Play

One of my favorite songs when I was a kid was The Marvelous Toy by Peter, Paul and Mary (the album Peter, Paul and Mommy was constanly playing in our house when I was growing up in the early seventies).

I loved the feeling of wonder and joy it evoked. My brothers and I would act out this song over and over again, trying to guess what this magical toy might be.

Listening to this song Saturday night at home with my family after a yummy dinner of grilled shrimp tacos with mango/avocado salsa, inspired an evening of silliness, dancing, pillow fights and brought back a flood of memories of how often a sense of playfulness was present in my home growing up (my mom a musician/artist, loved to laugh).

Beginning this week and throughout the month of July I have created lots of time to play.

I still have to get some essential work stuff handled (I am self-employed and work with a team), but knowing that I’m at a pivotal point in my life/business, I knew it was essential to carve out a chunk of time this summer to spend time hanging out in the right hemisphere of my brain.

That’s when my best ideas come and when I get the most clarity about what I want.

Some of my colleagues, I’m sure, are thinking I’m crazy to be taking time out for creativity and play this month when I have just put together a new six-person work team, am in the middle of growing our global Personal Renewal Group program and beginning a handful of new big initiatives. But, I know that this time will be invaluable to not only where I’m headed this fall, but how I get there.

Play is essential to not only experiencing a sense of balance/equilibrium in life, but to feeling whole and alive. It’s part of who we are (read more from Psychology Today on the Power of Play).

Anyone round my base is it! Ready or not, here I come!
Allee Allee In Free! (from It’s Raining, Peter Paul and Mommy, 1969)

P.S. Interested in meeting once a month in a women’s self-renewal circle to enhance your ability to be more playful and present? Join or become trained to lead a Personal Renewal Group for mothers. Life coaching groups are meeting from Amsterdam to Akron. Join the self-care revolution.

Want to learn how to live more intentionally? Check out Live Inside Out (and become a fan on the Live Inside Out Facebook page).

The Journey, a blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey to life balance and living life from the inside out, comes out weekly. Subscribe here. For more information on Renee’s upcoming events, click here.

Photo: my seven-year old playing in the fountains in downtown Dallas near the Dallas Museum of Art.