Are you there?

Yes, we are here.

Since our previous posting on self-imposed restrictions and limitations, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to have fun. To really enjoy myself. I don’t recall any difficulty having fun when I was younger. In fact, in looking back, especially at my high school and college years, it seems as if I was having fun all the time. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, of course, but I do remember a lot of good times during those early years.

It is not unusual for an individual to lose sight of their ability to enjoy themselves, especially as they grow older and assume more responsibility for what they have created in their lives. Unfortunately, in the race to acquire stability and security, fun and enjoyment are often left behind. There are those who never lose touch with that part of themselves, but for most human persons, having fun takes on less and less importance the older one gets.

It’s almost as if we forget how to have fun and eventually slip out of the habit, because for some reason, as we get older, having fun does not seem to come as naturally as it did when we were younger. After a certain point, it seems to take a great deal of concerted effort to achieve moments of joy in our lives. And yet, it is those moments that really bring us closer to remembering who we really are and why we have come. In that regard, it is, or should be, a necessary part of our work here on the physical plane, to do whatever we can to bring moments of pleasure, of excitement, of pure unadulterated joy into our lives. Some might consider this idea frivolous or superficial, but the more I do this kind of work, the more certain I am that these are the types of experiences that we must create for ourselves. We must make them our priority.

Well said.

Recently, I was watching a television program, one of those shows where young kids are interviewed by an adult host about all kinds of things, from world events to their own personal lives. There was a similar program years ago called “Kids Say the Darndest Things” hosted by Art Linkletter and I think this show might be a reboot. In any case, there was this young boy on the show the day I caught it. He couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. The host asked him, “Do you have any rules on how to live your life?” The boy did not waste any time in answering. “I have two rules,” he said confidently. “Rule #1: Always have fun. Rule #2: Listen to Rule #1.”

This young boy has already figured out what most adult human beings take a lifetime to realize – that joy is the most important thing in life. This idea lies at the very core of who you really are and why you have come to the physical plane. We believe that if every human person could put this type of idea into practice in their own lives, many of the world’s problems would vanish overnight.

And yet, most adults, as much as they might enjoy hearing a young boy say this kind of thing, believe this type of sentiment to be completely impractical for a mature adult. “You cannot live your whole life just having fun. You must accept your adult responsibilities.” And that means putting fun aside, or at the very least, indulging in pleasure only when everything else in your life has been taken care of.

These thoughts resonate back to our previous post on self-imposed restrictions and limitations. As we discussed then, these types of beliefs are those that you have learned from others during the course of your development, beliefs that over time, when left unchecked, become firmly entrenched within your consciousness.

Just to clear, I do not think that either you or myself are suggesting that we adults should avoid all of our responsibilities. That would just result in chaos. But it’s clear that we need to rediscover and free up that part of ourselves, some refer to it as the “inner child,” from its many years of hibernation and give it room to breathe, allow it to come out into the sunshine to play, to have fun. It strikes me that only by loving and nurturing the parts of ourselves that are still innocent and can look at the world through the eyes of a child that we can really achieve true balance in our lives.

Again, well said.

Thanks. With that encouragement, I’d like to do something I rarely do in our conversations – I usually look to all of you for this kind of thing – and that is to suggest something that our readers might do to get back in touch with those fun-seeking, creative parts of themselves. Last summer, after I left my full-time job, I decided that I would do The Artists Way again. The Artists Way, which I did for the first time about thirty years ago, is a twelve-week, self-guided course created by a woman named Julia Cameron. Each week’s lesson contains a series of exercises specifically designed to target and unearth those parts of ourselves that have been left dormant, namely our childlike inner selves, the parts of ourselves that crave joyful activity and excitement. Having done The Artists Way now four or five times, I can attest to its effectiveness. Each time I have done it, the results have not only led to a renewed focus on the things in my life that I used to enjoy when I was younger, but it has also brought renewed vitality to my adult creative life. This blog is a perfect example of the kind of results I have achieved by doing The Artists Way.

We know The Artists Way very well, having done it with you many times. We believe that suggesting it to our readers it an excellent idea. We would also like to say how much we appreciate the insights and suggestions you have contributed to our conversation today. We are very proud of you.

I appreciate all of you as well. I think we will stop there for today.

Of course. We look forward to our next conversation.

Thank you all.

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