Enjoying Life: Bringing back Play

I like this quote:

"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious." Brendon Gill

In the spirit of promoting well-being I have included "laughter therapy" and links to "The Visual Whispers of Tashan" and "The Outdoor Swimming Society" in my new project:

odetowellbeing.blogspot.com

From The Outdoor Swimming Society's manifesto:

"The Outdoor Swimming Society believes that it's time British swimmers had more fun..."

Great!

I just moved and am sharing a house with a friend and her 2 children. They are so much fun! They love to play board games and even have a tetherball in the front yard.

I used to sleep in, but now I wake up early to visit with them before they head off to school and work. I love how everyday they are being silly and enjoying life. I look forward to starting off my day playing and laughing. It is amazing the difference it makes, I also feel like I have more energy when they are around!

Ode Magazine : Groups: AWAKEN PEOPLE SOCIETY. Search and hit go. Find like-minded people within Ode community to share your passions, interests and concerns. Read life-changing articles. Develop new habits.Join the intelligent optimists group. Give your feed-back. mushjaa@aol.com

I take care of my father who has dimentia 82 years old and my mother 81 years old. Being 41, I am lucky to find my sense of humor at times. You just have to look, but sometimes I can't and that stinks. The one fun thing I like to do is make my dad laugh when he's frusterated, and with dementia that happens alot. So I do the Elaine dance from Seinfeld and he cracks up and that is why I still have most of my sanity. God Bless and Happy Holidays EVERYONE!

I was walking through a local park a couple of days ago, enjoying the beauty of the falling leaves in all their glorious colours, people walking their 'pets' and enjoying the crisp clear sunny day. And suddenly there was surprise and delight to see three young guys, all in overalls signifying that they were working somewhere nearby, playing a wonderful game: chase the leaf as it falls from the tree! Although it was obvious that it had turned into a sort of competition, this aspect of the game seemed minor, in comparison to the joy and laughter of each one in his turn looking for a leaf falling from any tree within reasonable distance from their 'starting block.

And one of the most wonderful things of all is that as a leaf was falling in front of me, one of them appreared suddenly in front of me, dodging and weaving to catch the leaf as it changed direction many times, almost as though it were trying to outwit him. Even though we almost collided, he managed to catch the leaf and gave a big beaming smile as we looked at each other. No apology was necessary of course - you wouldn't ask a small child playing such a game to to do so, so why an adult in the same spirit!

It was uncertain whether the man really looked at the beauty of the leaf, with its shiny surface and its soft orangy-brown colouring, but joy was still there in him. A very powerful reminder of our ability and need to live in play and the wonder and beauty of the moment!