Image by lisa runnels from Pixabay 

Most people aren’t aware that ‘play’ is a very powerful thing.  The less limits you impose upon yourself when looking for a solution, the greater the range of options available to you. The more relaxed and free you can be in your energy, the easier it will be to reach a state of flow with your intuition and inspiration. Ideas and solutions will come rapidly and without effort.

Play is a willingness to be much more free in our expression. So much of the time, we feel we must keep our feelings, our facial expressions, our urges to dance etc, to ourselves.  We have been brought up hearing a variety of old adages, among others:

• Children should be seen and not heard
• Sit still and don’t make a fuss
• Don’t be a showoff
• Don’t blow your own trumpet
• Put other people first
• Don’t attract attention to yourself

Image by ibrahim abed from Pixabay 

A lot of these ideas are reasonable in context, but the trouble is, they get embedded in our subconscious, so we tend to always act according to those guidelines, even if we are not aware of it. Putting other people first is polite and friendly, but isn’t a good idea all the time. You need to put yourself first now and again, or you tend to get stuck in the default behaviour pattern of ‘I must put everyone else first.’  This then becomes an imbalance, and you will inevitably suffer from it in some way, mentally, physically or emotionally. There needs to be a balance.

It is the same with play and self-expression. Take a job interview for example; that would be a sensible place NOT to fully express your urge to dance, giggle and pull stupid faces! (Wait til you get out of the room at least!) 😉

It just takes a bit of common sense, and lo, you realise you CAN express yourself as you feel in the current moment. As an example, while giving my hands a break from typing this article, I decided to ‘play the piano’ on my gel wrist support. It was quite fun, gave my mind a break for a few moments and then I was back typing. I didn’t stop to wonder whether or not that was silly and I wouldn’t have if I’d been in an office environment either.

Who cares if you play the piano on your wrist support in your micro breaks? You still get the work done! You’ll feel more cheerful and your energy will thank you because it is not being contained. The thing people don’t realise is, being repressed and holding yourself back even in small ways TAKES ENERGY! You are devoting a proportion of your energy resources to this, when you could be using it on something you want to do.

That is one bonus of allowing yourself to be playful. The other is even more powerful. For example, in our Multi-Dimensional Healing work we are constantly looking for answers, tuning into the energy of the client and allowing ourselves to receive the information that we need to help the person.

You might think that you need to ‘REALLY CONCENTRATE’ in order to pull that off. But really concentrating is a form of resistance – because it means MAKING A BIG EFFORT. Effort means pushing against something and another word for that is resistance. What you resist persists, as I’m sure you’ve heard elsewhere.

So what is the answer? Not to try? Well, it’s more a case of ‘letting go’. ALLOWING the answers, the energy, the information to come, rather than pushing for it. It’s much easier that way and the quality of the information or inspiration will be much more helpful.

So in our work we find that humour, playfulness and relaxation are a much more effective way to get the best results. If you are telling us something serious or sad we won’t laugh and joke around, but at the same time we can’t allow it to upset us or make us too sad for you.

Our job is to detach from our emotional feelings and just allow ourselves to receive the information that would be most helpful at the time. That is the way we can perform best and be most useful to our clients.

It works well outside of the clinic room too. Where we can feel really sad and upset for other people’s lives and situations, we try not to allow it to bring OUR energy down, as if WE are down we cannot help anyone else.

Generally, if you are relaxed, laughing and playful your energy will be higher than if you are concentrating furiously, or trying really hard. The optimum state to be in for results is flow; it doesn’t matter if you’re a tennis player, a pianist or an accountant.

Being in a state of flow allows everything that you need in each moment to come to you.  If you are trying too hard, you hold it back from yourself and if you are sad or down, then again it limits the flow.

What we are actually doing by holding ourselves back, is cutting off our own potential. So think about how you behave and whether you are unconsciously following rules that you might have learnt in childhood, that are not appropriate right now.

It’s a beautiful world, but it is also ugly, depressing and full of things to bring you down. What the people and the planet needs most is joy, and the best way to reach that state is freedom of expression through fun, play and laughter. These are the energies that will help transform the world and can be a wonderful tonic to the people around you as well.