Real Fun

"First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination." – Napoleon Hill

Halloween, for most Americans, is usually a time for fun celebration, when we dress up as the ghastly (ghouls, ghosts), the odd (vegetables, furniture), the furry (animal kingdom), the beautiful and heroic (princesses, superheroes), the occupational (doctors, firemen) and the tarty (all of the above, with less fabric and more makeup).

Children and adults dress up for the last night in October as someone or something quite unlike who they actually are. For adults there are costume contests, parades and wild parties; for children, there is the fantastic play of treat-or-treating. They dress up as something terrifying or wonderful, ring the bells of decorated doors, are greeted with cheers and compliments on their outfits and are rewarded with handfuls of colorful candy. Most people would agree that this yearly ritual is fun. It's Halloween! Costumes! Parties! Candy! Fun!

There are two questions you might consider today, as you paint whiskers on your face or cut holes in a white sheet, for yourself or for your children, before the big night:
1) Why is dressing up so much fun?
2) Why do it just once a year?

It is fun to pretend we are someone or something different. We can temporarily let go of our limitations and constraints. No PhD in astrophysics? No problem! Just put on that spacesuit and helmet and for one night, you're an astronaut. Your parents aren't blue-bloods and you don't live in a medieval castle? No problem! Place a sparkly tiara on your head, don a pink dress, and until midnight strikes, you're a princess!

Once a year, we can dress up as the pretty-much-impossible or the ridiculous. But for the rest of the days and months of our lives, we can still play the game. We can use it on a daily basis to become wiser, stronger, brighter, happier, more accomplished and more fulfilled. Every morning ask yourself, "Who can I become today?" The answer, if you are an adult computer programmer, is probably not, "A tomato," or even, "President of the United States." But it can be, "A better computer programmer than I was yesterday."

You can also ask yourself, "Who can I become this month?" and "This year?" If you loathe your current occupation, if you are bored, or if you just desperately admire people who do something you do not, there couldn't be a more important question, nor a more important game of dress-up. Do you wish you could have a different occupation, a different income, a different worldview? While it's a reality that some changes may not be realistic, or even healthy, many more transformations are possible than most people will allow themselves to consider.

First you have to ask yourself the question: "What would I ‘dress up' as if I could change my life?" Think about this in terms of long-term changes, vs what you might want to pretend to be for a few hours once a year. There is absolutely no need to shuffle through life feeling like one of the zombies that might be ringing your doorbell tonight. No matter how old you are, you can always make at least some life changes that will bring you greater fulfillment. And for true joy, you might consider making changes continuously. This is called evolution. The process of improving ourselves, pushing through our limitations and taking on new challenges provides nourishment for the body, mind and spirit. It's exhilarating and terrifying. Life becomes new and different all the time.

If you make the concept of "dressing up" a regular practice, improving yourself day by day – rather than a once-a-year ritual – you can one day become what you used to just pretend to be. This is significantly more rewarding than spending the rest of your life wishing you were different, without taking any steps to actually change.

Rather than putting on costumes that you will have to take off at the end of a night, make personal transformation a lifelong practice. Then each day, you can be one step closer to wearing those costumes for real. And that is real fun.

Happy Halloween!

Nicole Grace
October 31, 2007

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."

-- William Shakespeare