There is nothing more therapeutic than a good laugh; a deep belly clutching, can hardly catch our breath kind of laugh. So many times during the course of our busy days we get caught up in our lists of ‘to dos’ and ‘deadlines’ that we totally cut off all streams of joy into our life experience.

Do you remember when you were a child and your only intention was to wake up and play all day? When we are small children we were wired to think, move, and BE in the present moment; we didn’t get caught up in regretting our pasts or fretting about our futures. Somewhere along the line we became so conditioned with how we were taught we are ’supposed’ to think, that our playing became childish or inconsequential compared to our responsibilities.

What if I told you that you are meant to have fun even after adulthood? In all of our expertly crafted scheduling, what if we actually made that ‘fun’ a priority and set aside time for our inner child to dictate the course of our thoughts, actions, plans? What if I told you that scheduling these ‘fun’ breaks actually improves our brain function for all of the tasks we ‘need’ to get done?

Courtney Seiter quoted in her article “Why you need to stop thinking you are too busy to teak breaks” featured on fastcompany.com:

Here’s how Tim Kreider describes breaks in the New York Times:

‘Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets… It is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.’

So there is actually no reason to feel guilty about scheduling some ‘fun’ time into your day. It’s been scientifically proven to help you in all other areas of your life!

This week I give you permission (somebody has to right?) to set aside some time and do something fun for yourself. Maybe it’s getting outside and playing on a playground with your kids, maybe it’s taking out some paint and painting a picture, maybe it’s revisiting some of your favorite cartoons from your childhood. What ever it is for you that makes you live in the moment, forget about your lingering ‘to do’ list and most importantly makes you bend over, clutch your belly, and gasp for air between loud bursts of laughter; this week do more of those things!