What Do You Do For Fun?

My friend couldn't contain her excitement Friday morning when she shared with me her plans for the weekend. She is going to a stone fair where she plans to buy supplies for the beautiful jewelry she creates. She is a physician with a busy practice and works long hours. She is also a cross fitter with a large extended family and the responsibilities that come to our lives when we care for others. You can say that stress is something she knows on a personal basis. But, she is also a very creative person. Jewels by Elena is not only her hobby, but her therapy as she often has said.

That morning, I could not help but share in her excitement and feel happy for her. I know she will enjoy her trip and the precious stones she will buy and most of all, she will enjoy her own imaginative creations. Soon, I will see her refreshed and happy once again.

That's is what having fun does for us. Relaxation, play and fun activities which bring us joy are always beneficial to our minds and bodies. Our emotions are powerful waves of energy that carry down through our bodies and affect it in a positive or negative way, literally by expanding or contracting the channels or meridians which in turn relate to our organs.

Anger will contract the channel connecting to the liver and gallbladder, whereas joy will expand those of the heart and small intestine, for instance. Have you ever seen the person you love and feel your heart begin to beat so fast that almost jumps from your chest? That is how powerful our emotions are.

Therefore, it makes total sense to nurture ourselves by doing things which expand our energetic channels with positive emotions.

I, like my friend Elena, find joy in creating. But my creativity takes me to paper and pen, or the pages app in my laptop. I begin to write. This blog is one of the ways I do it. I try to share thoughts and hard earned wisdom and knowledge to serve others, but where I find the most joy is when my imagination runs wild and I begin to tell myself stories.

Practice makes perfect they say and with the years, even though English is my second language, I have noticed that my stories are beginning to make sense. Children's books, short stories, self help books or romance, the manuscripts I have piled on my shelves are many and of many genres, but the emotion they have evoked is the same, pure, absolute, unadulterated joy.

Recently, I have been writing a novel which is turning into a romance thriller. I find myself throughout the day thinking about the characters, and feeling the emotions I would feel in their place. I, for instance, laugh with the heroine and some of her close friends as they tease each other over dinner, feel butterflies in my stomach when I describe her encounter with her high school crush, and trepidation mixed with excitement as they join forces to solve the crime which has just occurred before their eyes. In one word, I am having fun.

And by this, I feel my body more energetic, I walk with a spring in my step, a smile on my face, and a purpose to my day.

Studies have shown that most likely my immune system is being strengthened, my blood pressure lowered, and by being happy my focus has improved, my mind has opened up to new ideas and therefore I am being more creative also. Passion feels good, and goes hand in hand with happiness.

So, if we know that having fun is good for us, why do most of us resist ourselves to it? We stack up our lives with duties and obligations, and seldom do we make time "to stop and smell the roses." Get up in the morning and go out for a run, if you enjoy it. If you don't, get out of bed and watch a favorite movie on Netflix before you get ready for work. Whatever it is you enjoy, give yourself permission, and time, to do it. You will be happy, and healthier when you do. It was Carlos Santana who said, "If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal every moment." I would add, not just the moment, but yourself.