.
A Journal Prompt:
Blowing bubbles, splashing in puddles I …..
( write for 10 minutes non stop) .
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