Why We Need to Take Fun More Seriously

We all sometimes fall into the trap that in order to get things done, to move forward in life and attract the situations and people we want, we need to only work hard and take things seriously.

Now while I'm all for doing the work to create the reality we want to live in, I've also come to realize that fun and play are not opposite to work, they are the ideal compliments.

 "The opposite of play is not work—the opposite of play is depression."
- Brené Brown

Fun, laughter, play and silliness open our eyes up to spontaneity, creativity, new solutions and deeper connection with ourselves and the people around us.

Fun brings us to the present moment.

And fun is a choice. It's a choice in how we want to see things.

My current phone wallpaper is "Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling." The other day this really clicked. If I'm setting goals, I want to have fun along the journey. This is also where the growth happens.

And the external results we attract (money, people, recognition) as a result of our work will naturally happen. We need not worry so much about the result, the result will happen. We need to focus on how we feel along the journey.

This doesn't mean we lose sight of the forest through the trees. Having a destination in mind demands focus and the vision of what we will create is a source of excitement and motivation, but it's on the journey that we find fulfillment.

I've played with the idea that fun is literally a mindset, an awareness, a state of being that raises our vibration. And science proves that laughter and mischief literally opens our mind as it raises levels of happy hormones such as serotonin and acts to rewire the neural connections in our brain.We naturally allow more positive ways of thinking into our mind.

This is serious biz guys!

Laughter is the best medicine, the best drug. It's interesting because the first blog entry I wrote in this blog was about the "Power of Laughter" and how many benefits we receive when we laugh. And now it's hit me once again. Full force.

I mentioned to my Life Coach recently that I want to be a fool. She asked me what I meant and I referred to the idea that we have this idea that we need to be serious and try really hard to get anything done, that it's supposed to always be hard. And it will be this way if this is what we believe. But since we choose our beliefs, I emphasized that it was time to bring more foolishness into my life.

You know how they say, "Set goals that scare you"? This intention literally scared me.
So I'm going to "be fun" and see what that attracts? She agreed and it clicked with me.

Now I want to clarify that having fun doesn't mean we don't acknowledge, hold space and honor our pain, anger and struggles. Of course we do. What I'm saying is that somewhere along the journey, we open up our minds to different ways of seeing things, and leave an open seat for fun.