Fun, we don’t really think of it as an essential part of a healthy life do we? But, whilst we’re busy being serious and squeezing fun in at evenings and weekends where we can, we’re actually doing ourselves a disservice. Having fun helps to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and increases the feel-good hormone serotonin. Both of these have a positive impact on our sleep, digestion and immune system. Knowing what is fun for us also helps us know ourselves better, which leads to increased feelings of wellbeing and fulfilment in life.
I’ve been thinking about fun a lot lately, as I listened to two Highest Self podcast episodes where it was a central topic. In podcast Why Having Fun is the Most Important Werk You Can Do host Sahara Rose discusses the importance of having fun if we want to lead fun lives. She also raises the point of our need to ask ourselves what is fun for us. As Sahara says in the episode as adults we’re often lead to believe fun means alcohol and/or drugs. Whereas children can freely have as much fun as they like, adults must for the most part be serious and responsible. Living a life that’s more constraints and straight lines than squiggles and freedom.
However, as Sahara talks about, when we’re having fun we raise our vibration. When we raise our vibration we attract more good things into our lives. Wherever you stand on the law of attraction, I think we can all agree that we’re more naturally drawn to a person who appears light and full of life than one who seems heavy with the struggles of the world.
The second episode I listened to was Feeling Good is Your Job with guest Gala Darling. Listening to this prompted me to (ironically) start taking having fun and feeling good more seriously. I’m now asking myself what would be the most fun, or make me feel the best when I wake up. That way I choose something to start my morning with that is fun for me, and will set me up in a good way to start my day.
So, how can you identify what’s fun for you and bring more fun into your day?
- Ask yourself ‘what is fun for me?’ and spend 5 minutes free-writing in response.
- Sit in meditation and reflect on the same question, noticing what comes up.
- Remember what was fun for you when you were young. Chances are the same thing will still be fun for you now. And if, for example, rolling down hills with your friends was fun for you and you’re like “well, I don’t think that’s still going to be fun” dig into what it was about that thing that made it fun. Maybe it was being outside with friends, or moving your body.
Consider starting your day by asking yourself what would be fun for me, right now? Perhaps there’s something that would be super fun and pleasurable for you to do as soon as you wake up 😉 Maybe it’s using a delicious smelling shower gel, perhaps it’s having a cup of coffee, doing some yoga, meditating in the sunshine, dancing to your favourite song. It may be something you already do, but by intentionally choosing it because it will be fun and pleasurable for you it changes from routine to fun.
Notice the small moments of fun in your day and relish them. Enjoy laughing with a colleague, or reading your book at lunchtime. Pepper your day with small moments of fun and it will feel so much better than a regular day full of responsibility. Make sure to add in bigger fun things to look forward to as well, research shows that having something to look forward to is a key to happiness.
Enjoy the total health enhancing benefits of bringing more fun into your day, and let me know what is fun for you!