EVERYBODY PLAYS! EVERYBODY!

I remember talking to my sister-in-law Krissy next to a pool last summer, and we got talking about Play, because I’m a zealot. And she told me she didn’t think she played. But, with my obsession, I’m totally convinced that everybody plays. EVERYBODY!

So, we talked about it, Krissy and I. And we discovered she’s a Director. And I loved watching the realization hit her that her obsession with planning the perfect trip to Disneyland is a legitimate and awesome way of playing, and exactly what a Director would do.

Somehow, learning more about play, and about all the ways we might play, makes us better because it gives us purpose to play, and it makes our play more meaningful. It’s like awareness equals improvement.

My point is: Do you feel like you don’t play?  That it’s something you used to do, but now you’re just always adulting and binging Netflix? That play is just for kids? Or maybe that play is just for those whackjobs who are always outside doing crazy stuff?

Listen to Melinda Welch talk to us about the Director play personality.  The Director is someone who plays through planning and executing events and gatherings.  The play happens before the event as the Director dreams up an idea, explores the possibilities, researches the best options and then communicates the details to the group.  The planning IS the play. It’s totally awesome.  

This is one of 9 play styles or play personalities that we’re going to explore. All of them awesome. There’s so much for us to figure out about how we play, how our people play, and how our lives get better when we play better together.

Melinda is the best. She’s an incredible life coach, and you need to check her out:

melindawelchcoaching.com

The ways you and your people play are so much broader and more important than you think they are!

And understanding your Play Personality, and how your Play Personality vibes with the Play Personalities of your people can make your relationships so much better and your play so much more!

Click Here to figure out your Play Personality!

Play-Personality-AssessmentDownload

Play TIme!

When we stop playing, we start dying. 

Super uplifting thought, right? But actually, yes. Super uplifting.

We need play throughout our whole life, not just as children learning the ropes, or teenagers being morons, or newlyweds talking baby talk to each other. We need it our whole life. WE NEED IT.

Play allows us to adapt to new circumstances, explore new possibilities, and become better versions of ourselves.  Play keeps life lively and relationships strong.  Play is therapeutic. Play keeps us learning and exploring. Play keeps us young. Play makes us more.

Notice this week where play is in your life.  What are you doing to play? What did you used to do to play that you’ve stopped?  How do some of your favorite people play? Who’s the best player you know?

There’s so much to learn and embrace about play. Here’s a quick 15 minutes about it!

We all want to get the most out of our lives. Unfortunately our brains want us to just stay alive. This podcast takes us beyond survival to getting serious traction out of NOW. The present is the only place we can enjoy this life. The past and the unknown future are tempting places to spend our mental click time but they leave us empty at best, and most likely depressed or anxious.

Breathe in THIS present moment. Enjoy.

Doggy Bag – Two Ways to practice PRESENCE!

Presence PRACTICE!Download

“The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start by being grateful for what you have right now.” – Her Highness, Oprah Winfrey

Gratitude is what started me on this whole process of upgrading myself. So, to wrap up these episodes on the Science of Well Being from Yale, my favorite of all – Gratitude.

I kept myself to 21 minutes about it. Check it out, look at the simple Gratitude exercises in the Doggy Bag, start today.

This changed my life.

Gratitude practice. Let’s do it!

Gratitude Practice.pdfDownload

Here’s a catchy phrase my mother-in-law will just LOVE!

When God made the planet, he had to plan it.

ZINGER!!

But the point is, today we’re talking about Goals and plans, and, most importantly, how making it Tiny makes it not suck.

Don’t roll your eyes. Just stay open. Goals don’t have to make you feel the same way you feel when you get assigned to mandatory team-building exercises.

Goals are rad. Let’s make them tiny and make them awesome. Let’s plan.

Here’s 14 minutes and 41 seconds about it!

Here’s your Doggy Bag. It’s Tiny.

It’ll help you keep it Tiny and make it work.

Keep-it-TinyDownload

Sleep is like salt.

Curious? Listen to 19 minutes about it.

Try to stay awake!

Here’s your Doggy Bag, designed to help you on your quest to become a professional snoozer!

SleepDownload

Today, the art of wanting EXACTLY WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE!!

How many of you saw Hamilton? It was on Disney+ recently! Whether or not you’ve seen it there’s a song about Hamilton saying that he has never been and never will never be satisfied. And he is quite proud of that fact actually. As you may know it proves to be true. One example, he gets an amazing wife Eliza, and one summer he is unfaithful to her. So when he said he will never be satisfied, guess what, he was exactly right and not just for himself, but for all of us. Whether or not you see yourself like Hamilton, we too will never naturally be satisfied. We are designed this way.

Our brains are equipped with something that probably helped us a lot as survivors to continually want more and more so in times of scarce resources we would survive. It’s called hedonic adaptation. Hedonic Adaptation means that once we obtain anything we get used to that thing and continue to want more.

You’ve seen movies where the richest king or the beautiful queen is unhappy because someone has something he/she wants. They’re not satisfied with what they have. No amount of money or land or beauty ever satisfies us naturally. We just eventually get used to what we have.

Remember getting a new bike or shoes as a kid and how exciting it was? Then we find ourselves months later right back to where we were. Wanting. We’d see a friend with the other new shoes you didn’t choose and somehow they looked better. Or the color of bike they had was what you actually wanted so you don’t feel quite as pleased with your bike.

It’s the same now. Even my friend who got a new house this spring admits it didn’t solve all the problems she assumed it would. She is used to having it. It’s not that exhilarating as it was on move in day. Even marriages have this phenomena. Research shows that the spike in happiness people enjoy lasts a couple of years and then couples find they’re right back to the happiness levels they were at before marriage.

So, how do we deal with this totally natural thing?

SAVORING: THE ART OF WANTING WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE!

Dig in, this is so good.

Here’s your Doggy Bag – A SAVORING How-To Guide!

Savoring-How-To-GuideDownload

Hippie Dippie Miss Lippie here!

But, for real, in another life, I could have been a hippie. I could have a shrine to Jerry Garcia in my VW Bus. I could know all the sweet, sweet tunes of Phish. I could bathe only in rainwater. I love hippies.

But, guess what? Although distinctly fragrant and often quite directionless, hippies have some things right.

So, today, Let’s Be, could be seen as a manifesto to hippies.

And seen another way, Let’s Be is crucial skill for us to cultivate if we’re serious about well-being, if we’re serious about upgrading.

Here’s 22 minutes about it!

Here’s your Doggy Bag, a pu pu platter of Meditation resources on Youtube!

An interview with Eckhart Tolle:

A one minute meditation:

A three minute meditation:

A 23-minute meditation:

The Science of Well Being, this course I keep talking about by Yale’s Laurie Santos, has changed my life. It just has.

It’s about finding true well being, true joy, true happiness. It’s full of truth and goodness. And at least 15 “No duh!” moments for me, things that I’ve learned before, things that I’ve known for a while, things that everybody knows, but, also, somehow, things that we have to keep re-learning, being re-reminded about. No duh!

The course comes away with eight things that really bring well being. Things that make you happy.

Today, one of my favorites: Kindness.

It’s not fluff and it’s not weak and it’s not unicorn rainbow toots. Kindness is one of the most powerful things in the whole world.

So, here’s 18 minutes about Kindness, and I think it’ll change the way you’re seeing the world right now.

Here’s your Doggy Bag for this episode. And it’s the most simple and probably most impactful Doggy Bar so far. Get it!

KindnessDownload

Did you know I’m a Tiny Habits coach?

Learn about it here!!!