>One of my favorite recent reads is Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project. She embarked on a year-long quest to become a happier person. As I am a sometimes snarky, often irritated, highly critical person, the idea of instigating a similar project for myself was somewhat appealing. (It was especially appealing to my wife!)

So I have been working my way through her book, thinking about what I love & what makes me happy, and making new Happiness Resolutions every month. (Of course this involves charts and checkmarks and gold stars, which makes my obsessive self very happy!)

One of the suggested tasks is to create a list of personal commandments. My favorite one came to me during my recent Improv workshop: Don’t work at it, play with it!

One of the concepts I have experienced very deeply from my years of Interplay is that issues can be resolved, hurts can be healed, and insights can be gained just as easily – sometimes MORE easily – through embodied play than through cerebral work. When I try to “work” on myself, I struggle, I resist, I get tense. When instead I play with the thing I’m trying to learn or the issue I’m trying to understand, I stay open and grounded. I am more receptive…and I have a LOT more fun!

The rest of my personal commandments for happiness:

• Find the fun
• Pet the kitty
• Act as if
• Let it go
• Go outside