Yes, personal growth can be fun. 🙂
One thing I’ve noticed over the years doing a lot of personal growth workshops, therapy, meditation training, and retreats, is that the deep insights often come with the pain of breaking up old connective tissue. We can lock on to some really hard ideas about ourselves and about the world. AS a result, these ideas can get enmeshed in the tangle of neurology that equals a sense of self. It’s understandable that when we reject formerly solidified ideas about ourselves, that the process can be painful and somber.
But it can also be light-hearted, playful, and flavored with laughter and joie de vivre. So yes: personal growth can be fun.
I think it’s one of the differentiators in the silent retreat I’m offering in September, compared to many other retreats that focus on silence, meditation, and/or mindfulness. There’s a general idea out in the world that things which are hard are more valuable. What if that’s not true and there’s no rigid relationship between personal growth and struggle?
Yes, life can also be hard.
In my world view, life is hard enough. So any time I can remove the pressure, remove the grunt-worthy efforts and replace those with lightness and ease, well, I call that a win. I think of laughter and play as ‘palate cleansers’ that allow me to continue seeing, feeling, and understanding more about myself. On the other hand, when things are hard and heavy, I have a distinct limit of how much I can handle. By offering the intensity of silence with the lightness of laughter, I hope to create a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario for those of us in the retreat.
Here’s to the fun times!
Love,
Read more about the silent retreat I’m offering in September.
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