My day looks nothing like it did a few years ago. The hectic days of teaching bell to bell, hitting the gym and writing till midnight are gone. In place of the restrictive schedule is a flexible day that allows me to explore new opportunities to learn and to play. As I play more, I feel a distinct dance between playing and praying. Feel free to substitute “meditate” or “tune-in” for the word “pray.”

Now that I’m unemployed and have more time than ever to play, I’m getting less accomplished, and I’m a bit confused by the conflict of not having enough time to do what I want, yet having more time than ever to do it.

I often feel unproductive and wonder where my ambition slithered off to. I intend to write, to clean, to exercise, and to energize my healing and life-coaching business. I do all these sporadically, thoroughly and in presence, enjoying the moment. But something is missing. My inner child feels as
if she is watching everyone dance but can’t attend the ball even if she were invited. She hasn’t the right dress to wear. She has forgotten the unpracticed way of moving that is native to her innocent soul.

But to remember. What would it take to remember how to move with grace? To giggle and twirl without a care as to a missed step or a preoccupied audience that’s too busy texting to notice how much joy is bouncing through the room? To feel a stirring of the soul in its raw, childlike state. The sort that jiggles the memories stored in our energy matrix. To let go of rigid goals and checked boxes on lists.

For me it takes prayer and play. Prayer isn’t only something we do when someone’s sick or there’s a problem. Prayer is a form of meditation in which we open our hearts to sacred space and commune with the infinite source of all that is. Play is also a method of opening our hearts to potential and allowing our imaginations to mold the moment like a child who pretends flowers can dance and birds can talk. Both take us out of our mental minds and transport us to a liquid reality where anything is possible. One where we can coax new scenarios to come alive like a painter animating a canvas with strokes of playful genius. As David Curran states in Our Subconscious Mind, “I like to think of imagination like a factory that produces and transforms our ideas into existence.”

In other words, by erasing what we think we know and not taking life so seriously that we squeeze the joy out, we allow an open dialogue between our inner and outer worlds. We can then manifest our wishes with ease and not a grinding away. The difference between work and play is attitude and a possible monetary element, but we can combine them into one through our perception. Work is play and play is a childlike form of prayer with imagination leading the way.

We possess the power to change our reality through imagination that is present in both prayer and play. Imagining guidance or a higher power doesn’t mean it is not real. It means that we open the gate of possibilities. Through releasing what we think is impractical and not possible, we are able to imagine as a child would, in innocence and trust. This is where the magic of manifestation happens. Einstein said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

The more flexible my schedule, the more I imagine the possibilities for my own desires. Something about traipsing through the park on a whim or pouring a salt bath midday frees my mind to imagine. It’s as if I am dancing with freedom as my partner. I reevaluate my priorities and erase my to-do’s like there’s no tomorrow… and perhaps, there isn’t.

Perhaps all that exists is the eternal now. An ever-flowing, glowing love connection of events and glances from strangers and friends in pain and tears washed by the rain. Maybe all we need to know is right under our nose or our feet, our dancing, happy feet, and all we have to do is breathe in fresh oxygen as if we were just plopped onto this mound of dirt rolling through the universe.

Maybe it doesn’t matter if we believe time passes or that everything is happening at once on many levels of existence, or dimensions. What matters is what you decide matters. No meetings or trainings or schooling can tell you what matters. You must decide that for yourself.

I’m suggesting that play is a way to call in your own existential pattern, your own blueprint for happiness that activates when you permit your imagination to rove the way a child rolls down a grassy hill on a summer day. Just roll, trusting the ground to support you. Trusting the giggling on the way down to stimulate your innocent wonder. Trusting that the rolling, the laughter, doesn’t matter a speck unless you decide it is important to let your inner child play so you can cultivate a child-like prayer of praise. A prayer that shouts to the heavens that all is well with your soul and that your creative garden is blooming with ideas to help the world be a better place.

Maybe the connection between the words “prayer” and “play” needs to be emphasized like the words Jesus of Nazareth said and as they are remembered in the Christian Tradition, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Maybe the kingdom is the internal fountain of endless potential we see and experience when we play like a child in the sand, not caring if the castle will be gobbled up by the tide. Just building and enjoying. Then admiring what we’ve built such as careers, relationships, and accepting that everything has a season.

God played in the dirt one day and, as a result of forming men and women, kings and queens were born. The child inside of us is a part of our inner royal family and must not only get invited to the ball, but have a place at the table. We can create our own gardens in which to dance. Our own desires for our lives manifest into reality. We must let the wind tingle on our skin until our cells remember how to pray through play.

Through prayer we ask for guidance. Through play we permit ourselves to explore possibilities our mental mind won’t entertain. Both prayer and play are teachers. They teach us to drop limits and create imaginary audiences for the unwritten speeches of our soul.

Prayer means different things to different people but one commonality with this practice is the connection to an omniscient energy that sustains all life. Feel into this and extrapolate from this what helps you and discard the rest. What are you waiting for boys and girls — it’s recess!