Having Fun Series - 2 of 4 Editions
For many people, fun is not absent, it is conditional. Allowed after the work is done. After responsibilities are met. After productivity has been proven. Somewhere along the way, enjoyment became something to earn.
This is often why fun feels uncomfortable when it finally arrives. Not because it is wrong, but because it is unfamiliar. The body has learned to stay in effort mode, and when there is nothing left to push against, guilt steps in.
Guilt does not mean you are doing something wrong. It usually means you are doing something new.
Fun has a way of surfacing before exhaustion, not after it. But many of us only permit enjoyment once we are depleted, and by then, the body struggles to receive it. What is meant to restore us ends up feeling flat, rushed, or undeserved.
True fun does not justify itself. It does not need to be productive, efficient, or useful. It simply nourishes.
This is why small moments of enjoyment during the day matter more than grand plans later. A pause that softens you. A moment that brings ease. A quiet pleasure that does not need an explanation. These are not distractions, they are regulation.
When fun and enjoyment is continually postponed, tension quietly builds. The nervous system remains alert, waiting for the next demand. Letting enjoyment in earlier, before everything is finished, supports regulation, the body stays balanced rather than tipping into depletion.
During Aura Experiences this pattern shows up often in sessions. Not as a lack of discipline or motivation, but as a system that has learned to equate worth with output. As the body begins to soften and reconnect, guilt around enjoyment tends to surface briefly, and then pass. Fun doesn't need to be pushed through that discomfort. It simply needs to be allowed to exist.
- You do not have to negotiate with guilt.
- You do not have to explain your enjoyment.
- You do not have to wait until later.
When fun is received without justification, something shifts. The body stops bracing. Energy becomes available again. And enjoyment begins to feel natural rather than indulgent.
In the next edition, we will explore play, not as something childish or extra, but as one of the body's most natural ways to release tension and restore balance. How movement, laughter, and engagement regulate us without effort, and why play often works when thinking does not.