Today is the day for you to truly show up for yourself.
PLAY like you LOVE yourself!
This one I have personally found challenging to implement in my life the past two years. Why? Because if I’m honest, I’ve been in a challenging headspace. And when a person feels challenged by life, generally their ability to play, have fun and find joy, is limited.
My challenging headspace has had me feeling low, sometimes hopeless.
In 2020 I became deeply aware of all the negative thoughts I was having. I discovered a bunch of things I wanted to change in my life and within myself as I saw more clearly what my triggers were and how I was reacting to them. This had me become aware of what my go to way of thinking, feeling and being had been my whole life, and how little responsibility I had taken for my choices. I’ve suffered from more illness in these past two years than I have in years, more physical pain and plenty of discomfort. I’ve felt pretty lost and my body has reflected this.
Some people call this the dark night of the soul (except it’s never just one night 😉).
However, whilst all this has been occurring, I’ve had major breakthroughs. I’ve become super aware of the state of my mind. I’m learning about myself in ways that I never believed possible. I’m growing at an insane rate.
That’s what happens when the lows get low.
So although it’s been tough for me, I have a lot of gratitude and appreciation for this challenging time… but I think it’s safe to say that it hasn’t just been challenging for me?
I suspect you may have also been in a period of growth these past two years, despite it feeling challenging sometimes (or a lot of the time)?
Can you relate? Have you been lacking the play and the joy in your life too?
So how does this affect our bodies?
Our ability to feel free, joyful, to laugh and play is deeply connected to the level of energy in our bodies. It affects our chakras and our energy field (aka aura or biofield). The chakras most affected are our first, second and third chakras as these are all about our survival.
These past couple of years have seen the entire world in a state of fear. Some people may still be holding onto that fear inside their bodies.
And the harder life feels, the more people experience emotions like guilt, especially when it comes to taking time out for themselves.
Have you ever felt guilty for taking time out of your day to play or do something fun, even though it’s what your heart is calling you to do?
And so what happens when there’s a lot of fear, guilt, stress and anxiety and little joy? People find ways to seek pleasure, find ways to feel good.
Some people choose to have a lot of sex (drawing energy from the root chakra), some people choose food or socialising a lot (drawing from the sacral chakra), and some people get competitive or push themselves, exerting control/power where they can (third chakra – solar plexus).
Our energy centres can become quite depleted, which diminishes our energy field.
Lowering the energy in these energy centres can lower your overall feeling in the body and in the long term, lead to a state of dis-ease, which may explain why I’ve had so many physical issues and illness these past couple of years.
Our bodies need our energy to flow freely.
So how do we get our energy to flow?
We’ve got to get our bodies moving and we’ve got to have fun!
(Breathwork is another excellent way to move energy too – did you know I have a free session on again this Saturday, see below for details!)
If you’re reading this and you’re a master of play and joy, feel free to comment below and share what you do to create a playful, joyful life, to move the energy in your body!
So let’s dive deeper into play and joy for you…
Ask yourself the following questions:
Do I take time to play? If so, how and how often?
And if not, what would be the thing I would do, that would make me feel like a child again? (Visualise it)
What activity or thing would put a smile on my face, get me feeling fun and silly and really relaxed so that my mind lets go of all other worries and I’m just super present and in the moment? (Feel it in your body)
So, how do you play like you LOVE yourself?
Firstly, remember that PLAY embodies bringing that inner child out so when you’re choosing what you want to do, this is what I want you to be focused on.
To give you an example, I enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights and I do it regularly, but lifting weights doesn’t always bring me joy. Handstands, on the other hand, make me smile just when I think about doing them. They bring out the inner child in me and hence, bring me joy.
So the next step is to make a list of all the things you could do to bring more joy into your life.
Some examples could be:
- Dancing
- Singing
- Riding a bike
- Playing frisbee
- Skipping
- Swimming
- Surfing
- Skateboarding
- Building something
- Playing music
- Playing with an animal
- Swinging on a swing
- Playing with children
- Cuddling etc
- Painting or drawing*
- And so on
Just to be clear, PLAY and JOY don’t often come with competition. You want to feel free and relaxed while using your body in the way that gives you joy.
And yes, more often than not, as you’ll see from the examples above, play involves moving the body. *Although you can find joy in things like painting and drawing, staying still isn’t playing – but it can definitely be a good starting point.
So, now that you’ve brainstormed the ways you can play more, find more joy, I want you to choose your top 3 and schedule them into your week.
When you get to that scheduled time, NOTICE how you feel about doing the activity.
Do you feel resistance towards it because you feel like your time would be better spent doing something “more important” like cooking, cleaning, working or even working out (etc)?
Just notice with curiosity and commit to it anyway. Then notice how you feel afterwards. Notice if you feel lighter, more uplifted.
So to quickly summarise, this week, should you choose to play like you LOVE yourself, this is what you’ll do:
- Ask yourself the questions above (feel the answers)
- Make a list of all the ways that you would like to have fun and play
- Pick your top 3
- Schedule them into your week
- Notice (with curiosity) how you feel as the time comes to do them
- Commit to doing them and notice how you feel after you have
- Take a deep breath and say the following affirmation every day:
“Today I am going to play like I LOVE myself! “
Then take this beautiful energy into the rest of your day and watch it spread like wildfire!
Share how you go in the comments below.
Much love and lots of joyful play this week ❤️,
Friend, I’m running another free Breathwork session this weekend. They don’t happen super often so be sure to join this one (or book the next one).
Generally speaking, they happen on a Saturday at 12pm AEST.
In the session following this post, we’re going to have some fun in our Breathwork, I promise!
