Happy International Day of Play! We’re encouraged by the Bible to be like little children, but that doesn’t mean to whine and not take responsibility. It means to approach the world with awe and wonder.

We’ve now entered the season of summer and the element of fire, according to Chinese Medicine. The element of fire is something I associate with passion; to live with passion. To live fully, and to enjoy life more. But how do we find our passion?

There are two things that can be clues in our search for our passion: What is a cause you feel deeply for? And what did you like doing as a child? When we incorporate these two things, or at least one of them into our daily strife, we can begin to thrive. A cause can be things like care about the environment, justice, equality, rights or a specific question or topic like immigration. Caring about a cause with full intent, means to not only pay to a charity, but to actively make it your purpose. It starts with defining your most important values and see how you can work to fulfill these. For example, if you’re someone with concerns about the environment, you can rule out businesses, products and people who don’t align, as much as you can, whether when you choose what to buy and from whom, or when you apply for jobs. 

When it comes to treasuring and reviving our childhood fun, it can become our motivation and reward at the same time, to do something similar as a grown up. If your most fun thing to do was sports or something creative, you might not be able to work fulltime all your life with that. But you can keep enjoying it as a hobby after work. When you do, this will bring you joy naturally, make you feel like you have something to look forward to and something that is your most precious activity grounding you in your own authenticity. It can even become your true source of happiness. Dance is that to me. While I also like writing and have worked professionally as one, writing to me has more to do with expressing myself, to process things I’ve been through and to communicate and sell knowledge I hope others can benefit from. Dance on the other hand, is simply fun! It gives me a good workout, lets me move my body to music in ways that reflect my current state of mind and mood, just as much as I can put that aside and just focus on dancing. To you, it might be something completely different! And it can be several things, like what you enjoyed reading and playing, either alone or with friends, or a dream you had of becoming when you grew up. Choosing to take up something of this again, will for sure enliven you!

Then there’s the way of the child, our inner child, that can be a way to look at and approach the world. This is a practice. It’s a deliberate approach we take, when we go out for a walk sometimes and let ourselves become amazed by little things like the shape of an oak-leaf, pick up a stone that glimmers in the sun or get lost inside of a really good book, fantasizing we would be part of it. We can play dress up and take on a character for a day or at a local bar. This is especially fun to surprise others with who are used to your normal style and lets you feel like a star for a night. Taking care of our inner child, of course, isn’t only about play and fun and passion, but to care for ourselves the way a good parent would and tending to our needs properly. But, for today, we’re focusing on play!

So today, or the coming weekend perhaps, do something fun with your own children, the children of your relatives or just watch some play for a while. What’s a current game that’s in fashion? Which games did you play when you grew up? Play it again or re-read that favorite book of yours. Watch a movie that makes you laugh or simply allow yourself to marvel at the little things.

To listen to this blogpost as a podcast, find The Source Podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube.