High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘play’

It’s time for frolicking in the sunshine, for playing shuffleboard with the stars.  In the meadow, lightning bugs are playing hide and seek with the giggling flowers.

It’s time to put on your steppin’ shoes (if you want any shoes at all) and twirl and whirl your cares to the moon.  Now is the season for play.

Come glide on laughter’s rainbow.   Slide into the foam of the enchanted sapphire sea.  Let loose your mirth.  Send it on colored ribbons into the dawn.

Open your door and let your child-self run headlong into puddles of delight, of freedom, of the thick, sweet juice of being.

C’mon!  Let’s make play while the sun shines.  C’mon!

Languid days
soft nights
the times of leisure
the times of feeling free
the gatherings
the laughter
the silliness
the play
the times of feeling safe
the times of feeling loved
the feasts
the celebrations
the times of dancing in the sun
the connecting
the camaraderie
the giggles of babies
the tales of old men
the times of remembering
the times of feeling carefree
the times you paste into your scrapbook
the times you feel alive
the times that make you want to cry
because they the pleasures are so bountiful
and you are so lucky
just to be
here
now:
Celebrate these, all the bright pleasures, all for your joy.

Every time I see a patch of may apples, I’m reminded of the 1977 comedy, “Oh, God!” with George Burns playing the central, good-natured, fun-loving character.  Asked whether he had a sense of humor, God responded, “Have you ever seen an aardvark?”

To me, may apples look like an aerial view of  umbrellas clustered on the patio of some resort.  I imagine frogs sitting on little frog-chairs at round frog-tables sipping margaritas and daiquiris, telling frog-jokes and having a rollicking good time.

Comedy is the opposite of gravity.  It’s the healing twin of seriousness.  It’s one component of play.  And whether play takes the form of imaginative amusement, engagement in a loved pastime or hobby, or involvement is a favorite sport, one thing is sure: We all could use a bunch more of it.

Play is, to borrow the Cocoa-Cola’s slogan, the pause that refreshes.  It’s like an uplifting breeze that carries us away from the heavy duties of adulthood into a realm of light-heartedness and enjoyment.  It gives us a break from monotonous routines and offers us a chance to connect with the kid inside us, flexing our delight muscles, showing us the world from a fresh perspective.  It brings enjoyment to life and lets us remember that life can be fun.

Play gives us permission to be silly, to goof-off.  It throws us into the present and gives us a new focus, and so it broadens the way we look at things.  It wipes the dullness from things and lets life’s shine come through.  And when we play with others (which is the best fun of all!) it builds human connections and lets us feel the happiness of camaraderie.

As you head into the work week, be sure you tuck some slices of play between the work hours.  Make some popcorn.  Get some giggles in.  Put on your tap shoes.  Have some fun!

A hundred years ago, when I was a little kid, one of the thrills of autumn was jumping into the great piles of leaves that my dad and all the other neighborhood men raked from their yards.  Maybe kids still do that today.  I hope so.  There’s nothing like it.

You think the leaves will be cloud-like, given the way they billowed all summer high up on the trees.  But when you leap, it’s as if you dived into a huge bowl of cornflakes.  It’s like October’s version of an April Fool’s joke.  And you fall for it every year for a couple of years when you’re of the right age, and come out laughing, with leaf crumbs stuck in your hair and ears, every time.

We grown-ups don’t do much jumping, except maybe at sporting events when our home team scores, or if we’re the wise owners of trampolines.   We don’t often skip down the sidewalks, or walk on curbs to see if we can keep our balance, or take a turn on the swings or teeter-totters in the parks.  Few of us go rolling down big grassy hills just for the joy of it or splashing through mud-puddles either.  And that’s just a damned shame.

Putting your body in motion, heedless of how silly it might appear, is such a great way to generate happiness.  Oh, we adults have our versions of the childhood games.  We jog and dance and play our sports.  And that’s a wonderful thing.  If you’re not spending some of your day in motion, you’re missing out on a big helping of life’s joy.  Happiness likes to move.  It likes to take giant steps and go twirling.  It likes clapping hands and stomping feet.

I think we need an International Day of Inhibition when we can all be kids again and let happiness loose in play.  But until we get one, at least take advantage of the grown-up versions.  Have some fun.  Jump for joy—in whatever way you dare.

Once happiness gets cookin’, it’s hard to contain.  It wriggles and it jiggles ‘til it sets itself free.

It somersaults down your spine, and roller skates off your tongue, and plays tic-tac-toe with your eyeballs.

It takes your years and rolls ‘em up in a ball and tosses them so far away you forget you ever had them.

Before you know it, you’re tossing grins at the doorman and the secretary, and saying “Looking Good!” to perfect strangers on the street.

It gets into your ankles and makes you want to dance.  It bubbles up into your throat and makes you sing right out loud, even if it’s raining.

It oozes from your mouth in compliments, jokes and laughter.  Suddenly you find yourself craving bright colors and wanting to strew them around.

It puffs up your lungs and lets you know you’re a winner and a star, and so is everybody else, even when they don’t know it.

And your head reels in giddiness at the fabulous amusement park of life, and you love it and want it never to end and know, somehow, that it doesn’t, even though we pretend.

So much about being happy is delicious that you just can’t say it all at once.  But there’s one part of it that’s the icing on the cake, the cherry on the sundae, the top of the happiness mountain.  It’s the way that being happy makes life fun.

Fun is letting the kid in you come out to play.  It takes delight in discovery and sees the world through fresh, joyful eyes.  Fun is happiness set free.  It brims with love and energy, throwing kisses and candies from its float in life’s parade.  It doesn’t care about troubles; it doesn’t even know they exist.

Fun is the sparkle of happiness.  It ripples with laughter and shines with a sense of adventure.  It turns all your senses up to full vivid so the world is sharp and dazzling and clear.   Fun lets you know you’re alive.  It’s tasting the cinnamon and touching a baby’s cheek and feeling the sand between your toes.  It’s feeling the wind in your hair and seeing the stars and swooning to the strains of a symphony or some great jazz.

Fun is the creative side of happiness.  It pokes and prods at things to see how they work.  It invents things.  It imagines and pretends.  Fun asks, “What if?”  It defies convention and colors outside the lines.  It splashes in puddles and drums on fences just to hear the sound.  It makes up songs and sings them out loud and doesn’t know or care if it’s carrying a tune.  It likes puzzles and mysteries and games and finds them in the things that others label as work.

Fun is happiness in motion.  It’s the gusto and glide of it, its swirl and dash.  It’s the climb to the top and the free fall into the pile of leaves.  It’s not needing to hold on to anything.  It’s taking off the training wheels and testing your metal and skills.  Fun is full of confidence.  It dares the untried and can fall on its face laughing.

Fun is the zest of happiness.  It’s happiness finding its way through the cracks and bubbling into the air.  It’s letting your joy get the best of you and carry you away.  And when it spends itself, you’re richer.

The wisest among us make sure to have some everyday.  It’s free.  And it’s easy!  And all you have to do to get some is put on your kid hat and play.

1.  Smile. Not only will a smile make you feel happier, it will actually boost your health and make you appear more attractive and friendlier to others.  An added plus: it’s contagious.  Pass the goods around!

2.  Appreciate and be Grateful. When I was a child, I was taught this prayer:  “Thank you for the food we eat.  Thank you for the world so sweet.  Thank you for the birds that sing.  That you, God, for everything.”  Repeating that little chant is still a great way to begin and end the day.  Being appreciative of and grateful for life’s bounties opens and warms your heart.

3.  Take Relaxation Breaks. Stretch, breathe, take a walk, take a nap, chill with some beautiful music, practice meditation.  Even a minute or two of relaxation can revive you in the midst of a busy day, refresh your mind and restore your perspective.

4.  Indulge in a Hobby. Find something that fascinates or interests you and create an island of time to pursue it.  Engagement in an interesting activity adds satisfaction and meaning to life.

5.  Embrace new possibilities. Take time now and then to look at the dreams you have placed in the cupboard labeled “Someday,” and brainstorm ways you could begin taking baby steps in the direction of the ones that hold the greatest appeal.  What would it thrill you to achieve?

6.  Savor your accomplishments. Take time to review your achievements and successes, to revel is the satisfaction and pride they yield, to feel the expanded sense of confidence and vitality they brought you.  Go ahead, pat yourself on the back!

7.  Have fun. Go play!  Life’s too short not to spend some of it laughing.

8.  Open to Inspiration. Make time for things that lift your spirit, that put you in touch with your sense of connection with the best in you, with the Grand Largeness that sings through life, through you, through all that is.

9.  Reclaim Your Sense of Wonder. Stand and look at the sky and realize it goes on and on and on, that beyond the range of your vision whole galaxies dance.  Look at your hands and think about all they can do, so effortlessly, while nerves and muscles and cells bow to your unspoken commands.  Look at a square inch of earth and think about all that’s going on there.  Think about mountains rising from the seas, about the mysteries of weather, about the birth of a child.

10.  Let Yourself Love. Look at the people around you and open your heart to their amazing uniqueness, their one-of-a-kind being.  Love the ways they move and walk and talk and all the emotions they kindle within you in a dance of interaction.  Love the person in the mirror.  Love the strangers you pass on the street, the little child across the globe whose face you will never see, the generations who have gone before us and on whose legacies we build.  Love the Mystery that brought us into being, the Creative Source from which we somehow came.  Love with kindness, and gratitude, and appreciation.  Love with every ounce of you, with every molecule of you, and you will know the highest happiness of all.