Picture a young girl a few minutes before sunset running in the lawn with a jar in one hand grasping to catch a firefly with the other. Finally, after several attempts she catches one and stares into the jar with a look of pure joy in her eyes. This is childlike wonder.
Close your eyes and try to remember a moment like this from childhood and what it felt like. It’s a feeling of playfulness, levity, existing in the moment.
Sadly, as we get older, that childlike wonder slowly slips away and we no longer remember what that feeling of pure joy is like. We get lost in the daily grind, moving from task to task. Moments of fun and playfulness become a rarity.
I’m here to remind you that your inner child is still in there, waiting to come out again. If you need a reminder, observe your children in moments of true joy. It is through their eyes that we can awaken our inner child again.
“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 9:14
The Power of Wiggle
Before we move on, I want you to take a moment to stand up and wiggle. You heard me right, stand up, raise one hand in the air, move your hips from side to side while lowering your body up and down.
How did that feel? My guess is that you were probably in the moment, and you forgot about everything else that was going on in your day. You maybe even cracked a smile. Why is that? Because you just did something that was totally absurd and forced you to forget about everything else.
Wiggle is all about embracing the mindset of playfulness – doing things that propel us into the world of laughter, silliness and excitement.
Easier said than done, right? As mothers, fun is often at the bottom of our list after the fifth load of laundry…something we never get to. Believe me, I get it. That is why I’ve put together a few practical tips for carving out space in your life for play. When we make play a priority, we will not only feel lighter, but we will also be more energized for other things.
How do we reawaken our inner child and rediscover our sense of childlike wonder? Here are four tips to get you started –
1. Show Up as Yourself
First things first – you must be yourself in order to have true fun. Let go of the pressure of perfection. In today’s digital age, we put so much pressure on what other people think. Society has come to define fun by the number of likes a picture gets on Facebook.
We start to wonder, if we had fun but it wasn’t posted to Facebook, did it really happen? That’s a sad thought.
Social media prevents us from being our true selves. It pulls us closer to judgement of one another and farther from who we really are. We put up walls that hide who we truly are to present our best image online.
In his book, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, Stuart Brown says that “Really making emotional contact with people, inviting an emotional closeness…. requires that we not put up defensive walls and that we accept others for who they are. Then we can invite others to engage in play.”
True connection can only happen when you show up as yourself. To do that, let go of the social media forces that pull you to present a carefully curated image.
Instead, surround yourself with others who accept you for who you truly are. Whether it’s your family members or a few close friends, spend your time with those you can let go and let loose with. Do this not for the Facebook likes, but for the pure sense of joy and freedom that comes from being your true self.
2. Make Fun a Priority
Make space in your schedule for fun. Schedule a fun activity at the end of each week or two so that you always have something to look forward to. There is no rule on how often you have to schedule these opportunities for fun, just make sure you do it.
In addition to scheduled moments, try to make space for unscheduled moments of fun throughout your daily routine. In her book Fun, Catherine Price says “it means building stillness and openness into your schedule so that you have room for more moments of playfulness, connection and flow.”
Small moments are the big moments. Identify those spaces in your day that you can truly be present with your family and welcome small moments of laughter and silliness. Those are the times we remember later in life.
My fondest memories are those unscheduled moments of silliness like pretending to be fairy tale characters at bedtime with my daughters. Author Stuart Brown, says “when we engage in fantasy play at any age, we bend the reality of our ordinary lives…”
3. Get Creative
Don’t just rely on the typical happy hour format of drinking and socializing as an outlet for fun. Instead, think of fun things to do with friends that involve a common interest like running, hiking or cooking.
Get creative and do something you used to enjoy as a child. Try new things. Have a girls night in and watch a 1980s movie. Is there anything better than reminiscing about the fashions of Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink? Instead of the standard date night at a restaurant with your husband, go to a comedy club or cooking class. The possibilities are endless.
4. Keep a Fun Journal
Catherine Price suggests creating a “fun audit” in which you look back at experiences “in which you felt completely present, engaged, and alive…” My list includes times I spent in nature, riding my bike, throwing a ball with my dog, laughing with my family at dinner time…
As you experiment and try new things, continue to add to the list. Pull the list out every now and again and savor those moments.
Having true fun brings out the best in us. It connects us. It strips us of our walls. We smile more. We laugh more. It gives us more energy for the not so fun stuff.
I challenge you to stand up and wiggle every day. Let that inner child that’s been hiding within you for years tear away at the cobwebs of mundaneness in your life. Set her free and start to feel the magic of childlike wonder.
leave a comment