I was walking to the living room not so long ago and a thought passed through my ever busy mind. Unfortunately, I caught it and didn’t just let it drive on by like a strangers car on the street. The thought was ‘Shit, when did I become old’? I understand this is different for everyone and a matter of perspective. On this day, this was mine. We handle age, pressure & responsibility differently don’t we? This is right across the board, from career & family to personal joy & spirituality. The secret of genius ‘they’ say, is to bring the inner child into adulthood and this for me, is key.
It’s not unusual for friends to call me playful, curious or my personal favorite, ‘a little boy who looks like he knows too much.’a I’m not sure why this one appeals so much to me but I like the idea that someone sees a little boy in me and this is something I take good care of nurturing.
For me the inner child is your creative being, your creative energy. Are you one to watch on the sidelines because it feels like on the field is a tad too serious? To be fair you’re not the only one, but let me ask you, how is it working for you? Each day your creative being or inner child is begging to come out and play. Just like when you were a child, when for hours on end, for no reason at all, you played. Nothing has changed. Take that child and do things for the sake of fun, with no expectation of reward nor money.
Your inner child is your creative being and if you don’t use it, you lose it – actual fact! I coach the hell out of my clients to play, play & play some more. Treat your audition, your video blog, your speaking gig or day job as an opportunity to engage with your inner child and have some fun. I spoke to a client recently who said he didn’t feel passionate about being on stage or when he talks to clients. I asked what his day looked like. Of course, as it turned out, there was no time for play. All day, every day, was spent focusing on success. He was working with the belief that he would have fun when he was successful. Even time with his wife was spent planning success. Can you believe that he would allow himself to have fun only when he was successful? When the hell did we get to that point?
You see, if you are doing something every day to play, to nurture the inner child, to be curious and fill that cup of joy back up, then do you think it will overflow into making others feel good around you? Do you think your clients will pick up on it? What about your family & friends? You see, sometimes we don’t even choose the best to work with, do we? We choose the person who we want to be around that brings joy into our lives. Now, imagine if you were the best AND you brought joy to peoples lives too? That’s success!
Lets not try, there is no ‘try’ now is there? Lets bring play into our every day life, for the sake of feeling joy and love through that. See how much better it feels? See how much more you engage the audience & those around you? See how much easier it is to approach those challenges once you start doing this…you will be surprised how excited you get when opportunities come up that allow you to play. For example, when I get to speak publicly I totally get excited because this is an opportunity to have a lot of fun, play and share that with a room full of others. And surely that’s a better head space to be in than one of stress or anxiety.
