This week’s Thought Of The Week is adapted from a weekly wrap up from Barton Tanner, the CEO of Evolution To Wellbeing – an outdoor fitness community committed to holistic health and working together towards a better world (check out offer below).
“I always see so much value in physical challenges as they teach us to find comfort in being uncomfortable. They can break us down, shape us, and in our rawest state allow us to see who we truly are which ultimately transposes to the rest of our lives. I believe we have a lot to learn from how children perceive the world as a massive playground in which it is their duty to continually explore and inquire and in this way are able to learn new skills, build physical strength, and develop emotional resilience. What if us adults started to treat physical challenges as an opportunity for play? For me, playing requires letting go of the social expectations and norms around us. It is a time where we are asked to forget about what we ‘know’ and just go with / react to what is in front of us now. We are no longer worried about what is happening around us, we are simply in the moment. We are challenged, we are focused, and most importantly we are having fun. It is by engaging in this play that we invoke our true self expression and who knows what skills we might learn, strength we might build, and resilience we might develop along the way?”
When we read Barton’s email this week, we immediately asked if we could share some of it with our own Centred Meditation community. We loved his playground analogy and realised how it can easily extend to all challenges in life, not merely the physical ones. It reminded us of a line from our marriage contract, where we committed to inspire one another to perceive problems as challenges and life as an adventure. As well as a mantra from our travels: ‘playtime’, which was the name of the alarm tune we woke up to most mornings. We find that in a world where we are obsessed with ease and comfort as the ultimate goal, embracing challenge and discomfort from this lens of play really helps take the edge off. And as Barton says, “by pushing ourselves, we are getting lost in the world of play and believe it or not, this temporary discomfort becomes fun!” What challenges are you currently facing that you could try this on for? As always, feel free to chat about it with us at any time 🙂
