I've decided to be more playful

The other day I accompanied my girlfriend to get the shopping. The organic shop they frequent has a chilled veggie section and I find it quite cold, so I was waiting outside the door with the rest of the groceries.

I happened to find myself standing in front of some shelves full of nuts and beans. They were all in glass jars.

So to amuse myself and have some fun on the spot I asked myself how I could make music with what’s in front of me. I picked up this jar of beans and began playing it as a shaker.

I was having some fun with my “bean rhythm” when I noticed a family walk in. There was a small daughter and an older boy, maybe 7 or so.

I saw him see me. So I started playing a little more aminately and smiling.

I knew he wanted to come over and join me — his body started to lean in my direction.

But the family walked the other way and, while his body followed them, his head stayed turned in my direction. Maybe secretly, we were playing together.

It was fund to decide to be playful on the spot. It was sad to leave the jar behind.

In the Flow Game I offered last weekend, one of the players talked about how she felt she was too serious, too deep, too heavy. Her German upbringing had supported her to be like that, but she realised if she wanted to do work around climate change — already a topic that is so heavy, so overwhelming, so scary, she needed to be lite.

She wanted to learn how to be playful.

That’s how I’ve always intuitively worked. I know that if I can get the group to laugh with me, they will also be willing to go deep with me. We can ride the waves because the more we can feel, the more we imagine and also the more we can heal.

Right now, where the darkness seems so great, the light is so needed. Lightness is so needed.

It doesn't mean you are less serious about what matters to you. It means that you can play with whatever life gives you and that gives you flexiblity, resilience and spaciousness to keep dreaming.

The answers await us in the most unexpected places.

May you be playful today!

PS Want to experience being playful to go deep? Come and play a Flow Game with me on June 29. See more here: https://www.getsoaring.com/pl/2148143649

#storyactivist #storytelling #FlowGame #play