Day 16  Nourish Your Spirit Challenge:  Play

“Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, “What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?” Instead, they demand: “How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?” Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.”  –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943, translated from French

Today is a great day to bring out your Inner Child. Reconnect to an important part of yourself to Nourish Your Spirit.

Reconnect

The Ancient Hawaiians know about the importance of a healthy Inner Child. According to Ho’oponopono, the “Unihipili” (Inner Child, Subconscious Mind) in each of us is responsible for creating our individual reality. That’s one reason it’s so important to design our environments to be in line with our desires…what is around us speaks to our Subconscious mind, which takes us literally and at our word, thinking that what we think, feel and place around us is what we want more of.

Two things are important here:

1. It’s important to connect to your Inner Child because this part of us has a direct connection to the Divine. When we are creating, lost in time and enjoying an activity for its own sake, we often step back and say, “Wow, did I do that?”
2. It’s important to be aware of our spaces, thoughts and feelings because this is how we communicate with our ‘Inner Child’.

One way to reconnect to your Inner Child and the Divine in every moment is to play.  For today…play.  [Join us for the Clear Your Clutter Coaching Program to learn how to arrange your spaces for your Best Year Yet in 2013.]

Play

Think about the last time you just played or lost yourself in an activity not conscious of a desired outcome or deadline. That was play. Simple. Uplifting. Delightful.

What do children want most? Attention, time, freedom to explore and…play (oh, and to be thought we are precious and cute…which you are.)  Give yourself some attention, a little slack, some time and freedom to explore and be curious.  Ask, each morning as you awake, to be shown something beautiful that you have never seen before.  When you see it, you’ll know you are heard and you’ll see that you aren’t alone and you are a precious child of the Universe…given what you are asking for.  Let’s make sure your spaces are asking for what your heart desires.

Do something that is ‘play’ today.

Even if you don’t remember how, give yourself some attention, time, freedom to explore and…play.

What did you do as a child to play? I would design houses for my Barbie and Pepper dolls, or for myself high in the branches of an apple trees. (I thought I was daring, adventurous, in a sky scraper. Looking back, apple trees aren’t very tall, but then again, neither was I.) I’d play in the mud making pottery and hamburgers. (I hope you laughed too.)

What would you do to play today?

Sometimes cooking or anything creative can feel like play…even if its’ decorating one cookie, all by yourself, alone…play.

Components of play

[adapted from Helpguide.org (a particularly non-playful article but helpful nontheless)]

• Involvement – Complete focus and concentration,      either due to innate curiosity or as the result of training.
• Delight – A sense of bliss and positive      detachment from everyday reality.
• Clarity – Great inner clarity and a      built-in understanding about the state of affairs.
• Confidence – An innate sense that the      activity is doable and that your skills are adequate to the task.      Additionally, you don’t feel anxious or bored.
• Serenity – A sense of peace and an      absence of worries about self.
• [Timelessness] … – Thorough focus on the present      and a lack of attention to the passing of time.
• Motivation – Intrinsic understanding about      what needs to be done and a desire to keep the moment of play moving.

Regain your sense of play today and this Holiday season, for no good reason but to Nourish Your Spirit.