Word-Of-the-Week #906: FUN!
December 16, 2021 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #906: FUN!
FUN – a source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure.
When was the last time you felt enjoyment? Or did something that brought you pleasure?
This week’s WOW comes from the Sunday Parade Magazine “A recipe for MORE FUN,” by Dillon Dodson.
“Sometimes what’s supposed to be the jolliest time of the year turns into a mad rush that’s not so fun. Science journalist Catherine Price, author of “The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again,” has the antidote for that: Put down your attention-seeking phones, apps and other media and focus on real fun, what she calls ‘the confluence of playfulness, connections and flow.’ Here’s her advice for finding more ‘true fun’ in your daily life.
- GET MOVING – Physical movement and/or being outdoors contribute to fun, Price’s research confirms. Try activities such as biking or swing dancing or even cleaning the house to your favorite music. Or simply take a walk outside and breathe some fresh air.
- LOOK FOR JOY – Take note of what makes you happy. ‘Calling out those tiny moments and giving them weight really boost my mood. I encourage people to keep a journal to note those moments throughout your day,” Price says.
- CONNECT – COVID-induced quarantine has increase feelings of isolation, but (safe) human connection will always be important. ‘In my own research, when people described past experiences of true fun, the vast majority involved other people, even for self-described introverts,’ she says.
- AND DISCONNECT – She calls binge-watching and social media interaction ‘fake fun.’ Those activities ‘are designed to be very compelling and make you want to consume ii in excess, but it makes you feel worse afterwards.’ Recognize fake fun and start to replace it with real-life interactions or other more tangible things that give you joy.
- DECOUPLE MONEY FROM TIME – ‘We’ve been conditioned to believe that any use of time that does not result in being financially compensated is not good.’ But when expensive products are marketed to us as enjoyable, how much more do we work to pay for them? ‘Fun actually boosts our productivity because it lets us take a break. It’s much more restorative than other things we do with our leisure time. But it should be its own reward.’
This week’s focus is to have FUN! When was the last time you were out experiencing nature? Do you know what brings you true joy? Are you addicted to your devices? I play golf twice a week and I can’t believe people who have their phones with them. Seriously! You’ll never play your best game if you’re distracted.
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Word-Of-the-Week #820: FUN
April 29, 2020 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #820: FUN
Fun – a source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure.
When was the last time you felt enjoyment? Or did something that brought you pleasure? Are you playing any board games?
This week features the second half of LA Times Travel Editor Catharine Hamm’s article “Bored at home? How to cope and overcome ‘the nothing to do’ syndrome while travel is postponed.”
To Recap: “Feeling bored, disoriented and cranky now that you’ve put your travel plans on hold and your suitcase away? You have company — lots of it. For many of us, travel has its own rewards, including its role as a stress reliever.
Now what? Most of us are staying closer to home, by design or edict, and the absence of travel’s pleasures can lead to boredom, which, Forman said, is a common complaint.
Play – Reconnect
- Look ahead. “Plan, plan, plan, imagine, get ready!” said Rebecca Kiki Weingarten, co-founder of and educational director for RWRNetwork.org, a nonprofit for people and groups in what she calls “suddenly changed circumstances.”
“Use this time to plan travel in ways you haven’t before,” she said in an email: Maybe a deep dive into the destination. Maybe learning a bit (or all) of the language, trying out some recipes, learning about the culture in a way you haven’t before, scoping out out-of-the-way sites that you wouldn’t have thought of, studying native art, fashion, styling, sports that you can check out before you go.”
- Fill the void with fun. “Boredom leads to negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors: ruminating, worrying about a pandemic we can’t control, keeping a count of illness found in your neighborhood, constantly taking your temperature and being paranoid about symptoms,” Weingarten said.
“Boredom can lead to anxiety and compulsive behavior — eating/drinking too much and worse.
“So I always recommend to clients and groups to ‘substitute.’ Can’t do this? Do that. Don’t enjoy this? Try that. And so on. Nature abhors a vacuum, so fill the time, energy, space with good, fun, interesting things.”
- Look back and be grateful. The reward, Forman said, is “the ability to actually sit with one’s memories and really remember the wonderful experiences.”
For instance, he grew up in Tampa, Fla., and Walt Disney World was a destination he looked forward to. The theme park may have been wonderful, but one time the family got caught in a thunderstorm and were so soaked that they had to buy new clothes, something he remembered with pleasure.
“Just remembering how fortunate you were to have experienced what you did can fill you with a kind of gratitude that we sometimes forget,” he said.
He just canceled a spring vacation with his family. “When we [do] go away, it will be that much sweeter,” he said.
The pandemic won’t last forever. It will end, he said. And then …
“The next time you’re on vacation and you see the most extraordinary view, bookmark it,” he said. You’ll be able to say, “‘I saw it, I experienced it. It was wonderful.’”
Then summon it, he said, when you need it most.”
This week’s focus is on having some FUN! Have you planned any travel for when this is all over? Have you tried any new or interesting things? Are you able to be grateful for wonderful experiences and the memories that go with them?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
Word Of the Week #3: Fun
March 29, 2009 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word Of the Week #3: Fun
Fun: what provides amusement or enjoyment: playfulness.
Gran Prix Go Cart Racing
I say grow down, not up! It seems the older people get the more serious they become. A famous quote reads, “You don’t stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing.”
People want to feel good about spending their money! When you walk into a business and the staff is in good spirits and having fun, doesn’t that automatically put you in a good mood?
Southwest Airlines is the epitome of people who are having fun in their job!
Having fun is what you display. Focus on having fun this week and think about how it makes you feel!
Reader Responses
“I have always believed that one must have “FUN” in the workplace. I always try to foster a relationship and environment of fun at work with my employees (TEAM). That doesn’t mean we aren’t serious about what we do, but instead it provides the energy and closeness to be able to have that professional environment (in a competitive business for great employees) that captures and brings out the talents of our staff to exceed member expectations in a consistent and professional manner.” — Don Vance
“Susan, it is so good to hear your wisdom and smarts. Your thoughts are very applicable to every day life! In addition to have happy employees
and smiling faces, motivated employees contribute big time with their input and suggestions, there is so much talent out there, we just need to tap the resources and not forget to give praise and credit.” — Kurt Bishofberger
“Actually, I took a part of your message and expanded on it, so let me send you the entire piece. See the attached message I wrote. The article I am sending you is one that I publish monthly in our Club Newsletter to our
Membership. I hope you will enjoy it.
Sure you can do with it whatever you would like. We (you and I) share in the same message to individuals. I knew I liked you when I heard you speak at our Alabama CMAA Education Program in Birmingham, Alabama.Thanks” — Don Vance
Do You Know How To Have FUN At Work?
March 28, 2009 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Do You Know How To Have FUN At Work?
Work is supposed to be fun. It’s up to you to create an environment that allows your staff and managers to have fun and be excited about their jobs. I say if you’re not having fun, then you’ve probably made the wrong choice. Transforming your attitude and making the choice to make work fun is the power of positive programing . The key is to constantly focus on and reinforce the positives. Because the reality is, most people tend to focus on the negative. Too many times my experience has been that the person serving me acts like they’re “doing time.” It’s as if the sheriff pulled up, handcuffed them and brought them in to “do their time”– they’re prisoners. The question is, are you the jailer? Your positive or negative behavior directly affects all those people around you. And their positive or negative affects you as well. We all have attitudes based on our belief systems and what I’m talking about is whether you’re persistently positive or persistently negative during the course of your day. How do you start the positive programming process?
I’m convinced the first step is to have tons of PMS. Now, there’s two kinds of PMS: positive and negative. My girlfriend Susan’s husband says that negative PMS means “pack my suitcase.” And I say that the positive means “Positive Mental Spirit.” I’m convinced that PMS is like a giant bubble around your body and it’s invisible. The more good karma you have, the fuller it gets. You’ve got to protect and keep nurturing that bubble with positive thoughts. I know from firsthand experience there are people out there whose only mission in life is to try to mess with your bubble. You’ve heard the expression, “Don’t let that person burst your bubble.” Which is why you’ve got to keep your bubble full at all times. And full of positives, not negatives. Some people have toxic waste and excess baggage in their bubbles. Which kind of PMS do you exhibit and which kind do the people you work with exhibit?
So, how do you psyche yourself up when you have to do, or deal with something that isn’t pleasant or that you don’t like doing?
First you make the choice to either love it or hate it. What I do is think of how much worse my situation could be. I have a friend whose job entails meetings every day. Now that would drive me nuts, but hey it’s his job and he loves it. One morning in a phone conversation when I asked what he had going on, he said, “Oh my gosh, (heavy sighing) it’s not good because today is the @#*@ meeting.” My reply to him was, “What are you talking about? You LOVE those meetings, those are your favorites!” To this day, once a month the dreaded @#*@ meeting happens, but now he says with delight in his voice, “ Oh boy, my favorite meeting is today! I LOVE @#*@!
The point is, he has made a conscious choice to not let those meetings be unpleasant and set himself up for a bad day. So, how do you have fun at work? What thoughts are you choosing to fill your mind with today? And last but not least, for those of you who employ Generation X or Y (those born after 1964) they expect to have FUN at work!