Under adult-level stresses, we often go robotic, doing things in autopilot without thought or focus. We don't realize that slowly we are draining an inner fuel that is necessary to find meaning in the things we do and why we do them.
The easiest way to find joy and meaning, stress relief, and to feel aligned with our true self, we have to drop all the fascade we show the world and learn to marvel, question, laugh, and be in awe...and without guilt!
Here are some ways to realign you with the inner child to remember those moments as a kid, with no cares or concerns, exploring, and daydreaming, imagining the impossible, and simply enjoying pleasure -
Blow bubbles. Watch them float away, get caught by the wind. Try to catch one on the wand and blow again
Ride a bike with nowhere in particular in mind. Just curiously turn a corner, find something new.
Lay down in the grass and watch birds fly by, clouds form into shapes, walk around barefoot, run through a sprinkler.
Put together a jigsaw puzzle. Consider doing it somewhere you don't normally do this kind of thing, like on the patio with the sunligt and birds singing.
Take a nap, preferably that place cats like to nap in, under sunlight coming through the window until all you see behind your eyelids is orange.
Make popsicles. Slurp them up.
Dance and listen to music while unloading the dishes.
Claim a day in bed. Be a sloth, with no phone, no computer.
Climb a tree, ride on a swing, slide across the kitchen floor in socks.
Write a poem.
Draw a picture.
Take photos closeup of flowers, critters, and chase a sunset to document it.
Keep a basket with adult coloring books and crayons on a table near your and take it out and color and brainstorm.
Get an office desk chair that is a giant ball.
Get a tanding desk so you can dance while typing.
Hum, sing, play an instrument.
Toss a ball for the dog.
Play dressups - try on strange outfits from your closet.
When driving in your car, listen to the radio, but this time look around you as if everything you see is part of a music video for the song. Suddenly, the world seems to make sense and be in sync.
Learn something new - a language, an instrument, science, how-to repairs, etc.
Laugh-lots! It's sort of like that spinner on a pressure cooker, it lets of steam. Watch funny dog videos, spend a week watching no movies other than comedies, watch standup comedians.
Paint a room a fun happy color like yellow or orange and set up a comfy chair where you can be alone in quiet and dream.
Watch videos of resorts and cruises, look up a dream wardrobe, imagine a perfect home with photos from Pinterest. This creates that same excitement kids have toward imagining growing up and all the fun to explore.
Pick a bouquet of wildlowers.
💮💮💮
It's not that life isn't fun, but we often forget to give ourselves permission to not take it quite so serious. There is no time in your life in which you are taken aside and judged on that moment in time. Life is an acccumulation of ups and downs and sideways moves. There is no defining moment. There are just skills of adaptation and risk taking.
What keeps us going are two things -
1. The possibles.
2. Gratitude.
Kids take risks all the time. I remember as a kid making a hot air balloon by stitching fabric together, tying it to a laundry basket and placing my brother's Coleman camping stove inside. Of course, it caught on fire and I had to shove it into the creek, but I truly felt I had nothing to lose and lots of knowledge and accomplishment to gain. I asked myself, "is it possible?" Smile at yourself for having gumption. Retell yourself about a failure as if you are sharing a funny story of totally goofiness.
Gratitude is important. We teach our kids things like "thank you," and "please," but what kids demonsrate repeatedly is thankfulness. They are thrilled with an ice cream cone. They cry when they get a puppy. They give thanks for the chance to rule the TV for the evening.
Always be happy for what you have and it's enough for now with a promise that you will move out of need and into wants because, well, kids do that all the time. They are satisfied they got a bike, but they dream of a dirtbike some day. It keeps them going. It makes them imagine how grownup that would, the places they could explore.
Let yourself daydream and often!
Comments
Post a Comment