When we feel healthy then happiness follows, when we feel rested and strong then joy is found all around us.
In good health and in good times I get so much more done in my day, I happily mixed some berries for a pie as I invited my husband's Dad and Brother with their wives over for dinner this week, it turned out great! We had such a great time with stories and laughter and yummy spring inspired fresh berry pie!
When we communicate in kindness and in love everything gets done.
When we are grateful for this simple moment with no other distractions and no other dramas, we can delight in the surrounding landscape of the world, the nature, the beauty of this earth. We can play!
So often as adults we forget to play or be playful with each other. When we were kids it was all we wanted to do, then time, responsibilities and worries matured us into focus on survival and success.
I realized this when I moved out into my first apartment, I was overwhelmed by the sudden need to save my money and yet have everything I need so I struggled in paying the bills and going out with my friends. I noticed how when I played tennis or went for a walk through the neighborhood on my days off I felt happier then if I just slept all day and watched TV worrying about work in the morning.
I realized my obsession to work all the time was to feel normal, to not feel helpless over my finical concerns. I was empowered by the freedom more money brings yet I had forgotten to play. To just swing in the park or go for a hike in the foothills. In my one day off a week I would struggle in how to relax and to make time for friends or family. It was such a rough first year on my own, I was very cynical and judgmental leaving me to not like myself. In fact I avoided myself all together, I felt my success came from my job, from having nice things in my new home that I never had time to be in. When my grandparents died around this very same time in my life, I realized I had stopped dancing and singing, I had stopped taking friends out to lunch or playing with my baby brothers. My life had dramatically became adulthood, I had become very no nonsense.
It's easy to do when you grow up in such a fast way as I did, to not know how to be both responsible and playful. To take time for my own thoughts, my own feelings and my own self care. I have looked back wishing I could of mentored myself, I think we all do this in time wish to know what we now understand......When I was the healthiest in my whole life, I was very playful!
I was not in a hurry to be anywhere but right where I stood.
It was a magical time in my life that even as my best friend suddenly died, I cherished all of our adventures together!
For I had made time in my life so we could grow close like sisters, we had picnics in the park, BBQ's in the evenings and we went on walks around our shared neighborhood and talked about everything!
In my grief my healthiness lessen, in my sadness I didn't feel playful anymore. It takes work to bring yourself out of your own head, the memories and the losses all add up with each decade of time. I am grateful that I had a best friend to love life with!
Whenever my husband gets down, or gets frustrated I ask him "What did you do today that was Fun?" He always snorts at me as if he had expected me to say just that......but I always explain myself. "If you are feeling stressed out go for a walk, or play a video game for a break just do something playful and fun to relax yourself, to have a break from adult life." It works every time he is always happier when he has his buddies over to play a board game or to make beer together. He and I talk about how important it is to enjoy life no matter what, and the what is always going to be there needing our attention.
My playful heart is bursting right now in the nice weather and the gardening friends I see once a week!
It's easier to pull weeds with help and with visiting away the afternoon. Some days we are laughing all over the place together and my joy comes back to me in a wise way that allows me to give thanks for my very breath again!
I felt like a kid again when I looked at it chilling in the frig!
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