Are We Missing Some Fun?

Let’s go fly a kite!

For some of you, the invitation to fly a kite conjures up long ago memories. It may be true that you would need a GRAND reason to fly a kite. I had two GRAND reasons recently to fly a kite when I saw a kite festival announcement on my drive to my nearby gym.

I thought, “That sounds like fun.” I had been thinking about and sensing a call to more fun in my life. I called up my daughter and arranged to pick up the grandgirls The contagious exuberance of just being on a memorable trip together jumpstarted our fun. As soon as we arrived at the festival, the oldest hopped out wide-eyed with anticipation.

In addition to the kite flying, there was a mini trackless train, putt-putt golf, and an atmosphere of celebration and fun. Our oldest granddaughter led the way, laughs squealing and head swinging to take in all the crafts and experiences available.

Kite-flying was the most fun for me. I have so many memories of kite-flying on August days at the ocean. The breeze was stiff enough to expect an easy launch. Sharing the crisp temperatures, sights of other kites flying, heads lifted high into the bright blue April sky gave us the feeling that we didn’t want to be anywhere else but where we were now.

True fun isn’t frivolous. It is chest expanding profound.

I had a lot of fun growing up in my neighborhood, riding bikes with my siblings and spending entire days at the pool and the ocean. But something that I could say was so much fun seemed remote in my recent memory, so I started reading about fun.

Fun seems so frivolous to the things that are important and meaningful, but fun is critical to our well-being. Fun is a key to our well-being and must and can be cultivated in our lives despite the ups and downs we experience in life.

When you consider what could be fun in your life, real fun is not just what we do that is enjoyable. The word fun is so broadly used that it can be challenging for us to nail it down to something tangible.

Author Catherine Price in her book, The Power of Fun, provides some compelling research around fun and states that when the presence of three components are together, we experience true fun.

They are:

Playfulness– This is the spirit of lighthearted and freedom. Playfulness is when we do an activity for the sake of the activity. (not caring too much about the outcome. ). Smiles and laughter are present in playfulness.

Connection – the feeling of shared experiences. The vast majority of our feeling of connection is with another person. Having fun with others is irrespective of introverts or extroverts, although introverts likely enjoy that connection with smaller groups of people. Most true fun does not occur alone.

Flow – describes the state of being engaged and engrossed to the point that you lose track of time. You have heard the saying; Time flies when you’re having fun. That is flow.

I have put together a list of the books I have read on the topic of fun and recommend them! I would love to know when was the last time you had fun?