Day Eighteen: It's Time To Play!
Were you a child that got to grow up playing outside? Even if it was just a small space in your backyard, as a child, that space felt endless and so magical. Maybe you still have memories of believing in fairies and elves that lived in the nooks and crannies of that space? Maybe you even built them homes and gardens to live in or left them “gifts” such as shiny rocks or flowers? As a child our creativity and imagination could make the folklore and legends we were told as stories come alive right before our eyes. Running barefoot through the grass, drinking water from the hose, laying under the shade of your favorite tree- all the things we are experiencing in these 30 days used to come so easy to us.
Sadly, as we got older, part of that creativity and imagination disappeared. Part of the loss can be that as we grew up we were told to stop “daydreaming” and to grow up if we were being “too” creative or imagining “too much”. We came to believe that because those fairies and elves are not “real” there was no use in pretending anymore and we lost some of that ability. We may have subconsciously buried our imagination in order to do what society around us wanted and expected us to do.
Part of that loss may be other scientific factors, like lack of good sleep. Scientist, Penny Lewis from Cardiff University theorizes that the combination of the two main phases of sleep, REM and non-REM, work together to help us find unrecognized links between what we already know, and discover out-of-the-box solutions to vexing problems. So when we don’t get enough REM sleep our creativity is disrupted. It also may be because we’ve become pros at what we do, and don’t really need to think outside the box that much to survive. Whatever the reason is, we do know that returning and connecting to the Wild is a great muse for stimulating our creativity, especially when we can access our inner child and play again.
Meditation: Listen to this meditation: Inner Child Meditation by Mandy Lawson
Activity: Find your inner child and let him/her come out to play! Go back to that time in your childhood when you were building fairy homes and looking for hidden elves. Find a place in nature where you can recreate that time. Maybe it’s just your own backyard! Build that fairy garden. Make sure if you build anything it is in a place that you are allowed to do so. Remember to follow leave no trace principles throughout this experience. If you’re in a space where you are unable to build anything, here are some other ideas to “play” with:
Search for a fairy ring. Fairy rings are a circular area of grass that is darker in color than the surrounding grass due to the growth of certain fungi. They were popularly believed to have been caused by fairies dancing. Fairy rings can also be a ring of trees growing in a circle, usually around the stump of a logged old-growth tree. After being cut down, a new generation of trees sprout from the roots of the fallen redwood, often creating a near-perfect circle or ring.
Try and find a four leaf clover.
Make a leaf boat and let it set sail down a creek or on water.
Make nature art.
Use your imagination! What can you come up with on your own?
Write in your journal the following:
Share: Share a photo of what your inner child wanted to do or create. Share any memories you had of your childhood in nature in the Facebook group.
Affirmation: Recite the following affirmation out loud: "I am allowing my inner child to come out and play in the wild. I can let go of what I was told to believe and create my own beliefs that allow me to use my imagination and creativity."
Go back to:
Introduction
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Sadly, as we got older, part of that creativity and imagination disappeared. Part of the loss can be that as we grew up we were told to stop “daydreaming” and to grow up if we were being “too” creative or imagining “too much”. We came to believe that because those fairies and elves are not “real” there was no use in pretending anymore and we lost some of that ability. We may have subconsciously buried our imagination in order to do what society around us wanted and expected us to do.
Part of that loss may be other scientific factors, like lack of good sleep. Scientist, Penny Lewis from Cardiff University theorizes that the combination of the two main phases of sleep, REM and non-REM, work together to help us find unrecognized links between what we already know, and discover out-of-the-box solutions to vexing problems. So when we don’t get enough REM sleep our creativity is disrupted. It also may be because we’ve become pros at what we do, and don’t really need to think outside the box that much to survive. Whatever the reason is, we do know that returning and connecting to the Wild is a great muse for stimulating our creativity, especially when we can access our inner child and play again.
Meditation: Listen to this meditation: Inner Child Meditation by Mandy Lawson
Activity: Find your inner child and let him/her come out to play! Go back to that time in your childhood when you were building fairy homes and looking for hidden elves. Find a place in nature where you can recreate that time. Maybe it’s just your own backyard! Build that fairy garden. Make sure if you build anything it is in a place that you are allowed to do so. Remember to follow leave no trace principles throughout this experience. If you’re in a space where you are unable to build anything, here are some other ideas to “play” with:
Search for a fairy ring. Fairy rings are a circular area of grass that is darker in color than the surrounding grass due to the growth of certain fungi. They were popularly believed to have been caused by fairies dancing. Fairy rings can also be a ring of trees growing in a circle, usually around the stump of a logged old-growth tree. After being cut down, a new generation of trees sprout from the roots of the fallen redwood, often creating a near-perfect circle or ring.
Try and find a four leaf clover.
Make a leaf boat and let it set sail down a creek or on water.
Make nature art.
Use your imagination! What can you come up with on your own?
Write in your journal the following:
- What folklore/legends do you remember as a child?
- What did your inner child want to do for this activity?
- Do you think you can invite more “play” into your life? Can you let go of what you have been told to believe?
Share: Share a photo of what your inner child wanted to do or create. Share any memories you had of your childhood in nature in the Facebook group.
Affirmation: Recite the following affirmation out loud: "I am allowing my inner child to come out and play in the wild. I can let go of what I was told to believe and create my own beliefs that allow me to use my imagination and creativity."
Go back to:
Introduction
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen