Practice #7 - have fun each day

John Kehoe is the author of a book called "The Practice of Happiness. I came across an article he wrote, as part of a series called "The Ten Practices of a Happy and Successful Life: Part IV." The article: Practice #7 - have fun each day. He writes:

"When things are too serious in our life, we feel stressed or sluggish, we need to call upon our own inner 'Master of Nonsense.' Maybe he or she will take us out for a walk, or have us put aside that important project that's overdue and take in a double feature at the local movie house. There are hundreds of ways to break the tension and take the pressure off. Sometimes we just have to trust the reckless part of ourselves.

"We need to renew our spirit regularly. A busy life necessitates it. We've become too full of activities. Too serious. Too adult. No wonder kids often think we're dull and boring. In many ways that's what we've become. We should get back to our roots and instincts. Bring in more balance. We need to have more fun, and to do so we have to be more creative and spontaneous; to seize the opportunities life presents us whenever and wherever we find them."

He then goes on to describe what he learned from the Dalai Lama's presence at a Nobel Laureate dinner:

The seriousness of life's problems does not have to eliminate our fun and joy. In life it's necessary that we be, at different times, both serious and silly. Typically we've mastered the serious side very well. It's time to explore the wisdom and pleasure of the silly. We often forget that within all spiritual teachings there is a very clear emphasis on the importance of being joyful. Fun, joy and happiness are spiritual principles.

This hit a lot of very validating buttons for the whole "Playful Path" concept that is the heart of pretty much everything I've been doing. So, in case you were wondering, like I often am, well, it's no wonder. Despite our collective efforts, it still seems to require years of introspection and wisdom-gleaning before we can allow ourselves once again to embrace fun, joy and happiness as spiritual principles.

Speaking of Playful Path validations, my first born, and mother of 1 and 1/8 of my grandchildren, had her birthday on the 14th. She is a gift to me and those who know her, still teaching us about play and playfulness and the many arts of having fun each day. Happy birthday, Shael.