How quickly we lose the simple pleasures of childhood.

Plan now to have a great time when the weather is perfect for outdoor activities. Make sure you accomplish all that you hope to do. Now is a good time to plan for some fun before summer gets away from you. Yes, schedule these activities on your calendar.  We all need more childlike moments to balance our serious natures. This is the kind of carefree, timeless moment that children experience while having only one goal in mind ~~ FUN!  How quickly we lose the simple pleasures of childhood…. 

In the spirit of lightening up, here are some ideas that might help you to reawaken that little kid in you.

• Buy a giant pad of paper and some pastels and schedule a time to draw, using your fingers to smudge the colors together. Buy several cans of Play-Doh and keep them in your office.  Create a new monster every week.
• Spend an hour in the mountains noticing the height of the trees, the color of the grass, and the little pine cones, sticks, and rocks.
• Close the shades, put on your favorite dance music and dance in your living room.
• Get dirty. Go out and weed the yard, plant a tree, or simply dig holes in the dirt.
• Visit a local toy store and spend some time picking out a favorite coloring book. Keep this book in your office and between your adult duties, steal some time each day to color.
• Spend an hour sitting on the grass looking for a four-leaf clover.
• Buy a hula-hoop and see if you can still swing it. Learn how if you never could.
• Have a serious conversation with a dog.
• Gather a group of friends for dinner and play musical chairs.
• Grab a friend, buy a watermelon, and have a seed-spitting contest.
• Buy a teddy bear and/or sleep with a stuffed animal.
• Spend fifteen minutes mimicking your cat or dog.
• Camp in the mountains and talk to the squirrels as the sun comes. Enjoy them as they throw pine cones at you and chatter away.

These are the kinds of things to create joy in your life. Do them for no other reason than to upset the apple cart of life and interfere with the rigidity of our daily lives.

Strategy: Create your JOY list of things you want to do for fun. What’s on your list for fun? Need more ideas?