Do you want to play?
I’m knocking on your door. “Do you want to play? Don’t think about it. Just come with me”.
“Think back to when you were 6. Remember what it was like to play? Really play. Your whole self was completely immersed in whatever you were doing – imagining, making, building, creating. You explored, experimented got paint all over your face. Not for a minute did you question if you were playing the ‘right’ way or if others would approve of how you were doing it. This was pure freedom. You were lost in the joy and the fun of it all.”
Yes…it’s coming back…you remember. A smile starts to crack the seriousness of your grown-up face with the warm, wonderful memories.
“THIS is how to approach your Oh, My Word daily page.”
“Huh?” You say.
I see the disconnect. The slightly furrowed brow and mildly perplexed look as you struggle to converge these two distinctly different times in life.
The Play Gap
Something happens when we become adults. With our adult sized responsibilities comes a seriousness that often leaves child-like playfulness in the dust. We gamely take on adulthood setting goals, hoping to move forward professionally and personally and achieve. We do everything to establish and maintain the forward momentum that we’re told is the key to a successful life. We dig in harder and get even more serious. It’s easy to see how we can leave the child-like awe, wonder, curiosity and unabashed joy of play behind.
Channeling the Inner 6-year-old
But things are about to come full circle. Oh, My Word journaling is most effective when the inner 6-year-old is brought out to play. With them leading the way pages are imbued with emotion, feeling and all kinds of surprises show up on the page. Those unexpected things translate to the chosen intentional words being imprinted in deeper more transformative ways.
But at this point the inner 6-year-old is pretty timid having been unceremoniously dismissed years and years ago for more mature pursuits.
How to gently coax this innately creative sprite to come out.
Arrange a Play Date
With your inner 6 year old that is. There are many ways to do this. Here’s one.
Take a trip to the local dollar store and buy journaling supplies from the Kids and Arts + Crafts sections.
Did you always love glitter? Buy some. Do wax crayons bring back warm fuzzy memories? Get some. How about brush markers? They’re fun. My personal favorite is water colour paints from the kids’ section and brushes from the craft section. The thing I love most about trips to the dollar store is that you can get a big bag of fun stuff for the cost of a large latte.
What next?
Bring your stuff home and start playing. Not in your journal just yet but in a sketch book (that’s at the dollar store too) or scraps of paper. See what these goodies are like to work with. Explore. Experiment. What do they do? How do they work?
Try the paints with just a pinch of water and with different brushes. Mix paint colours. Try two brushes at once held like chopsticks.
Draw a few pictures paint and glitter them. Don’t know what to draw? Draw circles big, small, medium sized then turn them all into flowers or animals. Paint and glitter these within an inch of their lives.
I bet you can start to feel the 6-year-old coming out. To me it feels like a tickle on the inside. My whole body is abuzz with a new energy that wants … out!
“A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.” Roald Dahl
The thing about play is that it is soooooo liberating. It moves us out of our heads and into our hearts. It opens parts of us that have been shut off for years. Anxiety and stress are eased and suddenly joy is amplified. When we play, we often have unexpected insights into areas of our lives or solutions to nagging problems will suddenly appear or we simply become more creative coming up with ideas we never have before.
“Deep meaning lies often in childish play.” Johann Friedrich von Schiller
Most importantly it takes the Oh, My Word practice to the next level. Just watch the changes in your life start to accelerate.
Oh Boy…:)) I can feel it. Can you?
“I want to giggle myself to sleep each night and jump on the fluffy, comforting pillows of faith.”
Terri Guillemets
Don’t have an Oh, My Word journal yet? You can get yours here.
Paperback is now available at all online bookstores.
