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What Do You Observe?

Let’s apply peeling back the layers in one more way. When first impressions- of other people or activities – are grey or undesirable, stop. Peel back that first reaction. Breathe in deeply.

What do you observe now?
What is present beneath your judgment?

If that layer is still focused on the “other”, try again. Stop. Breathe. Peel it back. Peel back the layers until you observe you: your part in the situation, your attitude, your fear. This is the layer where you have complete control and can respond rather than react.

What do you observe now?

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From Responsibility to Playfulness … YES!

Awhile back we started this journey. And I asked:

Are responsibility and playfulness mutually exclusive?

Four demons later, I am here to answer with a resounding, NO! I’ve had so much fun, been fully in a playful spirit, creating these blog posts for you just 72 hours after I DON’T WANT TO showed up.

What if we dared to play through life?
What if work was play?
What if our playful spirit did the work?
What if delight was the norm?

I believe the journey is all about reigniting our playful spirit, the one we were born with and which never leaves us. Truly, it only goes underground waiting for each opportunity to burst into laughter and joy, to giggle with delight, to be exposed to sunshine.

Will you play with me?

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On the road … one more demon …

… loneliness. Yes, demon #4 on the road from responsibility to play (or, as you may have guessed, on the road from RESPONSIBILITY to playful responsibility and responsible playfulness) is loneliness.

Why? Because this road is taking us out of our comfort zones .. and … out of the comfort zone of others who expect us to be responsible. It is all too possible that others will be unable to support us on the journey, may fully abandon us, and certainly may not be ready to take the journey for themselves beside us. Sometimes when this happens, we feel lonely.

How do we deal with demon #4, loneliness?

Know that you you don’t have to be alone. Many others are on the journey – find them! Others want to be on the journey but are stuck in demon #3, fear. When you are ready, be a leader and encourage them to take a risk and join you! In the meantime, remember why you began this journey from responsibility to play.

What benefit will you receive from embracing play?
What if you don’t?

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I don’t want to!

I tried to write an article for you on Wednesday, the day I set aside for such things. And I just couldn’t. Everything in my inner being was screaming, “I don’t want to!” So I didn’t.

Maybe it’s the result of my current focus on play for an upcoming talk. Play includes being in the zone, free, engaged, often thoughtless, or lost in the activity. On Wednesday, when the to-do list said, “write a blog post”, it was hard. I couldn’t decide what to write about and nothing I tried was playful or engaging.

Finally, I listened  to “I don’t want to!” and stopped trying.

Where are you trying too hard?
What needs to stop?
What brings you to “I don’t want to!”?

Notice that it is only 72 hours later … and the very task that caused a two year old temper tantrum is being completed.

Just sayin’ …

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Independence is an Inside Job

July 4th is around the corner – this day we celebrate independence as a nation. What a gift freedom is for those of us who live here in the United States!

Yet, freedom begins within, with our thoughts, with choices we make around how we feel about the events of our lives. Without healthy independence inside, we can find ourselves locked in chains, stuck, unable to move forward with purpose and passion in our lives. These chains can be old beliefs which no longer serve us, emotional entanglement with another, inner voices which tell us we aren’t good enough, don’t do enough, don’t deserve to pursue our dreams.

When the bondage is within, independence is “an inside job”.

In what ways are you locked in chains?
What key will free you?