It was about 10 days ago while sitting down and looking at how I was dividing my time between, work, friends, husband, community work and recreation that I suddenly realized that something very important was missing in my life most days; feeling joy and having fun!
There seemed to be a sense of heavyness and duty about everything I was doing which often expressed itself as anxiety and impatience. I sat back on our sofa and took a good look inside, asking myself 'How long have I been feeling this way?" Slowly I started to realize that this heaviness and this tendency of taking things too serious had been present on and off throughout my life. So what was I to do? How could I re-introduce fun and joy into my daily existence?
I started to take my mind back to all the times I remembered having fun, wondering if I could figure out what they had in common and what I did then I was not doing now. A friend suggested to take some time out and play like a child, to buy some toys or do anything else new that came to my mind.
So I went off on a search for a toy shop and while looking around started to remember my favorite games I played as a child; painting with water colors and playing with plastic toys of cowboys, Indians, knights or anything else on a horse. I finally purchased two shining knights on fabulous horses and some watercolors and went back home to play. It felt wonderful, just like when I was 6 years old. What a treat. It made my day and suddenly all kind of new creative ideas came into my mind, ideas for my workshops and the community work I was involved in and I felt light and adventurous.
For the next few days I made it a commitment to do something fun, something different every day; I danced with my husband in the street while passers by were cheering us on, we played catching an imaginary ball on the beach and I went running over fields catching butterflies made out of air. And even though I was engaging in having active fun for only a few minutes every day, it changed my attitude and feeling about everything else I wanted to do that day.
I enjoyed it all. Eventually I understood that I could bring this sense of fun to everything I was doing. It was all about attitude. Instead of thinking of a fun activity every day I developed a fun attitude to everything I wanted to do. Cleaning the house, ironing, writing, working with others, teaching, relating to people - was much more fun when approaching it by looking at it in a new way, a new light each time. Instead of remembering the way someone or something was yesterday I now keep an open mind and look at how the same person or thing will be different today. Nothing and no one stays exactly the same; everything is changing all the time. Approaching everything with an attitude of curiosity and " what can I contribute to this work, this situation today" keeps life fresh and enjoyable; and yes - it's ok to make mistakes - it's fun, as long as you don't take yourself too seriously.
