This was first published in the “Monday Sparkles” newsletter from Wild Spirits Coaching on the 11th of March 2013, but I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you. So I got Sibylle’s permission, and here it is:

I’ve always connected to my Inner Child. My nieces and nephews loved me when they were little because I was always up to all sorts of mischief. I often laugh for no reason and about the silliest jokes, and I still draw a smiley face onto every misty window anywhere. However, there are times when I don’t laugh as often anymore. I don’t even notice it happening – the seriousness of “adult life” creeps up on me and I’m too busy to be silly.

One occasion happened quite recently: I’m trying to build up my business while still working a full-time office job, so most of my evenings are spent working on my own project. I love it – it’s my soul’s work, after all – but there was a time when I was beginning to feel sluggish, lazy, uninspired. What are we trained to do when we are unmotivated? Double our efforts! Exercise diskipline! Remind ourselves of our goals! And off I went, dragging myself along to more work, more diskipline, and more “being good”.

The result was that one day my creativity ran dry and I felt like my business would never, ever take off for me. Your situation might be different, but do you perhaps recognize the feeling? And if you do, ask yourself: How long have you been “good” for? How long have you done something perfectly, be it regular exercise, a part-time business like mine, studying, or housework? Long hours at the office? Maybe you are one of those gifted people who can juggle a busy job, a family, AND exercise and healthy eating as well.

If you are, you almost certainly know the feeling of “running out of steam”. It ‘s a good thing to get things done. But what we sometimes forget is that our lives aren’t meant to be all about work and achievement. You all know the saying: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” And if we live our lives perfectly – or even just certain parts of our lives – without taking time to nourish our Inner Child, we’ll run out of energy, and then we wonder what happened, when we were just doing so well.

So what is it we need to give our Inner Child? The answer is, something fun but useless. Something that doesn’t serve any purpose except for making us happy at that particular moment, such as;

• Laughing out loud
• Eating ice cream when you are on a healthy eating regime.
• Wearing a silly hat or pop socks.
• Jumping around the house to a funky 80’s tune.
• Balancing the salad bowl on your head, or a toilet roll, or making a competition with your loved ones as to who can keep theirs on their head the longest (you might want to use toilet rolls for that one!). 

Whatever floats your boat, really, as long as it’s silly, useless, and brings a huge smile to your face.

I’m not advocating to do these things 24/7. That would be immature and counterproductive to any type of fulfillled adult life. But every now and then it’s important to let go and be silly, to refresh your soul and refuel your energy reserves. Try it and see how much easier your work goes the next day! It’s all about balance.

What can you do to nourish your Inner Child today?

Sibylle Leon is a trained and experienced coach who specializes in helping people to stay focused on the way to their goals and (re-)align themselves with their dreams. Based in Ireland, Sibylle offers worldwide coaching over Skype for individuals and groups as well as a number of e-courses over her website, wildspiritscoaching.com. Multi-passionate and energetic, Sibylle loves music, people, and her budgies, and thrives on empowering others.

(Photo credit http://www.sxc.hu/photo/857613 Stock Exchange)