In our Sister Suppers group last week our topic of discussion was "How do you cope with the craziness of our world and still stay kind, loving and joyful." Writing our gratitude and the reasons WHY we are grateful was the most popular way to help keep it real and stay centered. Daily meditation, communing in nature, socializing with friends, singing and dancing were the other important ways to cope.
For me, being playful and lighthearted is the way to find joy. Breaking out of yourself to skip down the street (at any age) is fun and fun is what we need more of. Our mood is rather serious lately. We are working longer hours and worrying about making enough money to enjoy life, or looking for our perfect partner, or raising our kids to be the next president of the U.S., or trying to stay fit and beautiful so we can be relevant in a youth-oriented culture. The list goes on. But it seems that taking the time to have fun, to be playful and just laugh out loud is out of the question.
Being serious leads to an uncreative, boring life. Scientists have only recently started to understand the long-term benefits we derive from being playful, perhaps because play tends to become less important as we get older? However, people who exhibit high levels of playfulness—being spontaneous, outgoing, creative, fun-loving, and lighthearted—are better at coping with stress, lead more active lifestyles, are innovative and more attractive to the opposite sex. (Don’t you love it when science backs up what we already kind of know!) The problem is that too often we forget how to be playful.
"We don't sop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
So how do you find your joy?
We need to allow ourselves to indulge in sheerly enjoyable activity, whether that means board games, dancing, pranks, or making other people laugh. I think being playful is an excellent use of our time. The LuLuwrap was created as I was playing with a large scarf. The whole point of my creation is to have fun with your style, to change things up and express your playful side!
