Okay.
So the first thing I'm going to invite you to do then is to land.
So negotiating with the parts of you that are touching the floor and any furniture.
Wriggling Settling.
And as you do that and sort of.
.
.
Wriggle down to root the parts of you that are touching the floor and furniture.
Notice the rest of you sort of stretch out a little so that there's a bit of space.
And starting with the playfulness right from the start of that being a wiggle.
And breathing to support that settling in.
And as you breathe into being rooted in your body.
Being upheld gently in your body.
Bringing yourself into this present moment.
That you have chosen to take this time.
For you.
To honour play.
Breathing in and breathing out to really be here.
And I was,
So I was really drawn to Choose playfulness as the topic.
Partly because it's summer and Although it's a challenging summer in many ways,
It is also Summer is the time that we tend to get out and play more.
Things feel a bit lighter generally.
But also playfulness is one of my core values.
So it's something that I love.
I really enjoy.
It makes me feel more me.
And with all the seriousness of work or personal stuff and very much global stuff.
It's very easy even for someone like me who is part of my core values.
To kind of get stuck in seriousness and I'm doing straight away frowning.
And focus on needing to be serious and adult.
So we can forget to honor playfulness.
And of course,
It's one of the key tools as humans,
Like many species.
That is a catalyst for our learning,
Our connection with others.
Humans and other species.
It's a catalyst for our growth.
Unfold.
Maintaining.
Our well-being.
As well as for recovery.
So I see this as Although it's a light-hearted thing,
I see this is something that's actually really,
Really important.
For us.
And we need to connect and keep on connecting with what it means to be human.
So that we sustain however challenging life is.
Within our personal spheres,
Our work spheres,
But also globally with all the challenges going on.
So by being human,
Connecting to our humanness.
We are able to sustain.
And in cycles we're able to thrive.
And play,
Of course,
Is a core part of that.
So I'm going to take you through as invitation always.
Is to reflect and connecting with where you are at currently with playfulness in yourself,
In your life.
And then I'll take you through a reflection connecting you to your inner playfulness.
And then we'll think about taking that forward.
So,
Beginning with starting from where you are at now,
Because that's the only place we can work from.
So you may want to,
Again,
Settle into your body,
Close your eyes,
Soften your gaze,
Look out the window,
Or you may want to take a pen and paper and draw or write in reflection.
So I invite you to reflect on what your current relationship is.
With playfulness is.
Is there resistance to being playful?
Is it something you absolutely love?
Is it something you'd have carried away with?
Wes,
Where do you sit?
In relationship with playfulness.
And how often do you feel playful?
Is it something you really miss?
Is it something you really incorporate into your life?
I wonder where your inspirations for playfulness are,
Whether that's other people,
Or certain things you have in your life.
So where does play fit in?
To your life.
And where does playfulness fit into your work?
If at all.
And you may already.
Be either celebrating and really affirming a relationship with playfulness that is working for you at the moment,
Or you might be feeling something like missing playfulness.
I know for me,
When I'm not honoring it much in my life,
I miss it.
Or it might be something else.
But thinking about what you might want to be different.
So now I'm going to take you through a process.
Of shifting into a playful state.
And as always.
.
.
It's an invitation to shift into a state as much as you are able to.
So I invite you to As with everything,
Keep this safe for you.
And Approach it with curiosity and grace towards yourself.
Because it might be that you are able to really go with this,
It might be that actually you're carrying a lot of tension.
Or seriousness around stuff.
And it's just going to be challenging today.
That's okay because that is information about where you are at at the moment.
So please be kind to yourself in this.
So I'm going to invite you to settle in again to your body.
Planting your feet on the floor,
Planting your hips.
We're going to negotiate.
And perhaps rolling your shoulders as you breathe in.
To open up your heart space.
Closing your eyes or softening your gaze.
And I'm going to invite you to think of a time.
When you felt really playful.
You might have been actively playing,
Or you might have been in a different context,
But being playful in the way you were being.
This can be any phase of your life.
Any context.
It might just be a moment or it might be a longer period.
And I invite you to get really clear as much as you're able to.
In terms of what you can see.
Calmness.
Movements.
Things going on.
What you couldn't hear.
You might even be able to imagine smelling something.
Whatever it is,
Just.
.
.
I invite you to take yourself into all the details of that.
That place,
That time.
And get curious about what you were doing.
Who you were being.
What was important to you there?
And being in that state of playfulness,
What impact did it have on you?
And what impact did you have on other people?
Either in that context or as a result of you being in that context in a playful state.
And if you haven't already,
I invite you to bring more of your body.
Into that playfulness,
That state of being.
That you were in at that point.
Not just your mind,
Your head taking you there,
But your whole body.
What does it feel like?
Where do you feel that playfulness in your body?
You might experience it as an energy or a light or a colour.
You might even have a theme tune for it.
You might want to get up and shift your body.
To a different stance.
The more we bring our whole selves into this state of being,
The more we're able to live it,
The more our system can remember it and how good it is for us.
And it brings a different perspective.
On how we approach life.
So I'm going to invite you now to think from this place,
Staying in this place.
Of playfulness.
You may want to stay with your eyes closed.
Or you may want to gently shift your eyes open and pick up your pen.
It's completely up to you.
But I'm now going to invite you to think about looking forward from this state.
With this energy.
If you were to bring more of this into your life and work,
What would be possible.
And how could inviting more of it in support you in building confidence.
Progressing in your work,
Your impact.
Your relationships.
And support you in carrying the load of life and work a little lighter.
What would be possible in how you show up as a human being?
And then in terms of that,
What you get back from life.
What would be the impact back on you?
Now I am going to invite you to take this forward a little bit more specifically.
So again,
If you still had dry shut up,
Now is a point as well,
You may want to pick up your pen.
Or you may keep your eyes closed.
But I'm going to invite you to think of a task you need to do.
A decision you need to make or a conversation you need to have.
But I'm going to ask that you please pick something that is okay to play with,
Because of course there are some things in life where it's not appropriate,
It's not helpful to be playful.
So as I say,
It might be a task,
It might be a decision,
It might be a conversation that needs to happen.
Might be a project starter.
A certain rhythm to implement into your life.
If you think about that thing,
Something that you're perhaps challenged by,
Struggling with a little bit.
Notice how you feel about it at the moment.
What state you've been approaching it with.
Or from.
And then I'd invite you to shift to think about what would it be?
Look like or feel like to you.
To approach it.
With playfulness.
If you were to approach this thing with playfulness.
What would be different?
What might you see?
Differently about it.
How much it's seen to you.
What would be possible?
So if that's working for you,
I'm going to invite you to take that away when you approach that particular thing you've been thinking about.
And try it.
We can bring playfulness to some really important things.
So for me personally.
And as I say,
Some spaces it's just not.
Useful or appropriate.
Bring playfulness,
But there are some things that I find that my head has told me it's got to be serious.
And then it can become scary,
But actually when I go with a sense of playfulness to it,
I often bring a lot more courage.
Sort of more dynamic and creative thinking.
I bring more of myself.
My hands are already moving.
My body's moving more just by speaking like that.
So there's a lot more looseness movement.
My whole being comes into play much more.
So that's my experience of bringing playfulness to.
But we often sort of categorise as more serious adult stuff.
I fully believe that playfulness can come into spaces like work spaces.
So I shall leave that with you,
But please let me know how it goes.
The other invitation I'd like to send you away with actually is to play today.
Pick a time,
Something to do today where you can play.
Where there is no other outcome other than playing.
So it might be playing a game,
It might be drawing or painting,
Like you were still a child.
It might be if you're going for a walk somewhere to the shop,
Something having a bit of a skit.
Bit of kitchen dancing if you're cooking later.
But just something that is simple and free.
And he's just about playing.
Even if it's for five minutes.
I invite you to play at some point today.
And then again,
Let me know how you get on and what the impact was.
