Just we, as therapists and as just plain people, have to pay attention to the language of feelings and the messages that they send to us, we must also pay attention the importance of having fun in our lives.

There is significant medical research that suggests the importance of creating fun and play in our lives for both physical well-being as well as emotional well-being.

It's easy to get caught up in the struggle to survive, the struggle to climg the career ladder, the struggle to be a good spouse and parent.  It's easy look at play and fun as something you do when everything else is done.

The statistics are staggerlingly in favor of the vital nature of balance in our lives and the vital nature of play and having fun.  Fun and play are a necessary supplement to physical exercise, good family relationships and good health.

The best example I know of that supports this idea is that of Norman Cousins, a senior editor at the well-respected Saturday Review.  He was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis.  This degenerative disease causes the breakdown of collegen, the fibrous tissue that binds together the bodies cells.

Cousins became almost completely paralyzed and was essentially told to put his affairs in order.  He, however, had a different idea.  He researched healing nutrition and the healing nature of laughter.  He put both into place.  He put himself on a regimen of only nutritious food and 2 to 3 hours per day of watching funny movies, films which caused him to laugh heartily and out loud.

Guess what.  He became well enough to return to his busy schedule and worked for quite a few more years.  When he had a serious heart attack some years later, well beyond the time he had been given, he returned to his regimen and regained a level of health again until he finally succumbed to heart failure.  Once again we can see that the mind is infinitely powerful for healing, health and happiness. 

If you can't remember what you used to do for fun, it's way past time to sit down and figure it out.  Go back into your childhood, high school days or college days for clues.  Go back and remember what your dreams and fantasies were.  Think back on those thoughts of "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up".

Look for those things that are outside the realm of "What I Can to To Further My Career", or "What I can do to be a better person" and look for those activities where you can just lose yourself.

If you look, you'll find it.  Your life will be richer and more joyful.  And remember this: If anyone suggests that you "need to grow up", smile and politely decline.  You know better.  Happy New Year

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