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Play

Let your inner child out to play! Here is laughter and fun. Let’s share stories and jokes and funnies. Sometimes we’ll have some serious thought, but not too often. Our inner children want to play. Come on let’s have some fun!

Play Day

2/14/2020

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​“This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
-Alan Watts, The Essence of Alan Watts
           
Our souls speak to us softly and we can easily ignore the suggestions offered, but if we’re willing to listen that’s when the alchemy happens. Lead turns into gold and work transforms into play.
 
If I am in a mood, like today, I will ignore the suggestions of my soul, and I’ll grump along, wondering what it is I could be doing that would cheer me up. Finally, like today, I will accept one gentle suggestion. I will do whatever it is and I will feel a little better. Then, I will think of the next thing and do that, and I will feel even better.
 
Today, the back yard called to me and I came out to find a dry place to sit amidst the ice and snow on the patio. The sun felt wonderfully warm on my back. A gentle breeze whispered, “Spring,” and whiffled my hair softly. I sat for a bit, still feeling grumpy, and at first ignored the tiny suggestion to brush my dog, Goldie. Then, I realized it was my soul speaking to me of what comes next and I got the brush.
 
Feeling more energetic afterward I got the broom and shovel and spent an energetic time clearing off the steps and patio. I was fully involved with what I was doing and stopped thinking about other concerns. It felt good to be active. It felt good to be focused. While clearing snow and ice off the patio I kept trying to tell myself that this was a job that nature would shortly take care. But it felt so good to be outside, moving, shoveling and sweeping, that I ignored that critical voice and kept right on.
 
It reminded me of the kind of thing I might have done as a child, action purely for the sake of the process. I would normally think of shoveling the snow and ice off the patio as work, but it had all the elements of play about it. It just felt good and there was nothing else I would rather have been doing at that moment. There was no schedule, no agenda, I could do as much or as little as I wanted. I did it because I enjoyed the process.
 
My father-in-law used to make Christmas presents for his seven children and ever-increasing numbers of grandchildren every year. Starting in September he worked in his tiny woodshop making wooden toys and small household objects. His work was beautiful and he was often asked to make his toys for sale. He refused. “Then it would be work,” was his reply.
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How can this be? The woodworking that he loved would be the same. Yet his attitude would be different. To sell his creations would be to take the joy out of the process and force him to be focused solely upon the product.
 
Play is engaged in because the process itself is enjoyable, it is fun. The process is the point, engaging in an activity for the love of it, because it feels good, because it makes you happy.
 
Work is engaged in for the product. Work is something you do not necessarily because you enjoy it but because you want the product of that activity, the outcome.
 
It is possible to spend all our lives working and never play. It is also possible to make all our work into play. It is a matter of attitude. Anything you engage in can be enjoyable given the right attitude.
 
When asked to wash his hands before lunch, my four-year-old grandson often balks. He’ll find anything else to do on his way to the bathroom. Everything between the table and the bathroom becomes fascinating. Eventually though, hunger will win out for a time, and he will make his way to the sink and turn on the water. Then the magic happens. What previously felt like hard work to him, becomes play. The combination of water, soap and his hands becomes something new, more than the sum of their parts. He is entranced. Work becomes play.
 
Of course experiencing work as play is the ideal. Though I know better, I often forget and spend time grumbling through what needs to be done, looking forward to finishing so I can get to doing what I want to do.
 
At the grocery store, I asked a sales clerk, “How are you?” She replied, “I’ll be just fine in an hour.”
 
I laughed, understanding, “That’s when you get to go home, right?”
 
“Right!” she answered. That sales clerk was working, physically and mentally. I’ll bet her next hour was a long one.
 
Is this how we want to live our lives, wishing them away, working now so that we can play later? Many of us believe we have to work hard in order to live well. It is an accepted attitude in our society.
 
Yet, one person’s work is another’s play. If I had hired a neighboring teenager to clear snow and ice off the patio it might have felt like hard work to her. On the other hand, perhaps she too would have responded to the warm air and sunshine. Maybe she would have taken off her jacket, pushed up her sleeves and feel the spring breezes caressing her skin. Maybe she would have listened to the chickadees and titmice singing their spring songs. Maybe she would have loved what she was doing and gotten paid for it to boot!
 
Is it work or is it play? It is all a matter of attitude.
Photo by Kobby Mendez on Unsplash

Your Spiritual Toolbox

Make today a play day.

​Whatever you have to get done today, approach it with a playful attitude.   
 
Have an attitude of exploration. Pay attention to every detail of your surroundings and what you are doing. See things with new eyes, the way a child sees.
 
Change it up. Can you do what you are doing in a new way? Perhaps you can start at what is normally the end of the job and do that part first. Experiment with the way you normally do things.
 
Allow your imagination to enter into what you are doing. Make believe you are someone else. Imagine you are someone who finds the job you are doing to be great fun. Maybe you are someone who considers doing this job a privilege. How does that person do this job? What does that feel like?
 
Allow yourself the child-like gift of enjoying each thing you do today.
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Game Changer

12/20/2019

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“Think thoughts that feel good. Make choices that feel good.”
-Cheryl Richardson, You Can Create an Exceptional Life

Have you heard the saying, ‘Life is a game, all you have to do is know how to play it?’  If that’s true, why is it that so many of us are playing a game we don’t enjoy? And once we recognize we’re playing a game we don’t enjoy; how do we change it?

Positive thinking is a game changer.

It’s so simple. Then why is it so powerful? Why is it that each time I take it to heart, make the commitment to myself, follow through and surprise, surprise - feel good - it feels like a lightbulb moment?

Last week, I spent quite a bit of time on the couch, feeling under the weather. (A great expression, and kind of funny when you think that I just wrote a post about standing under the rain of fear - Take Refuge. Energy does follow attention. Maybe I need to be a little pickier about my metaphors. 😉)

Anyway, I started down the, ‘woe is me, I don’t feel good,’ path and caught myself. As Universal support would have it, I had just purchased You Can Create an Exceptional Life, co-authored by Cheryl Richardson and Louise Hay, from which the above quote is taken. The book has one, main message (reference above quote) with lots of practical suggestions and techniques to apply it in your life.

I decided to inspire myself even if I didn’t feel good. I then applied several of the techniques I resonated with from the book, and lo and behold I started to feel better. At first, I felt better emotionally, and then I started to feel better physically. My energy  returned, my headache wafted away. Many of the techniques in the book I was already familiar with. Why hadn’t I been utilizing them all along? Somehow, I forgot, so it’s supportive to hear the teachings again and again.

Why do we forget to use the techniques that work?

It is for that very reason, they work, that we so conveniently forget about them. We may not be quite ready to implement the change in our lives that would create. Perhaps we feel we don’t deserve to feel good. Perhaps we don’t feel safe feeling good, always wondering when the next shoe will drop. Perhaps we believe we’ve got to always be on the look-out for what can go wrong. Perhaps we just want the adrenaline rush of the drama that happens when things go wrong.

Whatever the reason, we forget to use the techniques that teach us the habit of feeling good, about ourselves, our lives, and our world. That way we can keep going along the way we were. We can stay safe with what’s familiar. Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t?

But if like me, you’ve had it up to here (picture me reaching as high as I can) with feeling bad about yourself, or about your life, or about how things are going in your world, then it’s time to implement a game changer.

Positive self-talk is thinking thoughts that feel good.

To use my experience from above, my first thoughts were negative self-talk. “I don’t feel good. Oh no, I’m getting sick. I won’t be able to get together with the kids on Sunday. I won’t get done what I need to do for Christmas!” I lay down on the couch and felt miserable.

Then I made the conscious decision to positize (yes, that’s a verb in my world). I knew my negative thought trend would only make me feel worse, so I looked in the mirror and said, “I love you. I really love you.” Bleary eyes blinked back at me, but the thought was appreciated. I then thought, “I’m getting better and better every day. Things are always working out for me.” I continued thoughts along those same lines, putting an intentionally positive spin on whatever it was that I was thinking about that day. At odd moments throughout the day I consciously thought to myself, “Today is a great day.”

The emotion that you feel is the gas for your creative engine.

I allowed myself to feel the positive emotion behind each thought. That is key.

Think about when you are thinking negative thoughts. There is always negative emotion associated with those thoughts, and the negative emotion attracts more negative thoughts into a spinning cycle of negativity.

Fortunately, the same works for positive thoughts and positive emotions. They attract more of the same and soon you are riding the positive feeling band wagon.

If you know you’re going to feel better when you think positive thoughts, why not positize your thinking?

It is particularly useful to positize your thoughts at this time of year.

During the holidays there are so many expectations of happiness, so much frantic activity, so many idealized images of the perfect holiday, it can all be too much.

What if instead of holding yourself to unrealistic ideas of perfect holidays, you thought thing like,

 “I’m so grateful for the love shared with each of my family and friends.”

“I’m so grateful that my holidays are filled with the magic of the season.”

Placing your attention upon the love and magic that the season represents rather than the physical trappings or the expectations that you perceive from yourself or others.

Find a way to positize each thought you think, whatever it is that you are thinking about. You will be glad you did, because thought by thought you’ll be feeling better and better.

“I’m feeling better and better. I’m feeling better and better…” and you know what? I really am. Game changed.
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Your Spiritual Toolbox

Play the What if? Game.

We do this all the time when we are worrying about something. We think, “What if this happens? How will that feel? What will I do?” That’s what worrying is all about, coming up with various different awful scenarios and worrying about what to do about each one. It’s not that you actually believe all those awful things will happen, you just think that’s the way to be prepared for what might happen.

Instead, choose to play in a positive way, a way that supports positive self-talk and feeling good.

Think about a positive scenario that you would like to have happen in your life. Then allow yourself to muse over all the different ways that could play out in your life. You don’t have to believe it will actually happen. Just pick something that feels good to think about.

For example, ask yourself, “What if I felt energized and enthusiastic about my life every day? What would that feel like? What would that look like day to day?”

Allow yourself to really feel what it feels like. Do you feel good? Then you are on the right track.

One positive side effect to playing this game is that if you have any self-limiting beliefs about happiness they may pop up as you play this game.

If part of you believes you don’t deserve to be happy, you may hear about it. Those, “Yes, but…” thoughts will pipe up.

“Yes, but you don’t know what’s around the next corner.” "Yes, but Mom always said, don’t…” “Yes, but I always got smacked down when I let myself be too happy.”

Fortunately, negative thinking and “Yes, buts…” are just old habits. You can retrain yourself into new, positive habits.

Playing the “What if? Game is a great way to start.
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The Girl Who Didn't Know How to Play

12/6/2019

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This is a story for all the adults out there who have forgotten how to play. Our inner child can be completely submerged beneath all the responsibilities, doing and purpose of adult life. That's when we forget. So read on and meet Rosalind. See if she feels just a little bit familiar.  
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Rosalind was eight years old. She had brown, curly hair and a nice smile. Rosalind was a great kid, but she didn’t know how to play. It was such an odd thing, a child who didn’t know how to play.

At first she tried to hide the fact from the other children at school by joining in on the games at recess. The girls usually played hop scotch, throwing a rock in the first square and hopping on one foot all around it in the other squares.  Rosalind tried to play.

“Why do I have to throw the rock and hop in the squares?” She’d ask.  “Why can’t I let my other foot touch the ground? Are we graded on how well we play?”

The children would only laugh at her and tell her to go away because she was spoiling their fun. Rosalind stopped trying to play with them.

She tried to hide the fact from her teachers, and this was easy to do. After all everything they did at school had a purpose, it mattered, and she would be graded on her efforts. Rosalind was proud to be a good student. She worked well with the other students, completing projects on time and making sure everyone got their work done.
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Rosalind’s teachers never figured out that she didn’t know how to play. But Rosalind’s parents knew. They knew because even though Rosalind kept very busy helping out around the house and building a doll house complete with furnishings, curtains, beddings and dolls; even though she had a bedroom full of stuffed animals and toys, she never actually played with them. They knew because at every meal time Rosalind always ate politely, keeping each food separate on her plate, and folding her napkin neatly after finishing. She never spilled her milk, or played with her food, or made a mess of any kind. You would think that her parents would be pleased but they weren't. They were worried.

One day her mother insisted that Rosalind invite a friend from school to come over to play. So she invited Beth, a girl she had worked on a project with who she thought was nice.

Beth came over and Rosalind’s mother said, “Why don’t I bring down Grammie’s trunk and you girls can play dress-up?” Rosalind nodded, and the girls soon enjoyed pulling out all the old clothes and jewelry.

Then Beth said, “I’ll be the queen and you can be my lady-in-waiting.”

Rosalind looked at her and asked, “Why?”

“Because it’s fun.” said Beth, “Come on. Put this on.” Beth handed her a pink, gauzy gown.

“OK,” said Rosalind. She put on the gown and it was a foot too long.  She dug through the pile of clothes and found high heeled shoes that pinched her toes and a sparkly veil that smelled of the attic and made her sneeze. Then she stood there, waiting. Beth looked at her.

“What are you doing Rosalind?”

“I’m waiting, lady-in-waiting, get it?”

“Rosalind. You have to do more than wait.” Said Beth.

Rosalind thought about it. What else was there to do? She could hardly move in the dress and ill-fitting heels. She was going to sneeze again, she could just feel it and what was the point of this anyway?

“Rosalind, don’t you even know how to play?” Asked Beth.

No, Rosalind didn’t know how to play. She knew she was missing something, something important, but it just didn’t make any sense to her. What was the point of playing? It accomplished nothing. She could better spend her time building something or cleaning her room or doing her homework. What was so great about playing?

Rosalind took off the gown and the high heels and the veil and put them neatly back in the box.

“Thanks for coming over Beth, but I think you’d better go home now. I’ve got homework to do,” and Rosalind went up to her room.
 
Soon, it was almost time for Christmas vacation and all the children, even Rosalind were beside themselves with excitement about the upcoming holiday. Rosalind ran home from school each afternoon to help get ready for Christmas. She helped her Mom and Dad string lights around the windows and on the bushes in front of the house and then helped them set up the Christmas tree and hang shining tinsel from its branches.  They baked Christmas cookies, filling the house with the wonderful smells of ginger, molasses and cinnamon. She loved helping to wrap presents and package up the cookies to give as gifts. She even helped to address and stamp the envelopes for cards and proudly carried the huge pile out to the mail box.

Christmas was full of important things to do and it was Rosalind’s favorite time of year. And this year Christmas was going to be better than ever because her parents had told her she was getting a special present, a surprise! Rosalind could hardly sleep for looking forward to Christmas morning.

Finally, Christmas morning arrived. She crept downstairs and the tree was all lit up. Presents were scattered about under the tree and her father was just walking into the room, tousle-haired with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand.

“Merry Christmas Rosalind! Looking for your present? Here it is.”

He pointed to a huge box under the tree. It was wrapped in bright red and white striped paper.  A frothy red and green bow bounced on top of it. Bounced? Thought Rosalind. Yes, there it was again. The bow was bouncing up and down on top of the box, and there was a scrabbling sound at the bottom of the present.

“Guess you’d better open it, Ros, before it opens itself,” said her father, reaching to put his arm around her mother who had just come in from the kitchen.

Rosalind was excited and mystified. She carefully undid the bow and as she did the scrabbling sound got louder. She looked at her parents, a question in her eyes. They only smiled at her. She pulled the top off the box.

A tiny, brown, wagging, furry puppy with huge ears, fell out of the box. Rosalind was enchanted. She reached down to pick him up and he wriggled in her arms trying to lick her face, her fingers, and her hands all at once. She held him up to feel his soft fur on her cheek, feel his warm, wet tongue on her face, and sniff deeply of the musty puppy smell of him. He wriggled with pleasure almost falling out of Rosalind’s grasp, but she held on until she could put him safely on the ground. There was no way she was going to let him get hurt. He was her puppy and she was going to take good care of him.

“I’ll call him Wriggles,” she said with delight, “Mr. Wriggles.”

Rosalind took excellent care of Mr. Wriggles. The two were inseparable, except when Rosalind had to be at school. He slept on her bed, had breakfast when she did, went out in the yard with her to get some exercise, had lunch and dinner when Rosalind did. When he made a mess in the house as puppies will, Rosalind cleaned up after him and showed him where the proper place was outside for such things. She brushed him everyday until his coat shone.  Rosalind loved Mr. Wriggles and he loved her.

One day, Rosalind was out in the yard with Mr. Wriggles throwing a little stick for him to fetch so that he would get his exercise, when Mr. Wriggles did an odd thing. He caught the stick in his mouth and then flicked his head sending the stick up in the air. The stick landed on the ground and Mr. Wriggles positioned his forefeet on the stick and kicked it backward so that it flew up under his belly and out between his hind legs. Then he danced around and placed his forefeet on the stick again and kicked it backward sending it flying. He leapt up into the air all four feet off the ground and did a pirouette in midair, landing so that he could kick the stick up again. He was clearly delighted with himself and kept kicking the stick, pirouetting, and kicking the stick again.

Rosalind started to laugh and she couldn’t stop. She fell down on the ground she was laughing so hard. Mr. Wriggles ran over to her and began to lick her face enthusiastically. Rosalind was howling with laughter, and trying to cover her face with her hands to protect herself from his wet, pink tongue. Then she jumped up, grabbed his stick and ran. Mr. Wriggles leaped after her and they played chase all around the yard. Finally, worn out, they fell down in a heap, Rosalind hugging Mr. Wriggles close. “I love playing with you, Mr. Wriggles,” she breathed.

“Dinner!” Her mother called standing at the back door and looking at them with a smile on her face. “Come in and wash your hands.”

It was Rosalind’s favorite dinner, mashed potatoes, peas and fried chicken, and she settled down at the table with her parents and dug in happily. Mr. Wriggles lay at her feet. Her mother had given Rosalind a large serving because she knew how Rosalind loved mashed potatoes and peas, but soon Rosalind was getting full.

The remaining green peas were sitting politely on her plate next to what was left of her potatoes and four, well gnawed, chicken bones. Rosalind looked at her plate.  Huh, she thought, what would it look like if I put the peas on top of the potatoes? She did. Then she smooshed the potatoes up around the peas building a wall around the green spheres. That looked pretty good to her and it felt fine to be mushing the potatoes all around like that. So, she picked up a chicken bone and stood it in the center of the mound. That's interesting, she thought. She picked up another one and stuck it in the side, and another one and stuck it in the other side. She picked up the last chicken bone and ...

“Rosalind! You’re playing with your food!” said her father, eyes wide and eyebrows arched so high they threatened to lift off his face.

“I am?” She replied, her own eyes wide. She hesitated only a moment. “I am!" Then Rosalind looked up at her father with a mischievous smile on her face and twinkling eyes. Lifting the last chicken bone in the air between two fingers, she plunged it into her mashed potatoes and giggled,  "It's fun!”
 
  
 


Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash 
 
  

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Angel Wings

7/16/2019

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Sophia's Game

6/18/2019

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“Wisdom oft comes out of the mouths of babes.”
-George R.R. Martin

Our grandchildren and their parents were visiting with my husband and I on Father’s Day. We had just finished eating brunch. The adults were relaxing, sitting and standing around the dining and kitchen area, chatting.

Through the windows you could see sunlight shining on the leaves of the trees in the back yard. It reflected light onto the floor, where the two boys were playing with blocks.

My 8-year-old granddaughter, Sophia, plunked herself down in front of me at the dining room table. Her light brown hair curled around her face, escaping from the ponytail at the back of her head. She grinned and said, “Ask me a question. If I get the answer, I get a point. If I can’t answer it, you get a point.”

Sophia loves to make up games. She sets the rules in her favor and then she wins. I guess she figures if it’s her game and she makes up the rules, she should win. Good 8-year-old logic.

 “OK,” I answered. I thought for a minute and figured I’d stump her. “What is the purpose of life?”

She looked at me directly, her brown eyes intent. Her reply was immediate. “To be a good person,” she said. Then she laughed at the surprised expression on my face. “One point for me! Ask me another.”

I thought again. I wasn’t going to make it easy for her, and I was curious to see what she would say.  “What does God look like?” I asked.

Another immediate answer, “No one knows. God is everywhere.”
“Good answer, Sophia,” I said, smiling. 
 “I get another point! Ask me again!” She was really warming up now.

“How can I be happy?” I asked, sure I’d catch her.

“Do nice things for people.” She laughed, delighted with herself. “That’s ten points for me!”

I wasn’t sure about her math but let it go. Then I looked around at the rest of the family. “Help! I need some more questions.”

Her Dad was standing at the kitchen counter checking his phone. He looked up and asked her, “What’s the most important thing in the world?”

“To be a good person,” she answered.

Perhaps I should have called her on giving an answer over again, but it was such a good answer.

Her Mom, sitting at the dining room table, asked, “How do I be a good person?”

Instant reply from Sophia, “You can start by opening the door for someone even if you don’t know them. You could smile and say, ‘I hope you have a great day.’ Then, when you’re in a drive-through you buy something for the person in back of you so they get it for free.’”

We nodded and agreed with her.

“Twenty points!” She laughed and added, “More questions!”

With the score rising rapidly, her mother asked, “What’s the best way to connect with another person?”

“Through words and not talking loud.”

We all laughed. Sophia pouted. “I’m not trying to be funny.”
Evidently, this was serious stuff we were into.

“What’s the best way to make a friend?” Asked her Mom.

“Ask them, can you please be my friend?”

“The direct approach. I like it,” I said. Then, because I had to know, “What do Gramma’s do?”

“They take care of you if your mother goes far away.”

“What do Grandpa’s do?”

“They are very important because they are very good at things they’ve been working at for a long time and they are very nice.”

Her mother asked, “What do brothers do?”

“They play, play, play and don’t like to help with cleaning.”

“What do sisters do?”

“They like to read books and exercise. It’s very fun.”

And then I asked. “What do Daddy’s do?”

“They work. They sometimes have time to play with you and they call themselves ‘The King,” on Father’s Day.”
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She won the game of course.  

 

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This is Sophia happily showing us her handmade doll.  If you are interested in knowing more about  beautiful dolls like this one, visit Golden Rosy Studio on-line. This is Sophia's mother's website where she sells gorgeous dolls similar to the one in the picture, each one lovingly handsewn and unique.
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Meditate On This

5/24/2019

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​"Be a fundamentalist, make sure fun always comes before the mental." 
 - Swami Beyondananda
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​"Wag more, bark less."
​- Woof Barker
"Why do meditation masters enjoy playing tennis?
Because the scores always start with love, love. The game always begins with a service. And the winner gets a cup that’s empty." *
"I think there’s 4 important things in life. 
Compassion for self and others. Recognising that others have difficulties in life, just like you, and to treat them as you treat yourself. Allowing and accepting things to be as they are in this present moment. Peace of mind is the highest happiness.
Or just remember the acronym CRAP for short." *
One Buddhist monk leaned over to another and quietly asked, "Are you not thinking what I'm not thinking?"
"Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?"
A Meditation student asks their teacher how long it will take them to gain enlightenment if they practice diligently. 
"Ten years," says the teacher. 
"Well, how about if I really work and double my effort?"
"Twenty years."*
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Work as Play

4/26/2019

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“Nothing is work unless you’d rather be doing something else.”
-George Halas
 
 When I’m feeling out of sorts for no particular reason, I often find that it is because I’ve forgotten to incorporate play into my day. I’ve allowed myself to get bogged down in ‘should’s,’ and ‘have-to’s,’ schedules and work. Yet, when I choose to let go and listen to the call of my heart I feel better. My heart calls for play. Why is that? Because play opens the gates to the energy of love.
 
It is possible to make play of our work. Children know this. A happy child will spend most of their day playing. Everything is creative fuel for play. Their intent is play. Their work is play.   
 
As a 10 year old child my favorite form of play was what my best friend and I called, "A Game".
 
“What do you want to do today?” She’d ask. I’d say, “Let’s play a game!”
 
This meant that we would take on the roles of our favorite Beatle (remember those guys?) She was always Paul, and I was John, and we'd have adventures. Something akin to the adventures they had in their movie, Help!  Or we'd pretend to be some other exciting adventurers we made up, and we’d role play whatever came to mind.
 
We played another game we called, "Elves," believing that we had seen elves. Maybe we did. It was part game and part real to us.
 
The very best game of all we called the "Snow Bowl." That game could only be played after a heavy winter snow when our yard was transformed into a magical, sparkling place and the branches of the huge white pine in my backyard were weighted down to the ground with a blanket of snow. We’d crawl underneath that roof of green branches, heavy with cold, wet snow to play in our secret house, or we’d race through the soft, white drifts in the yard. The "Snow Bowl" game was filled with magic and wonder for me.
 
As an adult, I long for that sense of play, magic and wonder. It doesn’t come so easily to me now. I’m much more likely to have a day full of work planned.
 
The children in each of us long for play, so how then do we make play of our work? Perhaps our inner children can help us find a way of incorporating play into our daily lives. 

Check out today's Spiritual Toolbox  for a way to mine a wealth of knowing through the memories of your inner child.
Photo by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

Your Spiritual Toolbox

Start by looking to your childhood for clues. The chances are that the essence of what you loved to do then, still has meaning for you.
 
What were your very favorite activities as a child? Remember as many as you can, write them down. Don't worry about whether you would like to do them now, just remember what you loved to do then.
 
Here’s my list:
 
Playing imaginative, magical games with my best friend. Playing stuffed animals with my brother. Playing Barbie dolls with the emphasis on the imaginative part and dressing them for the part they were to play. Pretending to be a nurse caring for my big doll.
 
Finger painting, Play dough. Making construction paper holiday/seasonal decorations for my room.
 
Making a house out of the dining room table with blankets. Piling pillows at the bottom of the stairs and jumping down into them. Sliding down the banister. (My mother was a wonderfully tolerant parent!)
 
Riding my bike exploring all around the neighborhood and beyond. Playing in the woods, exploring, sliding on rocks, and pretending. The exploration felt so freeing.
 
Next, look over your list for commonalities and basic elements. You are looking for what is the essence of play for you.
 
What are the basic elements I see in my list?
 
I see imagination and wonder – a sense of magic. I see creative expression. I see exploration of new places and new parts of familiar places, and the sense of freedom that gives me.

These are the elements of play for me to incorporate into my daily life.
 
What are the basic elements you see in your list? Yours will probably be different than mine. We each have our own ways to play.

Now that you know the basic elements of play for you, how can you bring more of those elements into your daily life and your work?  

​Remember to honor the child within and play!
​
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​Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions

3/26/2019

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TGI Spring! To celebrate I share with you one of my favorite essays. A beautiful reminder  to enjoy today. 

"When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard. My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.

When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away.  My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.

When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen. My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don't know them, they make up their own.

When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk. My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.

When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that. My kids say, "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy."

When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets. My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.

I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

I wish you Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions!!!"

 - Author Unknown

Photo by June Admiraal on Unsplash
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Soul Games

3/1/2019

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​What is play? Ask the children. They’ll tell you that play is anything that is fun! It does not matter what it is. If you enjoy it, if it leaves you smiling and feeling emotionally energized, it is play.
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Lighten up. What does play look like for you? Fun and laughter? Smiles and song? Jokes and kidding around? Life doesn’t all have to be so serious.

Nor does play have to be a conscious effort. It can be the funny comment that lightens a heavy and serious atmosphere.

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​Allow yourself to play. Give yourself the gift of fun! Don’t get caught up in ‘seriousity’ for too long.
​
Think of this life as Soul Games.

​photo from Unsplash
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Monk Rock

2/5/2019

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​“From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere.”
 — Dr. Seuss
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"If Laughter cannot solve your problems, it will definitely DISSOLVE your problems; so that you can think clearly what to do about them."
​ – Dr. Madan Kataria
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"He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast."
​ — Proverbs 15:15
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Buddhadoodles.com Molly Hahn
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    “Lighten up, just enjoy life, smile more, laugh more, and don’t get so worked up about things."

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​All materials provided on www.hollyhildreth.com are provided for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only and are not intended to be, or serve as a substitute for, professional medical/psychological advice, examination, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or psychological condition.
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