Affirmation: “I am animated by my joyful life.
I let my inner child feel loved and experience joy every day.”
What if it’s a dreary and rainy day and you want your daily joy? What should you do? What if it is a snowy, chilly night and you want to laugh and feel enlivened and even childlike? Then you might need an animated adventure! Animation and cartoons take you back to a time when you were lighter and freer. You had less responsibility, fewer burdens, and more ease.
Those moments when you watched a fun cartoon as a kid allowed the world to slip away and your imagination to find delight. Why not give yourself that gift again? Pick out an animated movie and indulge your inner child. What were your favorite cartoons as a kid?
The list below is designed to give you some ideas of movies you might want to watch. It’s separated into decades so you can find one that reminds you of happy times in your childhood.
• 1960s: The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• 1970s: The Aristocats, Robin Hood, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pete’s Dragon, The Rescuers
• 1980s: The Fox and the Hound, The Little Mermaid, The Land Before Time, My Neighbor Totoro, The Great Mouse Detective
• 1990s: The Lion King, Toy Story, Aladdin, Mulan, A Bug’s Life
• 2000s: Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Madagascar
• 2010s: How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, Frozen, Tangled, Brave
Exercise: I Am Animated
What if you were to create a little animated adventure of your own? It could be all about you! This is an activity for the child within you, so it is meant to be messy, loose, and fun.
Grab some paper and either markers, colored pencils, or crayons. Draw out a series of three boxes on your paper, like in a large comic.
In the first box, draw an illustration representing yourself in the past. It can be abstract, literal, a design, a symbol, or a mix of colors—whatever feels blissful. In the second box, create an image to represent you now in the present. In the third box, create an image all about you in the future. Make these really fun!
How does it feel to look at yourself through time with the eyes of your inner child? Is it thrilling, scary, fun, boring, enlivening, or relaxing? You can use this activity to explore how you can be joyful now by being present and how you can be joyful in the future by claiming your life. Find the goodness of your past and try to let the rest go as best you can. Let this miniature life review help you be light and free. Step into being a capable adult with a gorgeous sense of childlike wonder. Embrace your past, as much as you can, to craft a blissful present and future.
Release the baggage of the past. Carry joy instead.
#joyfulliving101