#170: Skill Set: How to be playful with Courtney Ellis

INSIDE: Receiving grace looks a lot like being playful. The question becomes, “How to be playful?” as an adult. Listen to Courtney Ellis on Grace In Real Life.

You may be hard-wired for efficiency, effectiveness, and checking tasks off the list.

Being playful and silly and giving into whimsy is not your strong suit. We have fun AFTER we work. But the work is never done, and fun is the first to go when our calendar is full.

And yet… when we don’t play, when we don’t laugh, when we don’t lighten up, seriousness scrunches up our souls. And it seems as if playfulness is the only way out and back to our true, God-made self.

So how can we become more playful? How can you reconnect to your soul and with God?

If you’ve ever felt like you used to be fun but aren’t fun anymore OR that your schedule is too full and you’re too tired to think of being playful, this short episode is for you.

In today’s episode, you’ll receive practical strategies and anchoring truths for receiving grace by learning how to be playful. We walk through:

Two ways to reconnect to what brings you joy,
Ten invitations to playfulness – so you can pick one–
And one easy way to leverage what you’re already doing so you can have more fun without making it A Thing.

Quotes about receiving grace

“Play is essential.” – Courtney Ellis
“Hustle culture is the enemy of a healthy soul.” – Courtney Ellis
“We are under-slept, under-rested, and as a result, we are under-played.” – Courtney Ellis
“I had to do some useless playing for my soul to work through the heaviness of this grief.” – Courtney Ellis
“God is giving us permission to go to the land of joy, which is our native country; that is where we are designed to live.” – Courtney Ellis
“Listen to your soul. Listen to the Lord and hear that word of permission that you are invited and welcomed to play.” – Courtney Ellis

Quotes about how to be playful

“Playfulness is a posture toward the world where everything is not deadly serious, but instead we walk in trust, in faith, in openness, and in joy.” – Courtney Ellis
“Don’t set aside time to play. Think how you can approach the things you already have to do in your life playfully.” – Courtney Ellis
“The thing about play is that in itself, there’s really no value. The value comes out in what it does within us, and what it does between us relationally and in our relationship with the Lord as well.” – Courtney Ellis
“Joy is the most powerful motivating emotion a human has.” – Courtney Ellis
“Playfulness is an inherent posture of curiosity.” – Courtney Ellis
“The posture of curiosity often opens us up to the wonder and whimsey of play in a way that expectations won’t.” – Courtney Ellis