Playfulness is having fun and sharing humor with family and friends. I cultivate it by being spontaneous, carefree and crazy now and then. The opposite is sternness.§
Comparing the actions of one who is playful to one who is stern§ |
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|---|---|---|
Situation§ |
Playfulness§ |
Sternness§ |
On an evening the family is home and free, you…§ |
secretly arrange for a popular comedy to be watched.§ |
go to your room, not eager to interact with everyone tonight.§ |
You’re with friends in the mountains and it begins to snow, so you…§ |
drag everyone into the white powder and teach them to make snow angels.§ |
complain about the cold and beg everyone to adjourn to the hotel for hot chocolate.§ |
Studying together with a group of students, you…§ |
surprise them by ordering pizza to arrive during a break, then insist they sing old songs together.§ |
give no thought to anything but preparing for the test ahead, hour after hour, with no breaks.§ |
Gurudeva explained: “The world is a glorious place, not to be feared. It is a gracious gift from Siva Himself, a playground for His children in which to interrelate young souls with the old—the young experiencing their karma while the old hold firmly to their dharma.”§
“And if you feel that everything happening to you is a play of universal love and you are able to maintain that consciousness of universal love in yourself, then you are beyond the happenings of the world. Lifted in consciousness, you can see through and enjoy all the states of consciousness.”§
ASSIGNMENT: During these two weeks, look for a new activity that would be fun or humorous for family or friends to enjoy.§
Date you began this assignment ____________________§
MY THOUGHTS ON THE BENEFITS OF PLAYFULNESS: 
§
