TIP THIRTEEN – PLAYFULNESS ☀️
When was the last time you did something just because it was fun?
Sometimes healing can look like tapping back into our child-like playfulness and curiosity. In fact, research suggests that rest and play are as vital to our health as nutrition and exercise and that even just anticipating joy can boost the feel-good chemicals in our brain! Therefore, cultivating playful experiences and trying out new things doesn’t just lead to a more joyful experience of life, it actively serves our long-term mental health.
It appears that our joy really does matter, even when things are tough… and, maybe, especially then.
SO!
Here’s a playful mindfulness task for you to try!
TASK: LEAF CHARACTERS!
Instructions:
1. Take a walk around your block (or even just in your backyard if you have one) and collect different plant parts that you come across (stuff that’s okay to pluck out of course).
2. Take a long pair of scissors and tweezers when you go. These can help you on your hunt for leaves, seeds, flowers and twigs.
3. Pay attention to all the small details, patience and mindfulness is key.
4. Once you’re back home, place your findings on a sheet of paper and make your plant characters using a range of different (and fun) combinations. Challenge yourself by using the plant parts in their original shapes and forms.
6. Tag us and show us what you create, we would love to see your leaf people! 
P.S It’s best not to sneeze while doing this!
If this doesn’t peak your interest then try spending 20-minutes a day engaging in playfulness – whether this looks like writing a funny poem for a friend, dressing up in a silly outfit, building an elaborate fort, drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, climbing a tree, following a tutorial on YouTube, or goofing around with friends.
You’re allowed to do all the things you enjoyed as a child. In fact, scheduling in these things we enjoy may be even more important now. After all, two out of the ten guideposts to wholehearted living detail letting go of being cool and always ‘in control,’ of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth AND INSTEAD cultivating play and rest, & laughter, song, and dance.
Playfulness can also be an antidote to the self-improvement spiral as letting go of constantly “doing the work” can be just as beneficial as the work itself.
So, why not try carving out some time today just to play? A playful mind is an open mind and a curious mind is a hopeful mind. Your mental health may just thank you for it!