New stories often involve change, here are some tips to help you on your journey.
1. Look for humor in the story. Change is always a little better with humor along for the ride. Keep track of the laughs on a calendar – anywhere that’s easy and doable. If you look for the humor, you’ll find it.
If humor was change, it would jingle in your pocket.
2. Add play into your life. Go on a play hunt. this takes no time. What makes you feel playful? Brings you joy? Note where you find an invitation to play. You might also try to find something playful in whatever it is you are doing in the moment. Play helps us engage, connect, create and lead. And when we are stepping into new territory, play is a tool you want to have in your back pocket to use individually or collaboratively. So have yourself a little play safari – invitations are everywhere!
3. Be compassionate with others if they do not see your new story as you wish they would. We often see others in the same light day after day. We can stereotype and box each other into rigid molds. But we all change every day. What’s new with the person who is sharing your space?
4. Be curious and have a sense of wonder about yourself, your new story and what’s going on in your life and in the world.
5. Play with your new story. This helps you to not attach to a specific outcome or way of doing things. It also can help you explore alternatives and gain perspective. One idea I’ve used is to imagine the protagonist or another character as an animal.
If a cow was a character in one of my new stories, I just know it would be “udderly” fascinating.
6. Feeling uncomfortable? You might try acknowledging your feelings. The one thing about feelings is we all have them and they can help us understand all kinds of things – they can be a great source of information. I like to make playful characters out of mine. Other ideas:
- Tell your new story as if you’ve already accomplished it. Telling ourselves stories can be very powerful.
- Practice being mindful.
- Play for a few minutes or take a longer play break.
7. Trust yourself and enjoy the journey – the adventure. New stories sometimes take time and what a priceless gift they can be.
Enjoy the stories and have a playful day!
Mary
I celebrate typos typos here!
