fun
7 Ideas for Making the Most of the Summer!
Summer is here again and before it slips away how about some good ole' fashion fun?!
Our daily lives can bring about lots of inner heaviness and stress, and if we don't take the time to bring out the child within, laugh and be silly, it is hard to let go and truly live. Here are some ideas for having summer fun:
1. Plan regular summer picnics or barbecues. Bring a croquet set, Frisbee or soccer ball along. Don't worry about making everything perfect. Just have fun and enjoy!
2. Organize a sports day. Get everyone together to play your favorite sports such as baseball/softball, sand volleyball, soccer, basketball, ultimate Frisbee....you name it! Group sports makes for plenty of laughs and unforgettable moments with those you love.
3. Camp. Get out into the wilderness and enjoy nature. Camping is fun for the whole family! Dare yourself to get a little grungy and live like a nomad.
4. Summer concerts. Check your local paper for summer concerts. It doesn't matter if you take in a classical concert or see your favorite band - just go. Getting out among people having a blast lifts the spirit and spurs creativity. Plus, there are all sorts of great community concerts that are free!
5. Take a bike ride. Pull out your old bike, dust off the cobwebs and go riding! You don't have to be a kid to enjoy the thrill of riding through the open air. Freedom will be yours!
6. Reach out. Figure out how you can give of yourself to make someone else's summer beautiful. Maybe there is a child or elderly person who could benefit from you sharing your favorite summer spots with them! Brainstorm on how you can make a difference in someone else's life.
7. Go on a Road Trip. Set out on a road trip to discover new spots! Why not head out by yourself for a couple days? Go and explore while either camping along the way or staying in Bed and Breakfasts. Take along some great books, your camera, running or hiking shoes, a sketch pad...the sky is the limit!
These are just a handful of ideas...why not suggest a few of your own? Any ideas?
We can make this summer the best ever -- all it takes is a bit of gumption and imagination and we're on our way!!
- Jen Engevik
Project BE Bold
10 Ways to Reclaim the Child Within
1. Climb a tree.
2. Play games in the pool.
3. Ride bikes around town and make sure to jump off the curb a few times.
4. Play some catch in a park with a friend.
5. Go fly a kite or remote control plane.
6. Build a fort or tree house.
7. Play hide-and-go-seek.
8. Lay on the grass, look up toward the sky and see what things you can find in the clouds.
9. Go home to Mom's house and eat some home cookin'.
10. Use your imagination -- believe that anything is possible...
How would you reclaim the child within? Comment below!
- Team Project BE Bold
So Much Happiness by Naomi Shihab Nye
It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.
With sadness there is something to rub against,
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.
But happiness floats.
It doesn’t need you to hold it down.
It doesn’t need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,
and disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise and dust
cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches,
and love even the floor which needs to be swept,
the soiled linens and scratched records…
Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch. You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known.
- Naomi Shihab Nye
In the Zone - February 12, 2010
"And again I paddled out and caught a wave. For a third time I hopped to my feet, swiveled my hips, and guided the
board, so I was not walking on water, but gliding on it, dancing on it, as the wave crashed into the white foam behind me, propelling me into the glassy water ahead. This was infinity of the brightest kind, and I slipped into that ecstasy that comes with losing yourself completely, with touching the wet fire churning at the center of the world, with getting all the way inside life, no longer a witness but right at the crux, at the point of maximum propulsion. Finally the wave dropped me off at the beach, where I rammed my lovely Indian into the sand like an amateur and stumbled back onto land, my whole body grinning in elation and exhaustion." - Frances Lefkowitz - from How to Have Not (MacAdam/Cage) -Book excerpt published in body + soul Magazine.
I read Lefkowitz's words last night before heading to bed and was reminded of how wonderful it feels to be "in the zone." Where none of the cares of the world are filling my mind...just the elation of being connected to a moment, an action...
We all crave at one point in time or another the days of youth where we were nearly always in the zone -- whether we were climbing trees, playing cops & robbers or watching a favorite cartoon. Our focus was single and because of this we were ALIVE.
Today, I'd like to encourage you to find a fun activity to engage in that will enliven your spirit and take you into "the zone"...there you will find freedom and revitalization abound!
- Jen of Project BeBold!
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