I had the pleasure of sharing a chat with Bernie DeKoven of Deep Fun.  Bernie and I met at a conference almost two years ago. Immediately I was in awe of his sense of wonder and playfulness while being considered “an expert” about play and the flow state.  He has such a wisdom that emanates from him.

Here is a link to our conversation:

Bernie DeKoven and Katie West enjoy a chat about fun and the Playful Path

Also, below is a blog post of his that I love.  You can find more Bernie’s wisdom at Deepfun.com

Fun Is Easy

by BERNIE on JUNE 27, 2011

Fun is easy. It’s wherever you are, in whatever you are doing or sensing or thinking. It’s between you and the person you’re with or the machine you’re using or the table you’re sitting at or the path you’re walking down. It’s not something to strive for. But something to melt into, to sink into, to open up to. Listen. You can almost hear the laughter. Breathe. You can almost taste the joy. Listen a little more closely. Breathe a little more deeply. And there it is again. Fun. Real fun. Deep, forever fun.

So, look, I’m sorry if all these articles about how important fun is, and how many games there are to play and learn and how you can learn to lead games and how you can help other people have more fun and be a fun coach and stuff and things – I’m sorry if I somehow gave you the impression that fun is one of those things you have to study (though studying fun can be great fun) or teach (same with teaching fun) or coach people in (ditto with the fun potential).

Fun isn’t the hard thing. The hard thing is remembering to have it. Even when you spend your lifesavings on something you think will be the most fun you’ve ever had or will have, you forget. Instead, you start thinking about how much more fun it will be when you land, how much more fun it will be when you finally unpack, and how much more fun than that it will be when you finally get back home. Or you start believing, maybe because someone told you, that you have to earn it, or deserve it, or get wise enough or enlightened enough or have sacrificed enough or been good enough.

No, no, no. I say again, no. Fun is easy. It’s the most natural feeling there is. It’s life. It’s living. It’s being a being. Don’t let me or anyone else make you think other. Remembering to have fun might be hard. Believing that you can have fun might be hard. Allowing yourself to have fun might be hard. But fun? Fun is easy.

From Fun is Easy at DeepFun.com

We are so delighted to share with you the latest micro-movement video from the Levity Project!  

Thank you to all for being a part of this!

BLOWING BUBBLES OF JOY

What is it?  A micro-movement is when we at The Levity Project send out a mission to Levity Project Players around the world that you can do in your own town or city with yourself or with friends and family (or strangers!). The idea of The Levity Project is that when we live in our own true joy and radiance it inspires those around us. We believe we are agents of change by who we are not just in what we do.  So we begin within with our own inner levity, and then we enjoy going into a public place and laugh, play and celebrate alone or with others. For fun, we asked people to video themselves blowing bubbles and then we compiled all the videos into one so that our individual acts of levity become one collective experience.

THE INSPIRATION:

So….this is a very special Levity Project as it hits right on the heart of all that we do.  Bubbles are luminescent, uplifting, and cause us to pause in their momentary beauty.  Bubbles illustrate so perfectly the nature of Being Here Now (thanks Ram Dass!)  If we are looking elsewhere, we miss the moment of the bubble’s glory.  In their sweet and delightful way, bubbles command us to celebrate their presence in our life at this very moment.  And of course, the enjoyment is shared by all who are around, young and old alike.

THE DEDICATION:

Ina and Katie dedicate this Blowing Bubbles Micro-movement to our Moms both who transitioned out of this physical world this year within just a few months of each other.  We want to dedicate this event to allowing ourselves to be deeply present for whatever is happening here and now.

We are so appreciative to all of you who are a part of this community and who come and play with us!

COMING UP….

We will be announcing the next micro-movement in 2 weeks! Check back so you can be a part of it!  It is going to be much much fun!

(Reposted from January)

The Levity Project is asking for your help

with our new micro-movement.

BLOWING BUBBLES OF JOY 

What is it?  A micro-movement is when we at The Levity Project send out a mission to Levity Project Players around the world that you can do in your own town or city with yourself or with friends and family (or strangers!). The idea of The Levity Project is that when we live in our own true joy and radiance it inspires those around us. We believe we are agents of change by who we are not just in what we do.  So we begin within with our own inner levity, and then we enjoy going into a public place and laugh, play and celebrate alone or with others. For fun, you video yourself and we compile all the videos into one so that our individual acts of levity become one collective experience.

THE INSPIRATION:

So….this is a very special Levity Project as it hits right on the heart of all that we do.  Bubbles are luminescent, uplifting, and cause us to pause in their momentary beauty.  Bubbles illustrate so perfectly the nature of Being Here Now (thanks Ram Dass!)  If we are looking elsewhere, we miss the moment of the bubble’s glory.  In their sweet and delightful way, bubbles command us to celebrate their presence in our life at this very moment.  And of course, the enjoyment is shared by all who are around, young and old alike.

THE MISSION:

We want you to GO BLOW BUBBLES!!!!

(This is a great micro-movement for those who felt like dancing in a grocery store was a bit out of the comfort zone!!!)  Ha ha ha.

Go somewhere in a public place-the town square, the top of a mountain, a dance club, your yoga class, a city monument-wherever!  and blow bubbles for your own and others enjoyment.  The fun part too is bringing along a friend (heck gather 50 people to blow bubbles together somewhere).  You can even bring extra bubbles to share with passer-bys.  What fun!

Make a 15 second – 1 minute video clip of yourself.

Surprise us with how creative you can be!

THE LOGISTICS:

What: Go somewhere and Blow Bubbles and video yourself for 15 seconds to 1 minute

When: Do this mission by Feb 10th

Why:  Why not?  and well, to celebrate the here and now and its beauty.

Who: YOU!  And anyone you want.

How: Shoot a short video and send to us UNEDITED via

YOUSENDIT.COM or MAIL BIG FILE (both have free trials)

to Ina (AT) thelevityproject (Dot) Com (Include your Location!!!)

THE DEDICATION:

Ina and Katie dedicate this Blowing Bubbles Micro-movement to our Moms both who transitioned out of this physical world this year within just a few months of each other.  We want to dedicate this event to allowing ourselves to be deeply present for whatever is happening here and now.

Please join us!

We are so appreciative to all of you who are a part of this community and who come and play with us

(This piece was written after my mom transitioned from this world into the non-physical a couple of months ago. My mom had severe depression as well a physically debilitating disease. For many years because of her depression, I saw that her being played the role a zen master would traditionally fill for a student; shining the light into the dark places within us that we may not want to see. A Zen Master or Guru asks us to not hide and to allow ourselves to see our true nature that is the nature of all. Below is a tribute to the part of her that served as this master for me. I will always have a deep appreciation for what it offered me-the gift of knowing how to bow.)

This is a tribute to all the Zen Masters in our daily lives and may we have the courage to face what they are asking us to face within ourselves.

There is a great journey in us all. Sometimes I see it so clearly as one from the sky–saying “Ahhh yes, I see that turn and that twist….I know which way to head.” and in other moments it is the way of a foggy moonless night at the beach. I know the sea is there as a way to mark the direction but all else is unknown. Both landscapes offer us the fullness of the entire journey (even if we get our pants soaked by the incoming tide many times) !

The last two weeks since my mom’s transition, I have found that I have been noticing this process through the cellular level. I have often joked that I probably never ended up going to India to live in an Ashram or to find my guru-simply because I had my own self made guru living with me and near me in my mother. I called my guru everyday; I visited nearly the same. I learned deep service. I learned how to be humble even when all inside me wanted to shout in the spirit of the great Sinatra song “Let me do it my way!” I learned my way was not of the great importance I thought it was. I learned my inner being can not only survive but shine while being wholly in the service with a guru who offers no praise and no thanks. I learned to find the thanks within.

And most importantly, I learned from this guru to love when at times no love is seemingly returned. I learned in this way to not look to the guru for the love but instead to delight in the love of the songbirds piping away outside my window, the gleeful mischief of my children, the shared hug, and the knowing glance of one who seems to be a stranger but who we feel we know with our whole being in the slice of an instant, and in this way, I found the love within.

From my guru, I l earned that All is Love. That we can never be separated from it-in its myriad forms and expressions. it is what makes the entire fabric of our here-ness.

The weekend before her transition I was leading a retreat for some close women friends and during that time I knew within it was time to leave my guru. I was letting my role of student to this guru go. As some wonderful Buddhist story recalls-The raft of the teachings can take you part of the way across the river, but ultimately, we must swim the rest of the way on our own without the safety of a guru or teachings. That weekend I could feel myself jumping off the raft silently slipping into the river with all the fear, trepidation and delight as might be suspected. It was in that weekend that I softly pushed the raft down stream-letting go of the lifeforce connecting me with the guru in my mom.

I knew that it was the energy I had lifelong dedicated to this lifeforce that was enabling my mom to stay here in a physical body in my daily experience. So as I began to offer the guru back the teachings-it was no surprise when I awoke Monday morning to the call of her floating downstream. As it must be, the guru becomes a student, the student a guru and all in all we all become the river.

Yesterday morning as I sat crying on my bed, a morning dove- a long time favorite of my mother’s-tried to fly in through the window. It was the oddest experience of knowing it was trying to get into me….to comfort. In that moment, there was a kinship of all life. A loving each other as we love ourselves and loving ourselves as we love each other.

At sunset of the same day, I walked solo down a very familiar mile long beach near my mom’s house bearing my mom’s ashes across my back in a sideways bag-unknowingly like a cross. I walked barefoot. As I made it to the other side, birds were nearby, the clouds were illumined and I was full of peace even with the weight of the cross on my back. All my lessons in humility, were here. I was full of the deepest appreciation for this gift of bowing to another. I was honored to be able to lower my head and know that in doing so I was honoring the Sat Guru- the inner guru.

I lit a candle surrounded by shells bearing meaning. I scattered her ashes. She and I sang. We sat. I laid her down in the sea. My mom who in her physical life never learned to swim, began this new journey already knowing how to float. I never knew our ashes were so beautiful. After a while on a near dark moonless beach, I began to head home with no other bodies on the beach beside mine. I left the cross there that day. It had served its role. And she too laid hers down. It is a time of great celebration for this life, for all of us, and for this very moment.

To all of you reading this I offer a great moving love,
Katie

Imagine this:

You are standing in a field, a battle field to be frank. All around you is evidence of the war at hand.  It is a scene of destruction, yet to your credit you are still standing as a mighty warrior. Perhaps you are almost victorious.  But maybe not quite. You still feel the pending danger, the approach of the enemy. It never leaves-this feeling of looking out for the attack-watching vigilantly, sword in hand at the ready.  Even as the victor you still fear the attack. Is it truly a victory if this feeling still remains within?

Imagine having this awareness on your battlefield.  Now picture some part of your life where you experience a sense of battle. Where in your life do you keep your sword at the ready to protect and attack as necessary?  Where in your life are you at the ready, wielding your sword?  Is it with a partner, the driver in front of you, the person who makes more money or is happier than you?  It is with the 99 % or with the 1%  or is it at the elusive system?  Where do you wield your sword? Just note it.

Now back to that physical battlefield.  What if you were standing there with this “enemy” approaching whether it be a person or a situation and as it approached, you did the unthinkable.

You lower your raised arm and drop the sword letting it fall to the ground saying quietly to yourself,”I lay down my sword.  I lay down my sword.”

What would become of you?  

Who would you be without the warrior identity?  

What if you then having laid down your sword, you stood up with chest wide open, eyes closed and breath deeply centered in  your body.  What if even there was the gentlest of smiles upon your lips as if in releasing your sword, you were able to feel a freedom you had not felt before.

That’s just it.

As long as you are a warrior (even a victorious one) you are still in battle.  You live in a state of battle.  And battle is synonymous with conflict and contradictory forces. How can we move forward freely when living in a state of contradiction (see where I am going with this?)

But when we lay down our swords, even in the face of an attack or an approach, we are free.  We may be on the battle field, but some part of our being has “opted out” of the fight.  We are simply now being a witness.  Imagine a field of warriors who have all laid down their swords and instead of fighting are quietly present with a sense of love or perhaps compassion for the challenges around them. It is like seeing the big picture so that by giving up our small attack we end the WHOLE WAR for everyone.

By relinquishing our desire to fight our own mini war, we bring freedom to those around us and to the great world.  But, here is the the tricky part, we must start with ourselves.  Only when there is no fight within us and we wield no sword are we capable of making any difference in the greater world.

This is what I offer to you this week.  This idea of laying down the sword in your life, even in the smallest or in the most challenging places. I do not mean you don’t act with wisdom for your physical safety but where are you waging an emotional or intellectual war?

Where in your life do you feel you are carrying a sword? 

Begin to note all the moments in which  you can feel the weight of the sword in your hand.

A partner forgetting to follow through on some action, a friend who said something hurtful, a child that would not listen, a boss who is unreasonable, a bill you feel you cannot pay.  Whatever it is, what if you simply before taking action, lay down your sword and witness what is happening without preparing to fight it.

What would it be like if you were to lay down your sword and stand back up without it?

In this way, we begin to see what is really happening.  Our first response is not to wield the sword but to see what is before us. By seeing whatever it is without a weapon, we offer our undefended self.  We have only one choice and that is to see what is before us.

And it is in this seeing that we offer are actually offering love, simply by witnessing what is.

This week, may we together enjoy the practice of laying down our swords and being willing to stand tall breathing fully knowing that we are not in a battle within ourselves, with another or in the world.  This is how we come to feel the lightness within.

#206 Live life like a party

December 2, 2011

They’re getting their groove on in supermarket aisles in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, California, South Dakota, Québec, Maine, Missouri, Maine, Ontario, Illinois, Rhode Island, and New Mexico. They’re dancing with their shopping carts and with each other, as if they really “get” the film’s message to, “Live life like the party you’ve always wanted.”

When my friend, Joanne, posted the link to the video below, I watched it with a big grin on my face. I’d never heard of the Levity Institute, but who could resist checking out “a gathering place for those interested in living life with a deeper sense of well-being, lightheartedness and buoyancy in their everyday lives”?

Katie West writes she got the idea while riding a New York subway in 2009. She had a sudden, pervasive feeling of connection with both the misery behind the frowns around her and the contrasting lightness inside everyone. The Levity Institute was born.

Katie and her team offer classes, retreats, and salons – all based on buoyancy and lightheartedness and a pay-it-forward fee structure. Every now and then they throw out an idea and invite the world to play. The Grocery Store Dancing Micro-Movement below is the latest Levity Project.

Grocery stores are friendly territory for me, but most shopping makes me want to bolt for the door. The playfulness of the Levity Project gives me hope that maybe I can turn a grind into a grin. Anyone else want to play?

Find them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The Levity Project is asking for your help

with our new micro-movement.

BLOWING BUBBLES OF JOY 

What is it?  A micro-movement is when we at The Levity Project send out a mission to Levity Project Players around the world that you can do in your own town or city with yourself or with friends and family (or strangers!). The idea of The Levity Project is that when we live in our own true joy and radiance it inspires those around us. We believe we are agents of change by who we are not just in what we do.  So we begin within with our own inner levity, and then we enjoy going into a public place and laugh, play and celebrate alone or with others. For fun, you video yourself and we compile all the videos into one so that our individual acts of levity become one collective experience.

THE INSPIRATION:

So….this is a very special Levity Project as it hits right on the heart of all that we do.  Bubbles are luminescent, uplifting, and cause us to pause in their momentary beauty.  Bubbles illustrate so perfectly the nature of Being Here Now (thanks Ram Dass!)  If we are looking elsewhere, we miss the moment of the bubble’s glory.  In their sweet and delightful way, bubbles command us to celebrate their presence in our life at this very moment.  And of course, the enjoyment is shared by all who are around, young and old alike.

THE MISSION:

We want you to GO BLOW BUBBLES!!!!

(This is a great micro-movement for those who felt like dancing in a grocery store was a bit out of the comfort zone!!!)  Ha ha ha.

Go somewhere in a public place-the town square, the top of a mountain, a dance club, your yoga class, a city monument-wherever!  and blow bubbles for your own and others enjoyment.  The fun part too is bringing along a friend (heck gather 50 people to blow bubbles together somewhere).  You can even bring extra bubbles to share with passer-bys.  What fun!

Make a 30 second – 1 minute video clip of yourself.

Surprise us with how creative you can be!

THE LOGISTICS:

What: Go somewhere and Blow Bubbles and video yourself for 15 seconds to 1 minute

When: Do this mission by Feb 10th

Why:  Why not?  and well, to celebrate the here and now and its beauty.

Who: YOU!  And anyone you want.

How: Shoot a short video and send to us UNEDITED via

YOUSENDIT.COM or MAIL BIG FILE (both have free trials)

to Ina (AT) thelevityproject (Dot) Com (Include your Location!!!)

THE DEDICATION:

Ina and Katie dedicate this Blowing Bubbles Micro-movement to our Moms both who transitioned out of this physical world this year within just a few months of each other.  We want to dedicate this event to allowing ourselves to be deeply present for whatever is happening here and now.

Please join us!

We are so appreciative to all of you who are a part of this community and who come and play with us.

Enjoy these days of this month of December in its busy or quiet ways.

We wish for each of us that we notice each moment as it is happening without a story or without wishing it to be a certain way.
Instead, may we each be explorers in our lives this month, allowing ourselves to experience wonder in each moment just as it is.  May we marvel at whatever comes our way with open, warm and light hearts.

We will return January 3rd with our Cafe Levity offerings and in the meantime, we offer you this sweet video that came out a while ago.

(Reprinted from July 2010 by request)

Part of why I love The Levity Project is not only in bringing amazing people together to do events, but it is the more subtle side of how it affects my life in the days in between the all the big fun we create in public.  The Levity Project all started because of an unexpected     moment which woke me up to the idea I can make a difference simply    by how I choose to see and live each day.

And in the middle of the launch of the smile micro-movement video   (July 2010) with The Levity Project Team, I experienced another one      of those moments of clarity that made me think, “YES! Each one of us makes a HUGE difference in the world.”

I was driving through the streets of Portland, Maine’s largest city,  absorbed in my own thoughts as I prepared for an upcoming meeting. Stopping at a red light, my gaze turned to the man in the car next to     me.  With his window rolled down, the man stared off vacantly.  Several   teeth were missing and his hair was partly matted down and partly disheveled. He looked as if life had offered him much hardship.

Sensing my looking at him, he turned to face me.  Suddenly, I turned  away in a knee jerk response.  I was instantly embarrassed at my response. Was it because I was staring or because  it was hard to see someone who was in a such a hard space in their life?   What I do know   is that part of The Levity Project’s mission came to my mind…”we are   all positive agents of change” as if nudging me to shift my perspective.

I looked back at him and when our eyes met this time, I smiled a big   easy smile, noticing his beautiful and clear blue eyes.  The deep     wrinkles in his face relaxed giving way to a magnificent joyous smile.     All I could think was:

This is what the joy of connection looks like. 

And no sooner had this moment happened, that I noticed a man on the street corner. He looked both hurried and intrigued holding his coffee mug waiting to cross the street.  And he was looking right at me as I     had this big grin on my face.  Seeing my smile, which had initially been directed elsewhere, caused him to smile back and there I was, in this beautiful moment in which what had been three individuals living their own lives and their own thoughts suddenly became three people in the same town all connected by a single smile.

The light turned green and I drove away still smiling and feeling the   levity of the moment.

So, I did what any good founder of The Levity Project would do… I  turned up my favorite music of the day, a great Cuban jazz cd and    started smiling at everyone I saw.  And what happened in the next moment was unreal.

Everyone smiled back and when two people realized that they were smiling at the crazy woman listening to good music, they smiled at each other.

A young child waved, her parents smiled. A man looked up from his newspaper.  Another driver winked and smiled.  And my favorite, a couple outside a small corner convenience store-in the middle of an argument-saw me smiling at them and paused long enough to smile   back.  It made me wonder if their argument had the same intensity     after taking a smile break.

It does not take any words. No common language is needed.  There are  no age barriers.  There is no physical ability requirement.  There is no discrimination on who can do it or on who can affect this powerful change.

All it takes is a willingness to truly look at someone and do what we all desire but fear the most-connect.

How can you create the smile effect in your life this week?

Perhaps it is:

• By making an intention to smile at people as you walk or drive down the street.
• Choosing to smile at people when you arrive at your office or at your home.
• Intentionally think about things in your life that bring you to to smile.
• Take a smile meditation walk and smile at all that you see.

However, you choose to do it, thank you for being the agent of change  you naturally are!
And please share how you did it with us so others can enjoy your inspiration.

Here is our Smile Micro-movement video called One World, One     Smile. Enjoy!

]]> http://thelevityinstitute.com/2011/11/the-smile-effect/feed/ 0 http://thelevityinstitute.com/2011/11/grace-for-today/ http://thelevityinstitute.com/2011/11/grace-for-today/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:23:23 +0000 levity http://thelevityinstitute.com/?p=860

In this highlighted week of the year in which we offer thanks and focus our intention on what we are most grateful for in our experience, we are asked to make lists of what is meaningful to us, what brings us joy, and what lights up our daily moments of living. And in doing so, we then offer thanks for all that is wonderful.

When we trace the word “Thanks” etymologically  we come  to the Latin word,  Gratia, meaning Grace.  I love this idea of both “giving thanks” in our actions and “giving grace” by how we are being in each moment

As we walk through our week of  thanks giving, are we at the same time giving grace? As we invite others into our homes, prepare meals, recall traditions, are we offering grace to those around us by how we are living each moment?

What does giving grace mean to you?

When I think of it this way, it  connotes a much slower and more subtle offering than the external effort of giving thanks.  It asks of us to comb through our own patterns and behaviors as we move through each of our days.

 Are our actions creating more grace in the world?

 If not, how might we allow this spirit of gracefulness into our beings?

Of course, it is lovely and important to extend the warm hearted wishes of appreciation and thanks to those in our lives.  This line of questioning simply asks us to also look at our own walk of ”grace giving” during this time.

This week, in addition to the verbal expressions of thanks to those we love and care about, invite yourself to “be” Grace as you move through this week.

What would you look like if you lived this idea of “grace giving” this week?

Please feel free to share your thoughts below.

May you enjoy the celebrations big and small this week, feeling the grace of each footstep, each washed dish, and each mile traveled.