by Connie Habash | Mar 5, 2023 | Emotions, Play, Playfulness, Spirituality
Ever been in a funk on the path of personal and spiritual growth? Those times when you feel discouraged, irritable, or angry, and can’t seem to shift out of it? “I’m not in the mood to be patient,” we might say, “I have to get to my appointment!” We snap at our kids for leaving their socks all over the house, or blow up when someone interrupts our precious yoga practice. We try to go outside for solace beneath a tree, but we can’t seem to shake it.
I call that the spiritual grumpies – when we’re not in the mood to behave in an “enlightened” way, and just feel stuck. They’re a sure sign that we haven’t had enough fun lately.
The Antidote
The antidote to your spiritual grumpies is playfulness.
To start, recognize that those “unspiritual” emotions, such as anger or impatience, are normal and welcome on the spiritual path. The key is finding ways to play with those emotions – a healthy form of expression – rather than taking them out on others (or yourself).
Playfulness allows us to get out the grumpies. Children love to have permission to feel their feelings. They’re delighted to make happy faces and sad faces. When their feelings are hurt or they become angry, kids love to shred some newspaper or smash clay with their hands to express their emotions. When they have healthy outlets to play with their feelings, their mood shifts and they’re back to the present moment – right where we endeavor to be.
To move through those spiritual grumpies, break out your inner child and find a playful solution:
- Smash some playdough or clay – the tactile experience of clay is so satisfying! You can break through stuckness or express anger while having fun pounding on the dough.
- Scribble and Doodle – you’d be surprised how much energy can move with a few minutes of scribbling on some paper. Don’t try to make a work of art. Allow your energy and emotions to have free, uninhibited reign on the page. Play with colors, movements, and shapes, allowing yourself to express fully. Be messy and have fun!
- Scream and shout! – Step into a closet and let your voice sound! You can even make animal noises. Growl, roar, say profanities, whatever helps your release the energy. No one else is there and you’re free to express yourself. Scream into a pillow if a more private space isn’t available.
- Stomp and dance – allow your inner toddler to have a tantrum (in a safer, more contained way)! Stomp all over the living room floor. Do an angry dance. Let those grumpies express through moving your body.
Check in with yourself after you’re done. What do you notice after giving yourself permission to play? If emotions come up, give yourself some time to feel and honor them.
Energy moves and is freed up when you allow yourself time to play. It relieves tension, opens your heart, and returns you to the present moment. Now, you can go back to the meditation cushion or create a beautiful ritual with renewed vitality and inspiration.
What helps you overcome the spiritual grumpies? Share it here!
by Connie Habash | Oct 23, 2013 | Meditation, Patience, Play, Presence, Quiet, Satisfying, Soul, Writing
There’s something fulfilling for me about writing by hand with a pen. The contact of the pen on paper, my hand sliding across the page, the flowing movements, and especially when I am pleased with the forms the letters take. It is very soul-satisfying.
Even when I cross-out words, I feel gratified. It is a definitive action. A declaration to delete something I no longer want, that I can see and own.
Handwriting is becoming a lost art in our computer age. No longer are schools in California required to teach cursive. This saddens me. As a calligrapher, I deeply appreciate the form and flow that come from my hand onto a page that no font on my computer can come close to.
In an effort to slow down and be present, as well as to become more productive in my writing, I’ve decided to take a few hours every week to go to my counseling office and write. Without my computer. No distractions. Just my quiet, beautiful space, a pen, and a notebook. In fact, I’m writing this in that space right now.
I love to make writing fun. I pick out pens and ink colors that are playful and please me. I explore varying the formation of the letters sometimes to see what I enjoy.
Occasionally, I study handwriting analysis to discover how I can change things in my life through changing my handwriting. Vimala Rogers has written a fine book about this if it speaks to you.
Handwriting can be another form of meditation. Calligraphers through the millennia have known this. I know I’m more present and at ease when my letters flow and loop in that gratifying way. I steady my breath, my eyes, and my hand as I ease it slowly across the page.
There are days when it is a struggle to slow down and to quiet my mind. My handwriting reflects this, with chaotic movements, difficulty controlling the pen, displeasing shapes. It’s OK. I try to slow down and form my letters more carefully. They may not improve much, but when I’m mindful about this, it helps my thoughts to calm down. I slow down my breath. I come back to the present and the letters emerging on the page.
I feel connected to the words in a visceral way through handwriting. It is easier to write from my heart, my spirit – even from my body itself – when the pen is mindfully grasped between my fingers.
I invite you to take pen in hand. How does it feel as you write? What do you notice about yourself, in mind, breath, body, heart? Let any words, thoughts, feelings come to you. What feels satisfying about it? What does it bring up? Let it slow you down and bring you into the present moment.
What else brings deep satisfaction to you? Make some time this week to give yourself that. Let me know how it goes.
by Connie Habash | Mar 16, 2013 | Action, Birth, Manifestation, Movement, Play, Rebirth, Spring, Transformation, Uncategorized
As winter comes to an end, I find that I’m a bit antsy. I’ve been sitting with what is all winter, and now the time to sit has come to an end. Spring calls us to come out of our wintering nests and get on the move!
If you’ve been working with the winter energies of listening to the stillness, seeking your inner wisdom, and letting things gestate, then reflect on what you’ve discovered from that process. Notice what is taking shape, uncovered beneath the melting snows of inner reflection. Are some ideas knocking at your door, longing for you to get them started? Is a project that you shelved over the holidays now ready to be completed? Are friends beckoning you to come out of your rabbit hole again and play?
Spring is all about birth, allowing the new and fresh to become manifest. Feel your body. Listen to its impulses. How does it want to move? Where does it want to go? Follow your body’s lead, for its wisdom will take you in the directions of growth and transformation right now, in alignment with the energies of spring. Led your body and your Divine Self spring forth!
What have you got to lose?
Ever been in a funk on the path of personal and spiritual growth? Those times when you feel discouraged, irritable, or angry, and can’t seem to shift out of it? “I’m not in the mood to be patient,” we might say, “I have to get to my appointment!” We snap at our kids for leaving their socks all over the house, or blow up when someone interrupts our precious yoga practice. We try to go outside for solace beneath a tree, but we can’t seem to shake it.
There’s something fulfilling for me about writing by hand with a pen. The contact of the pen on paper, my hand sliding across the page, the flowing movements, and especially when I am pleased with the forms the letters take. It is very soul-satisfying.
As winter comes to an end, I find that I’m a bit antsy. I’ve been sitting with what is all winter, and now the time to sit has come to an end. Spring calls us to come out of our wintering nests and get on the move!
