Reignite Your Passion: Embracing Joyful Whimsy in Adulthood
I want you to think about something that has sparked your interest and that you thought about doing, or maybe even started doing but haven’t spent much time on. Or maybe it’s something that you thought about doing but never did. Is there something that you used to love to do but that just doesn’t fit into your life anymore?
I’m talking about things that are put on the shelf or the back burner or even abandoned into the land of. I used to do that. In my coaching practice, I frequently encounter fellow humans who reflect on the fact that, in their quest to move forward and live the responsible life of an adult, that they have inadvertently left parts of themselves behind or dismissed new interests as distractions or whimsy.
Whimsy is defined in the dictionary as a behavior that is unusual, playful and unpredictable, rather than having any serious reason or purpose behind it, rather than having any serious reason or purpose behind it. In our culture of purpose and adulting, well, adulting has become a verb that means behave in a way characteristic of a responsible adult, especially. Get this, especially by accomplishing mundane but necessary tasks. Wow, okay. So remember, I asked you to think about something that lit you up. What was it about that thing that drew you to it in the first place. Can you remember how you felt when you did it? Or even if it was just something that attracted you but you never actually tried it, can you embody the feeling of possibility that was generated simply by thinking that you might do that?
So go ahead and transport yourself to one of those places, either somewhere where you used to do something that really lit you up or something that you thought about doing that kind of excited you.
I want you to take a deep breath in and breathe into that feeling. Take yourself there. Even though you may not have ever have done it or don’t do it anymore, embody the feeling that it inspired. Pay careful attention to what comes up for you in this moment, as you breathe in the excitement or inspiration or joy that you felt when you thought about doing something, or when you actually did used to do something. Pay attention to how it makes you feel. Replace any judgment or attachment to right or wrong, imagined or real, and simply breathe into this place within you and allow it to fill you.
That feeling is yours and it’s still there inside of you if you take the time to notice, be curious about what you are drawn to and allow yourself to indulge in that which lights you up. In that which lights you up, embrace whimsy and free yourself from the mundanity of simply getting through your to-do list every day. My friends, there’s no time like the present, and you’ve got everything you need to take you there. Elizabeth Gilbert says creativity does not belong exclusively to professional artists and geniuses. It is the birthright of every single human being. Creativity is our common heritage. You don’t need to quit your job and move to Paris in order to lay claim to this heritage.
All you have to do is clear some space in your life for whimsy, invention, sensory pleasure and play. And most of all, she says, most of all, you have to learn how to follow your curiosity more than your fear. My friends, you are free and safe to play as an adult. Embrace your inner child and if there’s something you want to do, stop wishing you could do it or that you still did it, and do it today.
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