Over Serious Anonymous

Do you know that there is an Over Serious Anonymous [well the 12 steps]? And I'm a fully paid up member. 

1. We admitted that we were powerless over seriousness -- that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that only by lightening up could we achieve a state of non-seriousness. 3. Made a decision to turn our constant self-criticism over to our sense of humor and learn to "lovingly and wholeheartedly" laugh at ourselves. 4. Decided to give ourselves a break once in a while, instead of constantly doing searching and fearless moral inventories of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being that our wrongs were often in our heads. 6. Were entirely ready to accept that our characters were as good as anybody else's and possibly better than most. 7. Quit harping on our shortcomings. 8. Made of list of all persons we thought we had harmed and saw that they'd forgotten all the crap we'd blown out of proportion. 9. Quit making amends for breathing air and taking up a few square feet of the planet's surface. 10. Resigned ourselves to the fact we were going to criticize ourselves at times, but would try to stick to our guns when we knew we were right. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to calm down and realize we're not responsible for everything. 12. Having experienced immense relief from these steps, we would try to carry this message to other over-serious people and to practice these principles in all of our affairs.

Mostly it feels right and proper to be serious. Life is hard work and things have got to get done, but every now and again I am reminded that by taking everything so seriously I am loosing out on joy, the magical and wonderful benefits of laughter, and creativity. 

I actually know how to have fun - I just don't. I'm addicted to being over serious. The easiest way to learn how to have fun is to watch and copy children. And right at the top of the list is - you got it - mindfulness. Children - young children - live in the now. They are busy observing the world directly in front of them. They are not preoccupied with thoughts of problems or chores of the future. So when walking look around. Notice the environment. Observe more closely. Feel the wind, temperature, or sun on your skin. 

Children are also very interactive with their environment. They skip, they hop, they walk along the edge. They stop to look. They run ahead. They swing round a pole. We can do this to by walking out. Walking with arms swinging loosely, being aware of the movement of our bodies. Feel ourselves start to warm up - our breath starting to deepen. Or go dancing. Dance your way through your day. Dance to the kettle or the photo-copier. It doesn't have to be obvious - it's an internal rhythm.

Smile more. When our facial muscles perform the task of smiling our brains assume we feel good and are happy. It creates a positive feedback loop. I know this can feel awkward at first, but persist. Smile until you want to smile. Then continue doing it. At least 25 times a day. Get your happy on.

Create. Create without judgement. Draw with crayons. Colour - there are lots of beautiful adult colouring books available. You can even download some. And colouring has lots of other benefits too. Paint with poster paints, or finger paints. This is creativity not 'art' [another whole argument there]. Do some rubbings of items from the house and garden - turn them into postcards. Go on a rubbing expedition - sign posts, metal textures, concrete textures, architectural details. Make a dream-catcher or a fairy house. Make a paper maché piggy bank, pinata, or light.

Lastly, garden. Dig. Plant. Water. Chop. Prune. Gardening is creative, active, in the now and definitely fun. 

Here's a link to 50 ways to have fun.

Good luck