Welcome to August's Slim Down

Here you’ll get nuggets from the forum, snippets and ideas from fellow No Diet Dieters, a sprinkling of science and anything else we think might raise a smile and inspire you to keep things fresh…

Play with me

“Play is to a child what work is to an adult: it is what they do.”

So says the top hit on Google for ‘benefits of play’ but we skip past and mosey on down to number four: “Play is extremely important for humans from birth to death. Play is not meant to be just for children.” So there we have it, play is extremely important. You have permission to play!

Wednesday 1st August, is our annual Do Something Different Day – but it’s also Play Day (www.playday.org) in the UK. If you’re usually staid, serious and sombre then Do Something Different by going out to play. But what to play? Who to play with? When? And how to start?

Let’s make it easy and think about what you might have done as a child. Off-ground tag; hide and seek; rolling down grassy hills; frisbee; dressing up; whirling to get dizzy; hand clapping; hopscotch; Rounders; hunt the coin; Lego; cars; kites; colouring in; swings and roundabouts; hand painting.

 

Why not write down two or three things you could do this week that are totally child-like? Child’s play is easy, simple, inexpensive and readily available. Think about the joy you might get from reconnecting with some of things you used to do. Pause for a moment and conjure up summer scenes of play. The lightness, being carefree, the exhilaration, exuberance, being away with the fairies and the laughter dancing upwards, tickling your throat and pulling your head back as your face beams towards the sky. (That’s what Jessica from the NDD team is enjoying in the picture as her mate Euan threw her up and down on a see-saw).

Back to our Google hit list and we see “Top 10 Benefits of Play”

1. Inspire you to think differently
2. Can bring greater joy into your life
3. Play is known to reduce stress
4. Playing a on a regular basis can increase longevity
5. Play can reduce struggle, conflict and worry
6. Play can increase your sense of lightness
7. Play can stimulate the imagination, curiosity and creativity
8. Play reduces the risk of hypertension and depression
9. Enhance your energy levels
10. Play can provide an opportunity to take risks

Even more permission to grab your life and play!

Peppering your week with play could be a relationship saver, a way to lighten things up at work and a healthy way to boost your energy. With so many reasons to do it, when will you start? Play can be an attitude or an approach as much as a specific activity. Can you bring a more playful approach into your way of being?

A playful mindset could be curiosity and questioning like an absolute beginner. It could be squeezing as much laughter from a situation as you can. It might be setting an intention of having fun or amusing other people. You might set the play ball bouncing by…

Jumping on your bed; pumping the bedcovers to rouse your partner; a theatrical pretence as you get dressed; air guitar with a sweeping brush after breakfast; silly faces to children on your way to work; chasing pigeons at lunchtime; doodling at dinner; skipping round your garden and Julie Andrews style exuberance to say goodnight to your plants, partner or house mates.

Remember the Forum

New people are joining the forum each week and you’re passing help and experiences to motivate one another. Stuck? Stale? Say what’s (not) going on for you and there’ll be a sprinkling of suggestions to nudge you onwards before you can spell supercalifragilifragilisticexpialidocious.

Until next month enjoy bucketfuls of pure playfulness,
The No Diet Diet Way Team
nodietdietway.com