The Importance of Fun: Let's Play, Saba!

Do you believe in the importance of having fun?

I finally have a deeper understanding of what our 5-year-old granddaughter, and our 8-month-old puppy, have been trying to teach me. Having fun is an essential ingredient in life.

It seems every time I’ve seen our granddaughter since she could talk, I’ve heard more than once each visit, “Let’s play, Saba!” As much as I have been able to muster, I have joined her in play. She is such a joy to be with and times like these are precious. I need to capture them while I can. Little did I know, she’s been teaching me all this time to have a better life through having fun.

Our puppy, Flynn, makes a game of almost everything. I get out of bed in the morning and give him a belly rub. When I move to go, he often races ahead of me and plops down in my path for one more belly rub. He races to grab stuff from my wife Sherri. He throws toys around to amuse himself. He looks for a playmate in almost every dog he sees. He has made play his dedicated practice. One of our friends said, “I dare you to not be happy around Flynn.” I initially did not realize that Flynn has been teaching me as well.

I have promoted the benefits of play and having fun before. However, lately I have had additional reasons to think more deeply about play and fun. One of the people I support through my coaching and advising practice sent me a video of Shaolin Monk Shi Heng Yi. In the interview, he said, “It’s not important that you become a good fighter in this world. It is not important you become a good spiritual guide in this world. It’s important that you find a way to live a pleasant life and in the best case support other people that they also find the same. This is what it’s about. No matter in which form you put it, in which from cultural background you put it. The main idea is, if you don’t find this way of reducing the suffering of your surrounding, your suffering won’t stop.”

I take the phrase "pleasant life" as encouragement to include play and have fun.

I have been reflecting on other things in my life as well. I do not always hit the goals I want to hit. Rather than focusing on that, I want to focus on the fact I am doing what I love. When life gets hard, I want to focus on things I can enjoy along the way.

I leave you with another quote, this time from Martha Beck (found at azquotes.com). She says, “Having fun is not a diversion from a successful life; it is the pathway to it.”

How do you, or could you, include more fun in your life?

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I'd love to hear from you, what is one thing you could do to include more fun in your life?

Having fun is a key part of my success plan template. The steps are below. Fun fits in as part of the Dream Blueprint step and the SelfCare365 step. Here is the success framework with the steps that are part of it.

"Take Command of Your Life: Build Your Shield!" Overcome being stuck and not knowing how to reach your dreams. 1. Create your Dream Blueprint (vision) 2. Know your Why 3. Pick your One Thing (most important focus at the moment) 4. Select your Power Hour & Super Friends (your daily time to do the work and the crew that supports you) 5. Do your #SelfCare365 (daily care and love for yourself)

I hope that you find this content helpful with creating a life you love. I am helping warrior leaders take command of their personal and professional lives, and create a life they love including a legacy of service to others. Your dreams absolutely can come true.

If you’d like more support, please do reach out to me via email (info@CoachJohn.help) or phone (616-287-2340). I also offer a free consultation call via https://www.coachjohn.help/book-online. No matter what you decide, I’m here to help you Follow Your Heart, Live Your Best Life and Change the World. I’m rooting for you!

"The warrior in all of us is desperately searching for something heroic, transcendent, or self-sacrificing." cac.org