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A year ago I took a course on leading percussion groups as a tool to work with groups, empower individuals, help teams grow together, etc. From then on I started getting drums and other percussion instruments. Drum and percussion are the quickest way I have found to invite people to release their inner child. Such was the case in my family last Christmas. We were all gathered at my house and right after dinner, I started taking out my instruments and offering them to each person. As soon as they took the drum, the claves, the tambourine, everyone began to make noise. I did not direct any special dynamics, except when I invited someone to start playing and the others to follow. The sound became organic. Everyone played their instrument with pleasure and smiled. It lasted several minutes, I didn't time it, and little by little, one by one, they began to stop playing. Everyone had a smile on their faces and I was enjoying seeing a group of mostly adults playing like children.
I have been convinced that the spiritual path is a return to the things we forget when we grow up and immerse ourselves in a world that demands so much of us, that is obsessed with keeping us busy, that tells us that there are always more useful things to do. In simple words, this return is actually becoming like children. It is awakening in us, once again, a genuine capacity for awe and wonder to interact with the world. Reawakening the capacity to recognize the pleasure of colors, shapes, flavors. To approach with curiosity what is different and to maintain a compassionate heart that responds to the pain of another. It is living in the present moment. It is surrendering to the pleasure of living fully because the path we have traveled has given us back the ability to cultivate these qualities.
Becoming like children is recovering those practices that allowed us to enjoy life and surrender to them consciously, not because we ignore the difficulties of the world and life, but precisely because we need the contrast, the counterweight that helps us maintain balance.
If playing has been and continues to be part of your life for you, don't stop doing it. But if you are one of those who find it a little more difficult, I invite you to explore this side of yourself a little more; to break down the barriers that get in the way of your search and cultivation of joy as an integral part of your life.
Need some ideas?
Blow bubbles
Dance
Laugh for no reason (the brain benefits from fake laughter too)
Play with a pet
Invite someone to play a board game or some other game with you
Practice a team sport (soccer, basketball, volleyball, pickleball, etc)
Play a drum
Play with mud
Read jokes
Watch funny videos
Look at the stars
Sing karaoke
Go to an arcade
Laugh again for no reason