monday morning motivator!:18, the energetics of mood

photo by smabs sputzer

through the looking glass

if alice peers through the looking glass and sees the jabberwocky, the walrus and the carpenter, and tweedledum and tweedledee, all representations of an incomprehensible adult world, then who is on the other side of the glass looking at alice (other than elvis costello!)? and what are they seeing?

one of the great joys of living with the boy is discovering the answer to that question. when i look at him, in the spirit of the looking glass, i see myself as a child, looking at me as an adult, beyond belief. i see energy playing itself out in any way that it can. and i see that when we feel free and playful, that energy will reveal itself as a joyous, creative, laughing mood. and when we feel constrained, through fear, control, or ignorance, that energy will express as anger, frustration, impatience.

if you’ve ever been around a three and a half year old boy, you know what i mean. if you haven’t…you are missing out!

if it seems simple, that’s because it is

play of course, is the primary action of childhood, replaced unfortunately by duty for most of us by the time we matriculate high school or perhaps college. adolescence is the bloody battlefield in which play is crushed and replaced with the new order of a-dolt-hood. children, being virtual play in the flesh, always carry this energy with them. and they always offer this energy to whomever is willing to take them up on the offer. the pity is how seldom they are taken up. listen to harry chapin’s cats in the cradle for the full and complete description of this cycle.

double punk reverse

so this week is an auspicious week. i have a new schedule that requires new routines. new opportunities to build a life of greater freedom and joy. a chance to re-evaluate everything. and for starters?

• shorter motivators
• short daily reports
• true wheel tuesdays!

and most importantly, more time spent playing with the boy.

• to give him the freedom that comes from playing with papa.
• to give myself the freedom of playing with the boy.
• to help him stay in the spirit of play and sidestep the spirit of duty.
• to heal my own constrictive childhood.

okay then. that what’s on the docket this week. play! have fun. revel in the freedom that this life offers. emancipate yourself from mental slavery, as bob marley sang so long ago. me? i think i’m going to start with a simple piece of string!