How To Stop Taking Yourself So Seriously And Truly Enjoy Life
Most people want to make a positive impact on the world within their lifetime. In one way or another we all want to know that the world is a slightly better place because we existed.
It’a beautiful thing to have contribution as one of your highest values, and to set about achieving impact as a life goal. The world will always need people who are inspired to make a difference in the lives of others; be it their families, friends or the collective.
“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever; you just have to live.” – Natalie Babbitt – Enjoy Life
Many people in our modern world have a distorted understanding about what it is to be a human being. We are often taught that successful adults are responsible, serious, uptight, controlled and endlessly goal oriented. There is a standard of success that has been created which is is in direct opposition to our natural state of being.
This means that rather than being, we are caught in a constant cycle of doing.
Stop the glorification of busy.
Often this doing mentality comes from a place of fear. It could be the fear of looking lazy or unaccomplished, or the fear of needing to earn our place in life. The truth is that these are simply clever tricks of the egoic mind. We are already perfect, without needing to become anything at all. Being is enough.
Just Be.
Children are masters of being. As we once knew, children know how to stay present. They are not caught up with the self inflicted ‘responsibilities’ and ‘burdens’ that we identify with as adults. They don’t need to prove themselves and they are in touch with their divine nature and sit closely with their true selves.
Sadly for most of us, this childlike state is lost over time. Through our life’s challenges we slowly close down our imagination and block off our feeling of innocence and wonderment. As time marches on and the wounds add up, we soon forget how to be vulnerable and trust that we are loved, simply because we exist.
Some of us even cut ourselves off from basic human behaviours, like hugging! Have you ever noticed how uninhibited children are when they hug one another? They aren’t limited by fear, they aren’t so busy being serious that they forget how to live or love.
We dance not to achieve an outcome, we dance because we feel the music, we feel life.
Take music as an example. When you hear your favourite song and start to dance, are you dancing just to get to the end of the song? Are you constantly wanting the next part of the song to come up? No! You enjoy the music! Enjoy being in the moment with the sounds and you PLAY.
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato – Enjoy Life
Learning to truly enjoy your life does not mean giving up on the dreams you have, or letting go of the impact you want to make. In fact it’s quite the opposite. The greatest irony of learning to embrace play and allowing yourself to BE in your life, is that you become far more productive. When you aren’t constantly STRIVING for success or FORCING yourself to get things done, you become far more creative, receptive and aligned. You start to attract the best into your life instead of chasing it.
Tomorrow is promised to no one.
Ultimately, tomorrow is never guaranteed to any of us. And while we don’t want to die with the regret of not living up to our fullest potential, we also don’t want to die wishing we had taken a little more time to appreciate the beautiful life we had.
So take a moment, today, and every day from now to look around you and appreciate this crazy, beautiful inspiring life. You never know when it’ll be over.