Ha! Please don't laugh too hard, this was taken about seven
years ago. I was away on a retreat weekend, and had brought my
(then) brand new hoop to play with. I've used it off and on since
then, depending on how busy I am. I'm using it again right now, and
I'd almost forgotten how fantastic it is. It's one of those heavier
hoops that the really amazing hoop dancers like hoopgirl uses. I
highly recommend you get one. Not only does it help tone your
abdominal area, it'll help you to remember to
play.
Why am I talking about play again?
I'm currently reading Switch: How to Change Things When
Change is Hard. It's the April/May book club selection over at
ARTrepreneur. I'm currently at the point where
the authors, Dan and Chip Heath (seriously, I keep calling them
Chip and Dale...), talk about using a gut feeling,
a deep emotion, to help with a change.
For years, change experts have used the analogy of a burning
platform - basically, if you are on a platform, and it's burning,
you have two choices - stay (and burn) or jump (and maybe save
yourself). This can work really well in do-or-die situations,
but what about smaller changes, or more ambiguous situations? What
do you do then?
Be happy. Seriously!
The Heaths suggest following recent psychological research and
use happiness, and give yourself a positive emotion to help you
with your changes. So, for example, the Target employee who wanted
to change the ready-to-wear department into something more vivid,
brought in brightly coloured M&Ms, supercool newly coloured
laptops, and pictures of Parisian shop window-displays - all
to show her colleagues how great colour could be - she got them
hooked visually and emotionally (yes, we want to be chic like
Parisians!).
Positive emotions are designed to broaden and build thoughts,
they make us want to play, we are willing to fool around, to
explore, to invent. We learn new skills, and we get interested and
involved. We get our hands dirty, and realize that making things is
perhaps not as hard as it looks. If happiness and playfulness and
goofiness are what will get people interested and
learning new skills, then stay tuned. And get ready to play, as
exciting things are coming down the pipes, people. Exciting and
playful things.