Try Playfulness

"Man is most himself when he achieves 

the seriousness of a child at play."  

 - Heraclitus

Everyone needs to play and discover ways to wander in childlike wonder. 

Constant attention on “have to” events of adult life deflates the creativity necessary to a balanced life.

What does play do? 

Play develops problem solving on a fun level. We fall down. We get up. The process repeats. We learn to let go of the fear of that F word, fail.

Adding spirit to life, play distracts from what pulls us into despair.  

We escape boredom with the ability to imaginate.

Perseverance, freedom, and joy abound in the fun state. A mastery of newness results in confidence. Hearts swell with nourishment.

Scientists have discovered that even animals play.

Try something new today in a playful way. Drive yourself into a Fun state. Venture outside of your adult life and revel with the abandonment of a child.  

In writing, ask questions to discover what makes you feel playful. 

Permit playful wisdom to result in a Fun state.

Go play!

Moods of the Sea

". . . every day on the balcony of the sea,

wings open, fire is born,

and everything is blue again like morning."               

". . .and the water is so busy

with all its blue business

that arrivals go unrealized.

The waves keep up their song."

              - Pablo Neruda

  

Pablo Neruda held a fascination for the sea. It served as a metaphor for his emotions and travels.  In his Isla Negra, he meditated on the nearness of blue.

During my morning runs, the sea behaves in a stroll of moods. Its animation stretches my senses.  Some days the wave action reflects a satin stillness. In a moment,  mounds appear as if a cat has arched its back, pushed forward and then returned to horizontal. Other days the spindrift curls off a wave's crest like cat claws extended and hidden during movement toward the shore.  

Water moves in a celadon glaze of Chinese porcelain. It reveals a transparency where orange fish swim.  A change in season promotes rupture and urgency.  Aggressive in sapphire, wave action polishes the sandstone.  Slush and slap push water in cacophony or symphony. Carried on a mist of salt, scents of cinnamon rolls and coffee mingle on sun-enchanted breezes.

The sea might match my mood or cause me to question my morning's emotions. Imagination tickles each breath until I notice an elegance of seahorses driven in harness. In an instant they turn into scrambled egg whites.  Breakfast calls.

About the Questions

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einstein

Even the rose wants to explore beyond the fence. During childhood, I asked so many questions my father created stories he thought would satisfy my curiosity. He often fell asleep while my questions arrived like thunderbolts.

He never said, "I don't know." When I had him perplexed, or the question did not feel appropriate, he'd launch into an explanation to cover the topic. Many years later I learned a bidet really wasn't a footbath. 

Endowed with curiosity, everything in life becomes possible. Linked with optimism and creativity, curiosity pushes limits.

Ways to heighten your natural gift of curiosity:

1.   Stay open to possibilities. Nurture the ability to change your mind, unlearn and relearn.

2.   Ask questions like a reporter: Who, What, Why, When, Where, How? Don't feel content with easy answers. Ask more questions.

3.   Curious individuals never feel bored. Take advantage of 'empty time' like standing in line. Observe what's going on around you. Notice people's choices and listen. Writers always carry notepads.

4.   Become a perpetual learner. Make learning fun and seek beyond the obvious.

5.   Read diverse publications and books. Explore what you don't know with a free mind.
6.   Use all your senses to explore nature daily.
7.   When puzzled, ask, "What if . . . ?"  "Then what . . . ?"
8.   Consider frustrations ways to dig for buried treasure. Keep digging.
9.   Find ways each day to express gratitude for small favors.
10. Keep exploring your mind's mosaics.