Let Go & Play Lessons From Tarzan, Swing Through The Jungle Of Life

November 19, 2021
nealhooper40

What can we learn from Tarzan about let go and play? Whether it’s starting a new chapter of life, changing your habits, or forming a new relationship, it’s so crucial to first let go in order to play the role at hand more effectively.

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PLAY OF THE WEEK: 

Is there a habit that is holding you back? Is there a mindset preventing you from believing in yourself and others? Whatever that metaphorical vine is, write it down on a piece of paper, and then physically throw it in the trash!

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Remember that Life is a team sport, so let's play together!

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TRANSCRIPT

What can we learn from Tarzan about let, go and play, whether it's starting a new chapter of life, changing your habits or forming a new relationship? It's so crucial to first let go in order to play the role at hand more effectively, dive in now on a very adventurous edition of the 📍 happiness playbook Oh team happiness. It is good to be with you here at our happiness practice. I am so excited about today's episode but before I say anything, I have a huge apology to give. And I just want to grovel here a little bit and just say, I am so sorry to come mill. Scribner who I called Claire on last week's episode, I was just tired. And. Had a total. Case of the brain space out. So I am sorry, Camille, but here is me owning that, taking the loss. And letting go of my pride and just, grovelling trying to make it right. I will send you a fluffy puppy in the mail, tell me whatever it takes to make it right to you. But we are so glad that you came on and had that chat with Laurie. And, and for teaching us so much. So thank you for being on team happiness. And I am so sorry.
For our highlight reel. I just wanted to share a personal experience that I had. I go to a coworking space and over the last couple of months, I've gotten to know an individual who I just really get along with and he, and I just kind of. Hit it off and, and we'd see each other all the time and it became clear a month or two into seeing this individual that we did not see eye to eye politically. In fact, we had pretty differing opinions. But we still connected and we didn't allow that to get between us he just had his last day here. At the coworking space. A week ago. And he just gave me a really fond farewell. And as he was leaving, he told me this his last day and we just kinda laughed a little bit and shared together. And then he just gave me a nice big hug. And I just shared my genuine appreciation it, and admiration for him. And it was just so cool to see that any two people can come together and form a friendship or a connection. Regardless of their political, religious, or other beliefs or opinions. And I just wanted to remind everyone, all of our listeners on team happiness, that we can't let. Contention and differing opinions divide us. We need that unity. We are all on team happiness, whether we know it or not. And I just wanted to remind you that for our highlight reel, last week, we talked about the magic of Disney. And I shared some stories from our Disneyland trip that we took as a family. And we talked about how Disney is so good at looking outward. And we discussed our play of the week, which was to exceed someone's expectations. So I'm checking in here with you how did it go? Who did you delight and go above and beyond for? I personally. Chose to go above and beyond and exceed expectations on a project I'm working on with a partner here in Utah and stayed up a little late one night and put together a strategy presentation to help out the team. And it was very well received and added a ton of value and it felt good. So I want to know whose expectations did you exceed? For today's team huddle. We have a five star review from drum roll. Please write bay bay, my lion, who aside from having great tastes and username choices said the following. Changing the world, one listener at a time. I really enjoyed listening to Lori's month long play theory, bootcamp. It helped. It helped me put into practice, play three in my daily life. Wasn't that awesome. That was such a treat to have Laurie lead us through this play theory bootcamp, and we are so grateful to hear that it was helpful to you all. So thank you for the review and to anyone else who is listening. If you are enjoying our happiness practice here and haven't left a review yet. I'm not going to shame you here, but it's hard to not take offense by that. So please, it really does help us out so much. Please go leave us a review and help us reach more people and spread the happiness. All right. So let's talk Tarzan here for a minute. Aside from his physique, there's a lot to admire here. But we're going to take the angle from let go and play. A really helpful metaphor for let go and play. Is this concept of imagining you are Tarzan swinging through the jungle one vine at a time, right? There is a brief moment where Tarzan is actually holding on to two vines. And in order to progress, swinging through the jungle, he has to let go. Of the first vine he was holding onto. And only at that point, can he continue his EdVenture? Through the jungle. This principle is actually a two-part principle. It's let go as the first step and then play is the second step. And if we apply this to our lives, we are swinging through this crazy jungle of life. And as the next door opens to us, as we grasp that next vine, sometimes it's really hard to let go of the first vine of that previous version of ourselves or our lives that we are so familiar and comfortable with. Right. And so keep that metaphor in mind. Now I have a few stories to share today. And the first story is actually very recent example. So I decided this week to shave my beard and get a haircut, but I wanted to have some fun with this transition from manly Neal to a. Much younger looking, more aerodynamic Neal. And so I shaved everything, but my mustache and I may or may not have told my wife to cut the the sides of my hair, but leave me a nice little. Mullet there in the back. So this is definitely not a look I have ever rocked in the past. And I got to say it. It's a little uncomfortable to look in the mirror. But I'm having fun with it. And I'm doing this intentionally because I wanted to let, go and play a little bit. But I took it a step further actually. And for any fans of the cult classic heavyweights, starring Ben Stiller, you'll appreciate the fact that I own a Tony percuss exercise jumper. Which is a part of the percuss system uniform. If you will. And with my new haircut and mullet and mustache in full glorious display. I thought it would be fun. To go to the gym, dressed as Tony percuss and do some percuss sizing. And I added a nice little hip pack, a little Fanny pack. Just for good measure as a little cherry on top to my whole look. So that's actually exactly what I did. And I have a video that I put together for your entertainment in viewing pleasures. To prove it's. So make sure to check that out in the show notes. But I got to tell you is I was exercising in a very ridiculous manner in the gym, dressed like Tony percuss with my mullet and mustache. I had several moments where I was just asking deep down. What are you doing? Neil? And it was so interesting because as I doubled down and I said, Hey, you know what I'm just having a good time. I'm going to capture this as a video and just to, just to make some people smile. And there was definitely lots of smiling in the gym and I caught a lot of that out of the corner of my eye, but it's so hard sometimes for us to let go of that first vine in order to experience something new. And happiness is a skill. We know that, but the reality is that every principle we talk about is a skill and we have to exercise each one in order to improve. Now I'm not saying you need to go to the gym, dressed like Tony percuss to practice the skill of let go and play. But I encourage you to find ways to exercise this muscle specifically of let go and play and to see how you can let go of those vines in your life. Another story that I'll share where I didn't quite commit to letting go and playing. A number of years ago, back in my single days, I went to a train concert. Now I was with a lot of strangers. I had one really dear friend there with me. And then another group of people showed up and one was a girl and. You know, I, was being friendly and flirting and having a good time. And I decided to kind of let go of my pride and just have a little fun, right. And it resulted in a very unique once in a lifetime experience. Because as I was, being friendly and flirting with this girl in the group, The song marry me. Began playing on stage. If you're familiar with train you'll know that song very well. And I continued letting go and playing and still I was pretending to perk pose to this, this girl in the group and mind you, we were about, I don't know, maybe 20 feet from the stage. We're actually really close to the band and. To my horror, as I'm down, pretending to propose to this girl the music stops on stage and I realize the band thinks I'm actually proposing to this girl. And stops and over the mic in front of the entire concert says did you just get engaged? And you can imagine all of the emotions I'm feeling, you know, I'm, I'm having a fun time letting go and playing. And then all of a sudden I realize, wow, we are the center of attention for thousands of people. And this girl I've only known. For maybe an hour or two. Now it. Everyone thinks I'm proposing to her. What happened? Next is interesting because I. Kept going along. With it, but I was hesitant to go all in with it and I'll tell you what I mean, and once he kind of caught on. It wasn't for real, for real, he said, well, now you have to do it for real. And so right there in front of everybody. I took this. Ring that somebody had slipped into my hand. And I proposed to her and I ended up kissing her in front of thousands of people. And it was still a really fun, amazing story. But I think back on that, and I think man, What if I had just gone all out, you know, we just played along with it and went up on stage. Like it could have been even more of an amazing. Memory or experience, right. And I'm sure, you know, my wife being, one of the people who was, is probably grateful. It didn't happen that way, but It was just a lesson to be learned in that hesitation. Anytime we let hesitation creep in to our let go and play in our experience. It dampens the experience. And going all out in any given role is the best way to get the most out of life. And it doesn't matter what. Roll you're given. If you are the father, if you are the single individual going to college, if you are, you know, insert whatever role you want, if you go all out in your role, you will get more out of your life. You have to let go of that first vine in order to swing into the more amazing parts of your life that you haven't discovered yet. In high school. I was part of take note troop, which you probably know by now is the acting troupe that Lori is the director and founder of. And I had the opportunity to perform in various plays and I'll never forget. One year we performed an original musical. Version of Laura Ingalls Wilder that Lori actually wrote. And it's an amazing play that goes into the songs and the memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder. And it's a great time. So lots of singing and dancing and skits and vignettes. And that year, when we were doing the show, one of my dear friends, Willard Cron was also on stage and he was so good at going all out with whatever role he was given. on paper, the roles he played in this particular play were not. Very noteworthy. They were more supporting roles. But he went all out and everyone took note of him. And the crowd loved it, whether it was a slice smile to the love interest on stage. And exasperated look when the lead delivered a line or just belting the notes on his song, he went above and beyond and stole the show. Every night. Now it's important as we look back on these, these experiences and stories, and we see people letting go and playing very well. Maybe some people hesitating a little more, but it's important to ask ourselves what vine was being, let go of in order to play. And for my friend, Willard, Cron, what vine was he letting go of in order to play this role at hand? So. So, well, I'm a steal the show. A few that come to my mind is judgment of others, fear of failure, and even his preconceived ideas of how the scene should play out. Sometimes we have expectations that we have to let go of, and that is really hard to do. I'm not going to say that's easy, but I know as we get better and we practice at letting go of that first bind, letting go of the, the things that are holding us back, we'll be able to swing forward and experience the full depth of life. Life. For the play of the. The week I want you to. To work out your playful muscles. By thinking of one metaphorical vine to let go of in order to continue swinging through the jungle of life. So what do I mean by that? Ask yourself. Is there a habit holding you back? Is there a mindset that's preventing you from growing and developing the ways you need to, whatever that metaphorical vine is, whatever that previous version of yourself or your life is. I want you to write it down on a piece of paper and then physically throw it in the trash and by doing so you're letting go of this old perspective, this old mindset or habit, whatever it is, that's holding you back and preventing you from swinging forward. I want you to throw it in the trash bonus points. If you take a picture or video of you throwing it away and send it in. 📍 I am so grateful. Grateful today that we got to swing through this episode together and talk about the power of let go and play and share some, let go and place stories with you. As you swinging on these crazy vines of life feel. The power of letting go and know that the next vine will take you to new heights Remember to balance your Let go and play by looking outward and And Making sure you never let go and play at the expense of others And if you want to know the one tip for casting out the darkness in your life that you won't want to miss make sure to tune in next week because we have something very special in store For you and as always remember that happiness is a skill and life is a team sport and we are so glad you're on the team Catch you next week

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