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Make Time To Play

kim roberti blowing bubbles - Google SearchI recently led a weekend retreat at Willow Pond Lodge on Whidbey Island in Washington State. It is such a magical place. It has floor to ceiling windows and is filled with light and spaciousness. The buildings are surrounded by wild meadows and we always see lots of deer, eagles, and herons. There are four ponds on the property and one of them has beaver living in it and another has an island in the middle that you can get to by crossing a little bridge. There is also a huge garden and you can eat whatever is growing. The pears, apples, raspberries and grapes were indescribably delicious this year. 

On Saturday night, I offered a new tradition: playing children’s games.  It was so much fun! We started off with the game of ‘Follow the Leader.’ Whatever the leader was doing, we all did it too. We were doing things like log rolls, somersaults, and becoming airplanes with our arms out wide and dive bombing each other. Then we went on to ‘Duck Duck Goose’ and even a card game called ‘Spoons.’ We laughed and laughed and laughed. It was incredibly healing, because playing these games brought all of us back to the pure joy of being alive.  Why?  Because we were open to Life, fully experiencing what we were experiencing. 

We are all homesick for this kind of connection with Life. We long to experience Life directly without a story, just like little children do. Yet, most people who reach adulthood never know this connection again because they are caught in a mind that was conditioned to try to control Life rather than be open to it as it is. So we become human doings rather than human beings. We also stash deep inside of us all the so-called unacceptable parts (like sadness, “not enoughness,” loneliness, fear and anger), and then spend our lives trying to make sure these parts don’t take over our lives. As long as we are trying to control ourselves and control Life, we won’t know this connection we long for. 

Most people go to their deathbeds caught in their stories, enmeshed with whatever is going on inside their storyteller mind. Eckhart Tolle, author and spiritual teacher, calls it “the mind-made me” because our minds made a “me” inside of us when we were young and it was pretty well-formed by the time we were six. If you had a door on your forehead and you opened it up, you would see the stream of thoughts that move through you all day long. And you could see that this “me” struggles with everything. It secretly believes it is not enough, it is afraid a lot of the time, and it desperately wants to be in control.  It is an endless game of struggle that cuts us off from the joy of being fully alive. 

A big part of the journey of Awakening is about discovering that you are not what is happening inside of you.  Rather, you are Awareness.  You are that which can see and be with what is going on rather than being identified with it.  You are not your thoughts; you are not your feelings; you are not the sensations in your body; you are the space they are all happening in. 

So, how do you begin to see what is going on inside of you?  The best way I have found is to become what I call “A Tightness Detective.”  When you are caught in your mind, I guarantee there is tightness somewhere in your body. Begin by tuning into what is going on in your body and notice the physical sensations. How do I physically feel right now?  Do I have a fist in my solar plexus? Do I feel a hole in my belly? Do I feel stiffness in my neck? Are my hands cold?  Is my heart beating really fast? The key is to be fascinated about what is going on with the least amount of judgment you can muster. For a moment here and a moment there, you tune into your body rather than being caught in your mind.  This is all about having your attention and your immediate experience come together. And, this is how the bound up energy from your childhood is set free – through the light of your accepting attention.

When you can, I invite you to incorporate more play into your life.  Computer games are not the kind of play I am talking about here. I am talking about games where you physically move your body. Play hide and seek with your kids; play ball with your dog; swing at the playground with your grandchildren or your friends, or simply put on some music and dance.  As Jesus said, “…unless you become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Play reminds you of the joy of being open to Life and it shows you that there is a huge difference between thinking about Life and actually being Life!

Image – Secret Solution by Artist Kim Roberti  http://kimsartblog.blogspot.com/